Bundle up and get in the Thanksgiving mood with a Holiday Lights Spectacular at Jones Beach. Or you can hunker down inside at a live showing of Peter Pan or The Snow Queen. For more fun things happening this season, check out our Long Island Holiday Guide.

Heading to NYC?  Check out our exclusive Mommy Poppins reader event next Saturday night at the New Victory Theater.  Readers get to enjoy a performance of 360 Allstars, a thrilling athletic spectacle, a post-show cookie decorating activity and save 20% on their ticket by using MommyPoppins1 at checkout. 

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On this last weekend before Thanksgiving, activities galore can help get your family into the holiday spirit! Josh and the Jamtones jazz out at their Thanksgiving Concert in Newton, and Faneuil Hall brightens up with a day of festivities culminating in the opening of the Blink! light show and Faneuil Hall's tree lighting spectacular. Events to encourage kids to give back to the community include the Fresh Pond Great Gobble Give Back, the Jingle Bell Walk/Run for Arthritis, and the annual Candyland Tournament to benefit Pitching In for Kids.  Other fun options that make the most of the chilly temperatures include the Opening Day of Skating at Boston's Frog Pond and the Dog Sled Fun Run in Milton.

In performances this weekend, some great choices for younger kids are Silly Sally's Bubble Show at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, The Yankee Peddler at the Puppet Showplace Theatre, or Jack and the Beanstalk at the Center for Arts in Natick. Indoor activities for older children include a Family Portraiture workshop in Newton or a Theatre Games Workshop in Arlington.

Also on Mommy Poppins this week:

• Make some space for all that turkey by running (or walking) in one of the local, family-friendly Turkey Trots and Other Holiday Fun Runs.
• Tara offers tips for celebrating an Earth-friendly Christmas without taking all of the fun out of the party.
• Things are getting festive all over town as we round up Holiday Tree Lightings in Boston.
• Get the kids into the holiday spirit by volunteering together and making someone's holiday brighter. 
• Keep the kids busy in the days leading up to Thanksgiving by making Acorn Napkin Rings.

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to check out the full events events calendar!

Brrrr! The winter chill has arrived. If you're looking for activities to keep the little ones occupied indoors, check out our Thanksgiving Kids Craft: Acorn Napkin Rings, which will entertain them and provide a little personality to your holiday table.

Have you sorted out your Thanksgiving plans? Be sure to peek at at our guide to Thanksgiving Break Activities in Hartford County, which has fabulous suggestions for Turkey Day and beyond, as well as our guides to Turkey Trots and Thanksgiving Day Races and (for after you've worked up an appetite) Where to Buy Local, Farm Fresh Turkeys. If the dinner specialty of your house is reservations, we have some terrific suggestions for a stress-free holiday meal in the form of Thanksgiving Day: Dinner Out Anyone? If you're traveling, don't miss our guide to Great Family Pit Stops Along the Merritt Parkway.

Our Holiday Fun Guide, November CT Go List, and events calendar are up-to-date resources that will help with all your holiday planning for the coming week and beyond. Without further ado, here are our suggestions for maximum fun this weekend! 

When looking for truly unique presents for my family, I skip the big chains and shop locally at some of my favorite independent stores. Lucky for me, many of my go-to gift spots are located right in my home borough of Queens.

Over the past few years, lots of cool, locally owned Queens boutiques have been opening up or expanding. These are the kind of places where you can pick up interesting (and often eco-friendly) toys, clothes, books, gear and other items for children and sometimes adults, too. If you don't have time to stop in, most of these stores have websites so you can buy online while still supporting a community business.

After Thanksgiving (and after you've had a day to relax), consider spending some quality time with your family celebrating "Small Business Saturday", (November 29th) supporting the local "mom and pop" shops in your neighborhood. Some NJ towns, such as Haddonfield and Red Bank, go all out on Small Business Saturday, involve the whole town, and really make the day something memorable. Don't forget to check out MommyPoppins.com's Fun Holiday Activity Guide, too.

It's beginning to feel a lot like winter, what with the Arctic chill, the record snow fall; I think there's another Polar Vortex on the way and.... oh, not here of course. Here we have our standard 72 and sunny. Kind of hard to get in the holiday spirit when you look outside and all you see is... snow?  Snow in Los Angeles - that can't be right...  I mean, check out the thermometer, it's a balmy...

...9 degrees Fahrenheit?!?! What kind of insane Bizarro World, SoCal ice wonderland are we talking about? (I bet that Elsa chick had something to do with it!) What am I going to do? I'll have to put on a sweater, or one of those coat things I've heard people talk about...

No. No, it's just not right. I'm going to go to my happy place, chill hang out at the beach and watch the waves come in, and sunshine and butterflies...  And Santa Claus surfing to shore. If anyone needs me I'll be hibernating 'til spring.

Keep reading for our most chilling picks for the weekend. 

As a big fan of kids' movies and an even bigger fan of small flightless birds who wear tuxedos, I was very happy that my family was invited by DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox to an event that highlighted both. A morning spent at the Bronx Zoo would have been cool enough, but followed by a private advance screening of the new Penguins of Madagascar movie? That's my kind of family fun. Read on for my review of the film, and some real live penguins as well.