Lights are as synonymous with the holidays as trees and trains. From festive holiday window displays to luminous drive-thru installations and dazzling residential displays, lighted artistic creations evoke holiday magic throughout NYC and beyond. In 2020, the New York Botanical Garden has added a brand new spectacular light display, NYBG Glow, to its seasonal calendar.

A long-time seasonal destination for its annual holiday train show, which is limiting attendance to members this year, NYBG Glow is a creative outdoor light exhibition offering holiday cheer and fun for the whole family.

Read on for more details on the inaugural light display, and be sure to peruse our Holiday Fun Guide for more ways to enjoy the season.

Keep the holiday spirits high this season by knocking your kids' socks off with a showstopping Christmas dessert. To top off your at-home Christmas dinner, we’ve combed through Westchester bakeries in search of the most festive, mouth-watering holiday sweets to end your holiday on a high note.

Whether you crave cake or cookies, are traditional or experimental, we've got Christmas dessert options galore. What's more, these special holiday offerings even include hot cocoa bombs, the trendy new treat for sipping in holiday flavors and styles.

Read on for the skinny on Christmas desserts, plus be sure to check out our ideas for new holiday traditions you can start with your family this year.

Let me guess: Your kids are spending more time at home than usual this holiday season. In between virtual gingerbread competitions, Zoom Christmas crafts, and backyard candy cane hunts, put on your thinking caps (they might be red with a white pom-pom on top) and make reindeer toothpaste. This holiday twist on the popular elephant toothpaste experiment uses hydrogen peroxide, active dry yeast, dish soap, and colored sanding sugar or food dye to create a fizzy, festive foam—the sort of stuff Rudolph might use to clean his teeth after sampling all those cookies on Christmas Eve.

Check out our mega list of easy science experiments using household stuff for more ideas to keep kids busy over holiday break.

If Christmas lights are your jam, you may have wondered about the oodles of drive-thru holiday light displays that have sprung up around LA this season as antidotes to the pandemic blues. With so many holiday traditions canceled for Christmas 2020, it's pretty exciting to find new ones. But are these commercial drive-thrus worth the price of admission? In the case of Holiday Road at King Gillette Ranch, I'm going to go out on a Christmas tree limb to say yes! If you're able to spend some of the cash you're saving by missing out on Disneyland and holiday travel, then Holiday Road could be a delightful and festive evening excursion for the whole family.

Grab your PJs and pack an overnight bag because FAO Schwarz has teamed up with Airbnb to offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an only-in-New-York slumber party.

The experience, which is available for booking Tuesday, December 15, for the bargain-basement price of just $25, offers a one-night-only stay in the iconic toy store, complete with a real FAO Schwarz toy soldier as your host and tour guide, a glittering living room setup overlooking the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and plenty more perks with exclusive access to the toy store for the entirety of your stay.

Trying to find fun things to do with kids during the pandemic is tricky, especially as the seasons change, but Christmas lights shows are coming to the rescue. There are tons of drive-thru options ranging from elaborate home displays to large-scale professional extravaganzas nearby. While some of these light shows are newcomers, the Skylands Stadium Christmas Light Show in Augusta, New Jersey, is a long-running drive-thru display that's already deep into its 2020 run. Boasting more than 2 million sparkling lights and some interactive outdoor elements, we had to check it out for ourselves. 

Read on for our full review of the Skylands Stadium Christmas Light Show, and find more safe, seasonal fun in our Holiday Guide for New Jersey Families.

Planning holiday celebrations and activities might take some extra imagination this year. But doing things a little differently doesn’t mean sacrificing any of the joy, traditions, or family memories that come with Christmas celebrations. In fact, let the limitations on travel and gatherings in 2020 spur your creativity to greater heights. From festive fun with grandparents to innovative ways to keep annual traditions going with friends, we have rounded-up our favorite socially distant ways to celebrate the season. With traditional gingerbread decorating, a newly imagined Christmas lights caravan, and even a Nailed It! challenge kids adore, these ideas are so crowd-pleasing, we bet a few become new family holiday traditions.

For more great ways to celebrate the season together, don’t forget about these 10 fabulous any-day zoom activities for kids and grandparents, the most fun games kids can play virtually with friends, and all the best virtual holiday events for families!

Sometimes you just need a break from crowded subways and sidewalks. New Yorkers in search of outdoor adventure and wide-open spaces can find plenty of both in the Bronx at Van Cortlandt Park. At 1,146 acres, the sprawling green space is about as outside of the city as you can get without crossing the border to Westchester, and it offers tons of all-season fun.

An infusion of recent improvements provides plenty of reasons to visit this marquee green space, which belongs in the conversation with Central Park, Prospect Park, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park as one of the city's top outdoor destinations.

Here are 14 of our favorite things to do with kids in Van Cortlandt Park.