This Week: Halloween Family Fun in NYC & Beyond, Help Hungry Kids Across the Country, Free Culture for Teens

10/16/14 - By Raven Snook

Want to hear something scary? For the next two weeks, you're going to hear a lot about Halloween—and I don't mean from us. The kids are talking about it nonstop! My daughter has already changed her costume idea three times. That's her in the pic at New York Comic Con last weekend, doing a dry run dressed up as a Beanie Boo, but who knows what she'll actually be on October 31.

All of our sites, including our brand-new Philly outpost, have jam-packed Halloween Guides, so you can find fearsome family-friendly fun in Westchester, New Jersey, on Long Island and beyond. This week in NYC, we updated a bunch of our popular annual Halloween posts including costume parades for kids and dogs.

Of course right after Halloween, the holiday season kicks off, and that's a time when we here at Mommy Poppins like to find ways to give back to our community. This year, we decided to start a little early by hosting a virtual food drive through Feeding America. Currently, one in five children in the U.S. doesn't get enough to eat on a regular basis, an upsetting statistic, especially when $1 can help feed eight people! Please consider donating to our drive.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

Halloween was the theme of the week! We rounded up our favorite costume parades for kids and canines, and posted pics of the New York Botanical Garden's spectacular Haunted Pumpkin Garden.

Or maybe you prefer to mark the Day of the Dead. We found seven spooky celebrations including El Museo del Barrio's big FREE fete, which takes place this Saturday.

Our biggest news this week: Mommy Poppins Philadelphia is now live. So please tell all your Philly friends.

In other news, our links post included details on the soon-to-open brown bear exhibit at the Central Park Zoo, the closure of the Van Cortlandt Park Ice Rink and how teens can snag FREE tickets to New York Philharmonic concerts.

Speaking of FREE culture for teens, the Metropolitan is hosting an awesome activity-filled night at the museum just for teenagers this Friday.

Did you miss the giant Lego sculptures in Madison Square Park over Columbus Day weekend? Well, we've got some great photos.

We're partnering with Unilever Project Sunlight to help fight hunger in America. And if our virtual food drive meets its $1500 goal, Mommy Poppins will double the donation!

This week's WeeWork craft is a cute seasonal leaf crown project.

Best bets for the weekend include Grammy nominee Raffi in concert at the Kaye Playhouse, a Chuck Jones Family Day at the Museum of the Moving Image and Pickle Day on the Lower East Side.

About the Author

Raven is a writer, editor, performer and mom, who was born and bred in NYC, just like her husband, her mother and now, her daughter. As a writer, she's contributed articles to New York Magazine, Time Out New York, The Village Voice, the New York Post, TV Guide, Better Homes and Gardens, iVillage, AOL TV and Moviefone, Parents.com, and worked as an in-house editor for ParentsConnect.com and TimeOutKids.com. As a performer, she's appeared on many downtown stages (sometimes even for pay!), a couple of obscure films and TV shows, and The Maury Povich Show as a female drag queen. She's also the founder of Hot Mama Burlesque, the world's only all-moms burlesque show. After being the NYC editor from March 2011-March 2015, she is now happy to just be a blogger as she pursues additional writing opportunities.