My family relishes checking out the many holiday displays and Christmas lights in New Jersey. It’s one of our can’t-miss holiday traditions, so we couldn’t wait to see the brand-new Christmas village decked out with holiday lights, Santa, a gingerbread house, and more holiday activities at the Anne Ellen Christmas Tree Farm in Manalapan, New Jersey.

We’ve enjoyed the drive-thru Christmas lights popping up, but we also love the chance to get out of the car for an in-person stroll. The Village at Anne Ellen allows kids to do just that all while sipping hot chocolate, walking along an outdoor trail, and popping into different experiences from a North Pole post office to a model train room.

Through the magic of fairies, your car shrinks down to the size of a ladybug to experience the dazzling lantern displays of  A Bug's Night: Drive-Thru Adventure. Travel through 20 acres of spectacular lights, mapped projections, and animatronics at the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn. Bugs are only part of this whimsical experience. 

A Bug's Night: Drive-Thru Adventure is one of three lantern shows debuting on Long Island this season, and is the only drive-thru lantern experience. For other holiday light drive-thrus and displays, check out our Holiday Fun Guide. 

Paw Patrol has been a staple in our house for years. My now 7-year-old son discovered the show when he was 3—his birthday cake that year is proof—and my daughter, at 4, while not as obsessed as her brother was at the same age, can rattle off all the characters and tell you her favorite (Skye), as of course, can I (Chickaletta, naturally). So, needless to say, they were both excited when they found out we’d be visiting the brand new Paw Patrol Experience at CAMP Hudson Yards. The Paw Patrol Experience, which kicked off in late November runs until Sunday, January 2, making it a great seasonal to-do, especially during the holiday break.

Read on for a full rundown of what you can expect at this immersive, interactive experience, and find more seasonal fun in our Winter Fun Guide.

How do you find out if your kid's New York City school is closed because of snow? In short, snow days are unlikely for public school students during the 2021-22 school year. The mayor made waves by announcing there will be no snow days this school year at all, instead public schools are expected to host remote lessons on stormy days. Still, you'll want to know if you need to bundle up and head to a school building, or hunker down and sign on.

If you've got children in the city's private schools and nursery schools, they tend to close more often.

Here are the best resources for finding out if New York City schools are closing for a snow day, as well as ideas for what to do in the event of snowmageddon, like NYC's Top Sledding Hills and snow day boredom busters to do indoors.

Yellowstone National Park (the world's first national park) encompasses 2.2 million acres of wild and unrivaled natural beauty. With canyons, gushing geysers, hot springs, lush forests, and a plethora of wildlife, there is no better place for children to learn about nature and watch the buffalo roam.

As a parent, it can be daunting to plan a trip that's "out in the wild." To help you, we've created this handy guide to visiting Yellowstone National Park with kids in any season. No matter when you visit, you'll see breathtaking natural wonders and plenty of animals, so don't forget your camera and binoculars, as well as sturdy shoes for hiking.

If your family's been bitten by the national park bug, see our guide to visiting Acadia National Park with kids. And be sure to visit our Family Travel Guide for more family vacation ideas.

If you’ve ever gone apple picking at Harvest Moon Orchards in North Salem, New York, it's worth revisiting this holiday season. You'll be astonished by the orchard's transformation into the region's newest holiday attraction, Lumagica. The orchard’s winding trails and slopes have been repurposed to provide a pastoral setting for a twinkling holiday lights display. In fact, with apples still clinging to some trees, the combination of fall harvest and winter wonderland converge almost surreally.

Read on to learn more about the magic of Lumagica and find more attractions to get your glow on at these drive-thru holiday light shows. We've got more magical picks to carry you through the season in our Guide to Holiday and Christmas Events.

Our families and communities have been hit hard in 2021. For us at Mommy Poppins, much of this year has been turned inward as we’ve struggled with activities and schools shut down and families in various states of personal turmoil. After almost two years of this, we really felt the need to shift our focus outward this holiday season, both to uplift our communities and ourselves. We thought the best way to help parents this holiday season would be to bring joy to kids, so we’ve put together a team of volunteer Mommy Poppins Elves to fulfill the wishes of children in need through letters to Operation Santa.

We'll do all the shopping, wrapping, and shipping, making it super easy for busy parents to give without the schlep. We'll also purchase our gifts at small businesses, to help support our local business communities. Read on to learn more about this project and see how you can help with a $2 donation. 

The Bronx Zoo's glittering Holiday Lights have returned for another season of winter magic. While most of the zoo animals huddled in hibernation or winter holding, the zoo's grounds come to life this season with a series of sparkling, larger-than-life lantern safaris and plenty more seasonal thrills that makes this a fun destination on a cold winter's night.

If you can't make it to the Bronx Zoo Holiday Lights, consider a visit to one of these other seasonal light shows in city limits, and find more holiday fun in our Guide to the Holidays in NYC.