Because of Hurricane Sandy slamming into the East Coast last October, Halloween 2012 was a literal washout for lots of NYC kids, and worse, a devastating blow to many local families, communities and businesses. So we expect that everyone will want to party all the harder this year. My son is definitely ready to!

There are certainly plenty of ways to celebrate Halloween this Thursday, including kid-friendly parades, ghoulish gatherings, not-so-spooky haunted houses and, of course, neighborhoods that are well known for doling out lots of candy. And here's the best treat of all: Almost all of our Halloween evening picks are FREE or inexpensive. So grab your little ghosts and goblins (or in my case, Steve from Minecraft) and hit the streets for some fearsome fun. The only trick will be figuring out how to fit it all in!

We've got lots of museum news to share, including details about a new temporary location for the Sandy-ravaged New York City Police Museum. Plus, the sad closure of a beloved Washington Heights program; new high-end kids' stores (in case you were afraid there wouldn't be enough places to spend your money this holiday season); a new blog to help parents guide their teens through those prickly years; and training your tot to be a pinball wizard... or a teeny, tiny Terminator.

Broadway babies aren’t born; they’re made—and trained by theater professionals in acting, singing, and dancing. If your child knows the Annie soundtrack by heart, help her exercise her musical theater chops at any of the following Long Island theater companies, many of which boast instructors hailing from the Great White Way themselves. (And find for more great enrichment classes for kids in our Long Island Classes Guide!)

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.