Most little kids don't need an excuse to dress up. In fact, it's tough to get some of them to dress down. (I've been through that "But mommy, I need to wear my princess dress to school!" battle too, trust me.)

While it's great to put on fancy clothes just for the fun of it, sometimes it's nice to find a special outing to go with them. A few months ago, we shared our ideas for an exciting day out for wannabe pirates. Today, we've got royal suggestions for aspiring princesses and princes in NYC. We covered some of these experiences in our previous princess post but that was a number of years ago and royals need to keep up on all the latest fashions. One thing that hasn't changed much since then? The high prices for some of these destinations. But we've got a few FREE recommendations, too, to make sure your princess doesn't turn into a pauper overnight. So before you pass on those old Halloween costumes, here are five great ways to play princess with NYC kids. You can find more inspiration for themed outings in our Party Guide.

Though many of the Spooky Corn Mazes and Haunted Houses are now closed, the big day is still yet to come. By the time trick-or-treating happens this week, most kids have had the chance to show off their costume at a Halloween Party or in a school parade. But that doesn't take away from the excitement of going house-to-house or attending one of the celebrations listed below. There are also quite a few safe venues for trick-or-treating throughout Long Island.

Once Halloween ends there's not much time until the holiday scramble begins. So we want to help you cross one big thing off your seasonal to-do list early: your holiday photos and cards. At our second annual Mommy Poppins Holiday Photo Event on Saturday, November 16 at the Upper East Side Kidville location, your kids will love posing with our playful and fun Santa. (These won't be your traditional, boring seated photos!) Not into pics with the big red guy? You can have your children's portrait taken alone in front of a seasonal background. Big Apple Portraits is great at capturing joyful little faces, perfect for your holiday cards.

To make sure posing for holiday photos doesn't feel like a chore, we'll have fun family activities, like cookie decorating with Cookie Party, holiday crafts by Kidville, Mommy Poppins storytime and family goody bags. Bonus: This event will also help raise funds for the Food Bank For NYC to help more local families have a happy holiday season.

Read on for all of the details about our Holiday Photo Event or reserve your spot now.

One of the things I love most about living on the border of Sunnyside and Woodside is that we have an incredible variety of restaurants dishing out cuisine from all over the world. In fact, some of Queens' top family-friendly eateries happen to be in Sunny/Wood.

While we certainly have spots serving standard kid pleasers like pizza and burgers, this area of Queens is well known for its ethnic eats. When rounding up my family's favorite spots, I was impressed anew by all of our choices: Turkish, Thai, Mexican, Filipino, Romanian, New American and a slew of kid-friendly Irish pubs. We finish up our month-long focus on Sunnyside and Woodside with a list of my family's go-to local restaurants. Our area has so many wonderful kid-friendly eateries, it was tough to pare down the post to 13!

My kids are counting down the days to Halloween. They've had tons of fun at various seasonal events around town including the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (our first time visiting) and other events happening all month long. Even so, October 31 is about as exciting for them as Christmas morning and they are already giddy thinking about the rivers of Halloween candy headed their way as they parade around our neighborhood trick-or-treating.

The first time I went trick-or-treating when my oldest was old enough, we came home and he sat with a wild grin, scanning his candy loot, then looked to me with those anxious, pleading eyes. I let him indulge (but not too much) and once he came down from the sugar high, I got him cleaned up and off to bed. Then I scanned the mounds of leftover candy, too much for a classroom to consume in a day. I packed up most of it (minus a small bowl for snacking) and put it away in a cabinet he couldn't reach. The next day, he was happy with the small bowl and didn't even seem to remember the rest. I stumbled across that hidden stash the following October. I told myself this was a novice mistake.

Now with three kids and three times the candy, I have to come up with creative ways to make that candy disappear! What to do with the excess? We've got five fun ideas for using (and getting rid of) extra Halloween candy.  

Let me say up front, we have nothing against princesses. My daughter rocked her Rapunzel costume for Halloween last year. Princesses rule. But it’s easy to get into a princessy rut. The gown and crown becomes the default costume, to the point that many girls don’t consider any other costume options for Halloween time. So when I asked my child what she wanted to be for Halloween this year, I have to say I was pleased that she chose a non-royal alternative.

One of the coolest things about being a parent is getting to relive childhood all over again with our little ones - the zoo, holiday trains, and of course, trick-or-treating. But instead of just snapping a few pictures of the kids in costume, how about inviting the gang over early for a festive Halloween shindig? Read on for some spectacularly spooky menu ideas that might make you decide to just stay in, or at least provide some homemade snacks before you venture out with your little ghosts and goblins.

How many costumes will your kids be wearing between now and Halloween? My daughter has three outfits prepared for the many Halloween celebrations we'll be attending: Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph, Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Michael Jackson for when she goes trick-or-treating on October 31

By now, your calendar and closet are probably as full as ours, but if you're still looking for memorable ways to celebrate, many of NYC's best FREE Halloween events take place this weekend, including the Pumpkin Festival in Central Park, Prospect Park's Haunted Walk and a bunch of kids' costume parades. You can also turn your revelry into a day trip by hitting haunted hayrides and corn mazes on Long Island, trying an off the beaten path Halloween activity in New Jersey or joining our Mommy Poppins Westchester peeps at Ridge Hill in Yonkers on Saturday for HarvestFest 2013. We'll be there with a craft table and we'll be giving out treat bags so kids can hit all the stores for candy and other goodies.

However you decide to mark Halloween this year, we wish you and your family a fun and safe holiday. And we hope the Candy Fairy makes a visit to your home to take away at least some of those sweets! Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week: