Free Halloween Parades and Events for Kids on Long Island

Kids delight in the Long Beach Costume Parade, held about two weeks before Halloween. Photo courtesy of the City of Long Beach

Halloween may be the final day of October, but fun and free Halloween events are happening on Long Island all month long.  Go ahead and dress the kids up, these events are a great way to get some mileage out of that spectacularly spooky or glittery glam costume by attending oodles of these free family-friendly outings!

Don't forget to check your local library for the FREE Halloween events it might be hosting. And for more seasonal fun, check out our Long Island Halloween Guide, our October GoList, and our compilation of the best fall fairs and festivals on Long Island. 

Richmond, VA with Kids: 50 Fun Things to Do in Richmond

It's all aboard at Kings Dominion, an amusement park near Richmond, Virginia.

Richmond’s place in U.S. history is distinct, and many of the best things to do in Richmond, VA, include a stroll past monuments or an icon central to America's origins. One of the oldest cities in the nation, Richmond was the capital city of the Colony of Virginia. It was the site of Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech in 1775, and during the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy.

Today, Richmond is known as the River City, and more colloquially as RVA, and there are plenty of modern attractions and things to do for kids and families. While the deep history is evident in monuments, battlefield sites, and the architecture, Richmond is also home to an expansive parks system, 550 aces of river shoreline, and a growing small business economy, including delicious Richmond restaurants,  breweries, fun festivals, children's museums and science centers, as well as a nearby theme park, Kings Dominion. 

To help you navigate this incredible Southern city, we’ve put together a list of the 50 best things to do in Richmond with kids, as well as a guide to the area.

10 Things to Love About Northern Central Park

Kids can frolic around the Conservatory Garden Fountain.

My family has long thought of Central Park as our backyard. And while we've romped across most of its 843 acres, and enjoy an occasional visit to the zoo or our favorite playground on the southern end, we're just as happy to leave that portion of the park to the tourists.

Instead, you'll find us exploring above 100th Street, in the northern reaches of the park, which are just wooded enough to make you forget the urban jungle for a bit. A recently-announced $150 million dollar renovation project will update the aging pool and skating rink at Central Park's Harlem Meer, while creating new trails and restoring the landscape—but there's no reason to wait until that project's estimated 2024 completion date to enjoy this beautiful parkland.

From a babbling stream, to renovated playgrounds, rolling meadows, perfectly manicured gardens, and the wild of the North Woods, here are 10 things to love about Central Park's northern edge.

Halloween Festivals and Theme Park Haunts LA Kids Can't Do Without

I have a mama friend who refers to this time of year with all the Halloween Festivals and Theme Park Haunts as the High Holidays, and she ain't talking Yom Kippur. She's also not wrong; there really is no higher holiday on the kid calendar than Halloween. And Southland families can enjoy a long slow build to All Hallows' Eve with more spooky celebrations, haunted happenings, and evil events per capita than any other urban area. Little ghouls and goblins have their pick of pumpkin patches, haunted houses, corn mazes, and ghost trains—but wait; there's more! SoCal theme parks get all creepy at this time of year, too, and the annual festivals below scream Halloween like nobody's business.

14 Things to Do With Kids at the Texas Renaissance Festival

The Texas Renaissance Festival is back in town, and if you and your family have never been, make this year your first. As the state's largest festival of its kind (and one of the biggest in the country), it is an experience like no other - and it's just a short drive from Houston. Even its 200-acre location has an eclectic story; a former strip-mining site turned Renaissance theme park complete with authentic art, larger-than-life statues and structures, and a village of shops, restaurants, and stages that look like they've been plucked from another era.

The Texas Renaissance Festival has things to do for families and kids, making it a great weekend getaway from Houston.

Things To Do in Connecticut this Weekend: Pumpkins, Scarecrows, County Fairs

A corn maze is open in Middlefield! Photo Courtesy of Lyman Orchards

This week the calendar says we are officially entering fall...and that means we can turn our attention to pumpkins and harvest fun. Head over to Seymour for the annual Pumpkin Festival, or travel to Pumpkintown, USA to see the famous collection of jack-o'-lantern people. Kids love making their own scarecrows in Simsbury. And corn mazes are cropping up everywhere!

There also are plenty of other activities this week. Newtown is hosting a free program about polination and Norwalk is celebrating its first-ever Norwalk Strong. And this isn't even counting all the traditional county fairs, like these in Guilford and Orange.

These fall weekends are particularly action packed so make sure that you subscribe to our weekly newsletters and follow us on Facebook and Instagram so that you won't miss any of the fun! As always, our event calendar is constantly being updated with the latest activities. Have fun!

Things To Do in Chicago this Weekend with Kids: Youth Art Fest, Oz, Free Museums

In celebration of all things Oz,  visit the Midwest Wizard of Oz Festival in Tinley Park. Photo courtesy of the event

Kid-friendly art walks, harvest festivals, and cultural celebrations top the calendar for Chicago families this weekend. To start with, there's the usual full complement of fun fall festivities, including the Oak Brook Autumn Fest, Oak Park's Oaktoberfest, the Autumn in the Park Festival in Palos Park, Bolingbrook's big End of Summer Carnival, the Geneva Autumn Fest, and Naperville's activity-packed Harvest Pow-Wow where kids can learn about the harvest traditions of Native American cultures. The Chicago Japanese Matsuri bids summer farewell in traditional Japanese style with games, crafts, and tasty food.

The day culture fans have been waiting for arrives on Saturday with Smithsonian Free Museum Day: 20+ museums and institutions offer free ticketed admission, including the Adler Planetarium, but don't wait to book your tickets. Also on Saturday, the YAS! Youth Arts Showcase Fest in Millennium Park highlights the creativity of Chicago kids with exhibits and performances. Stick around for another creative, only-in-our-city event that night as the Moonlight Parade at the Bean fills Millennium Park with drummers, glow sticks, and lanterns.

This weekend is also opening day for the Chicago Children's Museum's exhibit devoted to the art of Mo Willems, much-loved author of the Knuffle Bunny and Elephant and Piggie books. Art-loving families can also stroll the Beverly Art Walk or explore the Andersonville Arts Week Fest this weekend. 

Ready for Halloween yet? Pull out your ruby slippers and your lion costume early for the weekend-long Midwest Wizard of Ozfest in Tinley Park, with puppet shows, performances, and photo-ops on the Yellow Brick Road. 

And those are just the highlights! There's lots more to do in this weekend's roundup and in our jam-packed Event Calendar.

HudsonWay Immersion School Brings Mandarin and Spanish Bilingual Education to NYC and NJ

Founded in 2005 by an expectant mom committed to giving her soon-to-be-born twins a bilingual education, HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS) has grown from a home-based class of five kids into an academically rigorous, full immersion Mandarin and Spanish language program for children ages 2 through grade 8. Beginning in PreK, HWIS's core curriculum is taught in both English and the selected foreign language, with the goal of helping students develop advanced cognitive skills, higher second language proficiency, strong social skills, and an increased awareness of the many diverse cultures in our ever-changing world.

Over the last 14 years, the bilingual school has expanded to two campuses in Stirling, New Jersey and New York City, including a brand new facility in Midtown West that just opened in time for the 2019–20 school year. With all this momentum, we sat down with the mastermind mom behind HudsonWay Immersion School, Sharon Huang, to learn more about the unique dual language program and the new Manhattan campus.

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