This post is from 2015. For current info see our 2016 post.

There are many levels of pumpkin carving. There's picking up a pumpkin at the grocery store and jabbing it with a knife until is makes a crooked smile. There's downloading a stencil and spending an afternoon with a $5 carving kit turning your pumpkin patch purchase into Jack Skellington. And then there's taking 5,000 fresh pumpkins per week and carving them into multi-gourd masterpieces never before conceived out of fruit. That last thing is what you'd call Rise of the Jack O'Lanterns.

The Rise, as those in the know call it, has been a popular Halloween event near NYC, on Long Island, for years; SoCal got its first peek at the hard-to-describe pumpkin phenomenon last year, when it moved into Descanso Gardens. This year The Rise is at two LA locations (adding the Santa Anita Race Track), as well as the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. And it is pretty darn different from any other Halloween event I've seen.

Apple picking season is still in full swing and though there are plenty of orchards that offer the chance to pick your own apples and pumpkins in upstate New York and New Jersey, it was really important for my family to choose an organic orchard. Turns out, truly organic farms are harder to come by than I thought.

I did a little digging and found Fishkill Farms a few years back and since then, my family has made the annual apple-picking pilgrimage to this lovely farm that practices ecologically-sustainable farming and offers low-spray apple varieties in addition to a growing number of organic ones. An hour and half from Midtown Manhattan and an hour from central Westchester, Fishkill Farms makes for a great day trip.

These recipes are imagined by Mommy Poppins, but sponsored by The Laughing Cow® cheese.

Pinterest is packed with adorable snack ideas for kids, but let’s get real—ain’t nobody got time for that. And while it’s true that kids fall for presentation, that doesn’t mean you have to make everything look like an adorable panda/Minion/Star Wars icon to get them to eat it. The truth is, children love to feel grown-up, and it’s super easy to make kid-friendly snacks look like fancy party foods in a matter of seconds. Any afternoon can feel like a special occasion with these easy ideas that don’t just look and taste yummy, but can inspire even your pickiest eater to try something new.

Sometimes it just makes more sense to eat out on Thanksgiving. Heading out to one of these fine dining establishments is sure to guarantee a memorable and hopefully delicious holiday feast. Litchfield County isn't the most populous county and that shows in the limited number of restaurants there may be in any given town. That being said, there are some incredible dining experiences to choose from. Listed are some of the best Litchfield has to offer on Thanksgiving Day. We've also rounded up some popular restaurants in Fairfield County and Hartford County.

North Hollywood is on everyone's maps but not everyone's radar. The just barely Valley neighborhood has been experiencing a Renaissance over the past decade, growing into an arts hub proud of the nickname NoHo. The small theaters of the NoHo Arts District have banded together this year to establish the first ever NoHo Fringe Festival, which takes place throughout the month of October and into November, at a variety of venues. A few of the Fringe productions are family friendly, including one that couples Fringe with Halloween to create the uniquely October offering, Wizards and Fools.

Almost a century after it was first published, Margery Williams' 1922 picture book, The Velveteen Rabbit, continues to endure as a classic that's beloved by kids and adults alike. While the story about a toy rabbit who longs to be real has been adapted as a stage play numerous times, Atlantic for Kids opted to turn it into a world premiere musical. Going in I feared it might be cheesy, that singing and dancing would ruin this delicate tale. But as my 7-year-old daughter observed at the end, "It was simple but so good."

There are so many places your kids can wear Halloween costumes this weekend—assuming you have your costumes. Which I do (not to brag). You can wear them at the Zoo (We did that last week! Way fun!). You can wear them at the Natural History Museum (to trick-or-treat—free candy for being ahead of the game and having your costume early). You can wear them to the Disney Store's Halloween Dress Rehearsal (where you can not only wear this year's costume;  you can plan ahead and buy next year's costume while you're there—score!).

(Psssssst! You there, with the kid: if you don't actually have this year's costumes yet, your kids can totally wear something from last year. It's not like they have an expiration date on them, am I right? You can use this weekend to augment your costume with accessories or masks, or trade your way to a new and improved pre-loved costume. There are even events in malls, where rumor has it you can sometimes use money to buy things.)

And who says you have to wear a costume at all? Halloween is still two weeks away, and there are tons of events without an orange and black color scheme. Hello, Cirque du Soleil in Costa Mesa!  Hey there, CicLAvia in the heart of LA! What's cookin, CAKE Expo, also in Costa Mesa? Seriously, what up, Costa Mesa?  Didn't you get the memo about Halloween?

Keep reading for our most festively adorned picks for this weekend....

The chill in the air, colorful piles of leaves and blooming chrysanthemums are all indications that October is here in Philadelphia. But the surest sign of the season is our Events Calendar as it is filled to the brim with fall fun. There are fall festivals, apple celebrations and pumpkin picking opportunities this weekend.

After making your apple pie and picking your pumpkins, consider a visit to the Academy of Natural Sciences for its Philadelphia Shell Show or head to Chestnut Hill College for its Harry Potter Festival & Quidditch Tournament. On the other hand, if you have completed your fall fun list already and want an escape, consider checking on one of the many consignment sales going on in the area.

Read below to find our weekend highlights and be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday morning. Enjoy the weekend!