Winter, snow, and ice may not be my idea of fun, but when you add the word "festival" after them I may just change my mind! This weekend New Jersey brings you two winter fests with ice-cold entertainment like live ice-sculpting and dog sled demonstrations that is balanced off by warming events like a chili cook off, a pancake breakfast, and tons of indoor fun for kids like a puppet show and a Frosty the Snowman musical. Harold and the Purple Crayon is playing on-stage at NJPAC. Older kids can brave the outdoors trying their hand at snowshoeing or searching for bald eagles. Finally, the Morris Museum has a fun "heart art" art project that is free with museum admission.

If you haven’t noticed, my son loves anything and everything to do with animals and because of this obsession, I mean, passion of his, we spend a lot of time at the zoo. Thankfully, the zoos in New York City aren’t just full of animals, they also offer fantastic enrichment programs for kids and families.  In the past 6 years my son has attended camp, workshops and classes at one zoo or another and has even had his birthday party there.  Last year, for his fifth birthday, we gave him the absolute ultimate birthday gift for a zoo-loving boy, the opportunity to sleepover at The Bronx Zoo. He went with my husband and they both had such an awesome time that what we thought of as a “once in a lifetime” experience will likely become an annual tradition for all three of us.

Read on to get a look at their great time at the Family Overnight Safari at The Bronx Zoo and sign up for your own today!

As much as we love getting out and enjoying all the fun indoor activities of NYC, when the temperatures are this cold it's also nice to spend a cozy day at home playing around the house. But cozy can go crazy very quickly if you are not well stocked with things to do. And the perfect thing to have on hand, especially for apartment dwellers, in my opinion, is activity books.

Here are my favorite boredom busting activity books for boys and girls. These also make terrific birthday party gifts or long distance travel sanity savers.

Looking for some cheap and fun entertainment for the kids in the cold weather? (and we're talking really cheap because it's really cold...) Look no further than your local DIY outlet. Entertain the kids AND run some errands. Best of all? These events and the craft materials are all FREE!

Lots of fun in New York City this weekend, no matter if you are looking to spend the weekend inside or out -- and if you are looking for a hybrid of the two, a visit to park here should be on your weekend itinerary!  Our best bets for the weekend include the Iventgenuity Festival in Brooklyn, The Hibernators Ball at Wave Hill and The Korea Society’s New Year event. This weekend is the Jewish holiday, Tu B’Shavat, and if you are looking to celebrate that, we have some great family friendly ideas.  There is also indoor or outdoor skating, skiing with or without a car, free movies, bowling or listening to some classical music with the kids.  And don't forget our calendar is full of good stuff too.

Read on to plan your weekend and I hope it is a great one.

Feel like burning up some old Christmas trees? Or dancing and howling around some apple trees? There’s a lot of outdoor fun in NJ this weekend, so pull on your long underwear and head out. Of course, if you’d rather not freeze your patootie off, you can go indoors for a fairy princess tea party, some Cabin Fever movie shorts or a balloon animal extravaganza. Have a great time!

Note: Next week we will be offering a Poppins Perk to try out Off Your Desk to try at an incredibly low price.
While the politicians debate our health care crisis in Washington, every day, regular people have to struggle to try to get adequate health care without going broke. It is likely that everyone, at one time or another, has had a run in with their insurance company. From my personal experience I know that I will need to file most claims at least twice in order to get them processed correctly, whether because they were "lost" or denied or just some petty thing they can find to not file it, knowing that many people are too busy to follow up.

During Tuesday's freezing rain, sleet, snow and ice storm, I left my warm and cozy (well, overheated and small) apartment to check out park here, the indoor temporary pop up park created in a gallery space on Mulberry Street that I have been reading about everywhere.  Is it worth dragging the kids out in this weather?  Read on to find out.