It’s St. Patrick’s Day this weekend!  At Darlings and Divas in Amityville, kids will get into the holiday spirit with a Shamrock Diva Party, complete with festive manicures, makeup, and hairstyling.  In Montauk, The 51st Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade boasts several marching bands along with appearances by Long Island fire departments.  The 25th Annual Glen Cove St. Patrick's Day Parade will offer a mix of marching bands, along with vintage cars, costumed performers, face painters, fire and police units, and more.  In Stony Brook, head on over to the Long Island Museum for its St. Patrick’s Day storytelling program, where you’ll hear stories and songs from around the world, including ones from Ireland.  Also on tap: the Greatest Show on Earth—the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus—will present Built to Amaze at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale. As always, check out our events calendar every day for fun activities for the family!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! There are plenty o' ways to celebrate this weekend beyond Manhattan's big St. Patrick's Day Parade, like more low-key processions in Staten Island and Park Slope, and the Irish Arts Center's annual family open house.

Easter egg hunts are also afoot in Tribeca and Brooklyn. Plus it's a great weekend for family culture: Two new circus shows, Cirque du Soleil's Totem and Bello Mania at the New Victory Theater, make their debuts, Patti Smith narrates Tubby the Tuba with the Little Orchestra Society and the American School of Ballet presents a free dance performance.

These are just a few of the great things going on this weekend. All of our best bets are below. You can find additional options in our Event Calendar.

I'm not Irish and I don't like beer or corned beef, so St. Patrick's Day has always been a non-event for me.  Just another day on the calendar.  However, with kids this holiday takes on a whole new meaning and offers so many new opportunities for fun.  This weekend I (along with the kiddos of course) am going to make my very first Leprechaun Trap.  Yes, that's right, a Leprechaun Trap.  A few short years ago I never knew such a thing existed.  Also on the agenda for Sunday are rainbow cupcakes and a Pinterest inspired craft. 

Last week, we gave you a challenge: Spend 8 minutes each day, for 30 days, on a creative activity with your kids. If you’re like me, this isn’t easy. Then again, a challenge isn’t supposed to be easy, is it?

I’ve had to find creative ways to work creativity into my family’s hectic days, and I’ve discovered a wonderful outlet that achieves multiple goals – food art. From bento boxes to cakes you can draw on, there is no end to fun ways to get creative in the kitchen with your kids. Read on for some of my favorite ideas. 

Oh, faith and begorrah (whatever that means), it's the weekend of St. Patty's, and there's much greenery abounding. But even if that holiday is not appealing to ye, there's much in New Jersey that's fun for families, like Nano Day at Newark Museum or Dinosaur Day in Roseland. Read our top picks and find a listing of all NJ activities in our Event Calendar. And don't forget to enter to win a week of Pony Camp at Dapple Hill Farm on our Giveaways Page!

A favorite family dinner activity in this house is to adopt a different accent at mealtime.  I dare you to keep a straight face with a five-year old chatting away in her best Italian accent…

And so in honor of the approaching St. Patrick’s Day, last night we dined with our Irish brogues.  The result sounded something like an unholy mix of Cockney, Australian and Dutch dialects with a hint of New Orleans thrown in.   Music to the ears?  No.  Hilariously funny?  Undoubtedly.  And a great way to celebrate our Irish heritage (though no doubt our Irish ancestors are rolling in their graves!).  And always, there are lots of fun ways to celebrate Irish culture this St. Patrick's Day in Fairfield County, CT:

A couple of weeks ago, we shared the when and the how of visiting museums in the city of Boston for free. Inquiring minds wanted to know: What about the Harvard museums in Cambridge? Well, here is the answer. Read on to find out how to visit museums in Greater Boston (Cambridge, Brookline, Somerville) for free. You might even discover a couple of museums you'd never heard of before!

I recently went on a little (mis)adventure with my 23-month old, Paigely, to check out “Toddler Time” at  Skyzone Indoor Trampoline Park.  Although the address is technically Boston, I drove through several towns I’d never heard of before I ended up finding it in Hyde Park. It took us about 25 minutes in the car, which in actual “Toddler Time”, is more like three hours. 

Upon arrival, we walked into a large lobby where we were supposed to take off our shoes and sign a waiver.  Paigely was ready to go and had zero patience for this (in her defense we had been talking about jumping since 6am).  Kids get to jump in socks and adults get these funky shoes that I’m sure will make a big splash on the Boston hipster scene sometime next year.  We walked past a sitting area, banged a sharp left and stopped to put our belongings into waiting lockers. I didn’t actually get to lock anything up though because my daughter had already spied the gigantic looking trampoline and was bee-lining for it.   I hear a “Come ON Mommy!” and saw her on the top step waving me on.  Going in, I had thought this would be somewhat intimidating for her (to be honest, it was to me), but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  We took our first step in holding hands, and watching her face light up was worth the drive alone.