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Thinking of getting your kid's ears pierced? These ear piercing places in Chicago are clean and gentle.
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This Week: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Viewing Tips, Holiday Volunteering with Kids, Amazing Canstruction Pics, Thanksgiving Crafts

11/7/13 - By Raven Snook

Thanksgiving and the overall holiday season were the hot topics across all of our sites this week. We shared what's new at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; posted cool Thanksgiving crafts; highlighted holiday vacation deals on our Travel site; and rounded up kid-friendly holiday volunteering opportunities in NYC, Westchester and New Jersey.

Speaking of ways families can give back this season and have fun, on Election Day my daughter and I went to the annual Canstruction exhibit at Brookfield Place and took the awesome photos above. All of the structures are made from full cans of food, which will be donated to City Harvest later this month. Go gawk at the amazing works and bring cans of food to give to the charity, too. Another cool way to help local families in need? Attend our Mommy Poppins Holiday Photo Event on Saturday, November 16. Not only will you get crafts, storytime and awesome pics of your kids with Santa or against a seasonal background, a portion of the proceeds will go to the Food Bank For New York City. Book your session today.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

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It's a new month so we have a new neighborhood focus: Brooklyn Heights. We kicked off our coverage with a roundup of the top 35 things to do with kids in the area.

We also started updating our NYC Holiday Guide for the season with posts about the best places to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, cute Thanksgiving crafts and where to volunteer with kids during the holidays.

Even though it has already passed, most of our suggestions for FREE things to do with kids on Election Day are still valid!

The Big Apple Circus' brand-new show, Luminocity, is set in Times Square and full of jaw-dropping feats.

We got a sneak peek at the overhauled Queens Museum, which reopens this Veterans Day weekend with lots of fun and FREE family activities.

More best bets for the three-day holiday weekend include a stage adaptation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar/, FREE family films at KidCinemaFest and the NYC Veterans Day Parade.