The holiday countdown is on so you’re bound to see twinkling lights, holly and the Big Red Man everywhere you go. Time to check out the Santa Claus Train Ride, Santa Fly-In Celebration or Hudson Ballet’s Nutcracker! And the first night of Hanukkah is this Saturday, so get in the spirit with Hooray for Hanukkah crafts at the Garden State Museum or the Hanukkah Winter Wonderland at Imagine That! Read on for our top picks and remember you can find a listing of all NJ activities in our Event Calendar.

Our NYC Shopping Local Gift Guide is chock-full of great places to find cool kids' items, from seasonal pop-up shops to holiday markets to year-round family favorites. But in addition to hitting your usual go-to shops, why not try something new?

We've found seven new toy stores that opened in Manhattan and Brooklyn over the past year, many specializing in handcrafted, eco-friendly playthings that you won't find in the big chains. Bonus: Some of these shops also offer classes, sing-alongs and special events for kids, so you may find yourself hitting these spots long after the holidays are over.

Finding affordable and reliable childcare can be an enormous challenge, but there are many options around Long Island.  Below are several well-known locations that offer drop-off options, so that your child can enjoy "date night" as much as you do!  School districts or libraries sometimes also offer these services, so be sure to look there as well.

My kids have cold-weather birthdays, and when it comes time to plan their parties, I often find myself fantasizing about a summer backyard birthday party, with kids running around in the grass, playing games, and blowing bubbles.

Are you in the same boat? If your child has a late fall or winter birthday, and you’re looking for ideas to overcome (or circumvent) the low temps, stuffy noses, and busy schedules that often accompany the season, read on. Whether it’s a strategy of avoiding or embracing winter birthday challenges, here are a few that have worked for us. 

Starting Friday, December 21 (or even earlier for private school students), New York City kids are in for a nice, long holiday break. Parents, not so much—especially if you need to work on many of the days the kids are off from school. Luckily, NYC has plenty of holiday camps to keep children entertained while you head to the office, to the grocery store or to the spa (hey, it could happen).

Although in past posts we've lumped different kinds of school break camps together, from arts to athletics to academics, this time around we're focusing specifically on enrichment programs, where kids can get hands-on experience in robotics, chess, fashion, foreign languages and even construction. Some of the camps sound so cool, we wish they took grown-ups. You can find even more December break camps and other seasonal fun in our Holiday Guide.

In our Shopping Local Holiday Gift Guide, we highlight our favorite places to buy unique gifts in New York City including craft fairs and holiday markets. But we also love browsing the eclectic wares at all of the pop-up shops that appear in NYC at this time of year.

These temporary retail outlets are often (but not always) set up by businesses that don't normally sell goods directly to the public, or don't have stores in NYC. This holiday, returning pop-up favorites include Wired magazine's tech magnet, along with newcomers like kids' toy and gear great The Land of Nod, Microsoft and a shop dedicated to hot boy band One Direction. Read on for the scoop on ten awesome pop-up shops in NYC this season and find more fun in our Holiday Guide.

Wreck-It Ralph is fun, funny, moving, laugh out loud clever, and nostalgic (but be warned - it's likely to be too scary for younger viewers). This latest film from Disney Feature Animation is a love letter to video games old and new. When my daughter and I decided to see it, our choice was for a theater was clear; we hopped in the car and made the journey to the "happiest theater on earth" - Hollywood's El Capitan.