This Week: Best Family Events in October in NYC & Beyond, Amazing Fall Travel Deals, Top 10 Halloween Celebrations, Site Changes

10/2/14 - By Raven Snook

I've had David Bowie's "Changes" playing on a loop inside my head all week. No, my kid's not an angsty teen (not quite yet, anyway). It's because we upgraded the server for our sites, which caused some things to be a bit wonky. Everything seems stable now but if you see something weird, let us know by leaving a comment on our site or Facebook page. We'd really appreciate that.

Of course the changeover didn't stop us from kicking off Halloween month with posts about kid-friendly haunted houses and the top 10 Halloween happenings for NYC families. We also published October Go Lists highlighting the absolute best things to do throughout the month in NYC, New Jersey, on Long Island and beyond. With the long Columbus Day weekend coming up, some of these special out-of-town events may inspire a day trip, or you could always go pumpkin picking. (You can try for apples, too, though we hear most of the orchards are out already.)

Over on our Travel site, we've got a roundup of fall travel deals. Plus our founder, Anna, launched a series of posts chronicling her weekend getaway to the Bay Area, including the best things to do in San Francisco with kids and family-friendly wineries in Napa Valley.

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

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

Get out your calendars! Our October Go List spotlights a dozen must-do events, including the grand opening of the new Flatiron Lego Store, the behind-the-scenes tours of Open House NY and Raffi in concert.

Of course, we couldn't write about October's best bets without mentioning Halloween. This week we kicked off our coverage with roundups of not-too-scary haunted houses for children and the top 10 Halloween happenings for families, five of which are FREE.

Families spend a lot of time waiting around for classes to start, for the doctor to see you, you get the picture. Turn idle time into fun time with these great ways to play with kids while you wait.

Our biweekly news post included info on a slew of new FREE enriching classes for kids, a new maker space coming to the Upper West Side and a new series of high-quality family shows at the Kaye Playhouse.

Best bets for the weekend include the annual Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the Bronx Zoo's Boo at the Zoo and a bunch of outdoor harvest festivals, which we hope won't get rained out!