In our house, birthdays start out with cupcakes (or cake!) for breakfast.  It's our perfect family tradition that ensures that the best part of the birthday celebration doesn't get upstaged by a full belly! 

But hey, cupcakes aren't just for (birthday) breakfast anymore! They are the perfect-sized treat that have earned their own specialized bakeries and even food trucks. So whether you need cupcakes for a special occasion, or you are are just plain hankering for a cake-fix, try one of these local bakeries in Fairfield County for delicious cakes or cupcakes.

For birthday party ideas, make sure to check out our Party Guide. 

If the purpose of art is to make us think about and see the world from a different perspective, taking your kids to see creative works is a double whammy. Kids always seem to see the world with fresh eyes, so having an art-venture is a super fun way to get a new POV as a family.

The city is bursting with FREE outdoor art over the summer, as well as several new exhibits just for kids. But we recently stumbled upon some extra fun, interactive art happenings that although not necessarily designed for kids, are actually perfect for them. Most of these close as summer winds down and fall blows in, so read on to get the scoop now.

After months of construction, the highly anticipated Watsessing Park Spray Park opened on July 20. Located on Glenwood Avenue near Dodd Street in East Orange, the 3,000-square-foot addition to the 69-acre park provides deep sea–themed water adventures to keep your kids cool this summer.

While New Jersey residents are no stranger to the cheap thrills provided by local spraygrounds, those living in Essex County have been forced to drive to neighboring communities for free water fun. But thanks to this new spray park, now you can cool off not too far from your own backyard.

Making its debut right in the middle of a string of 90-plus-degree days, I couldn't think of a better place to take my 4-year-old daughter to beat the heat. With her swimsuit on and beach towels in tow, we were excited to check out this cool new spot.

The fun of free (and almost free) outdoor summer movies for Westchester kids continue through August, and we've got the scoop on where and when. As a bonus, many of these movies are "classics" from the '80s and '90s, so you get the added coolness of sharing a piece of your own childhood with your kids. 

Don't miss out on your last chance to laze under the stars on a blanket with some popcorn. (And you can even bring your own snacks—no sneaking necessary!)

Looking for more summer fun, outdoor and otherwise? Consult our Event Calendar and follow us on Facebook.

Your family may have eaten cereal hundreds, even thousands, of times in your life, but have you ever spooned down a bowl of your favorite childhood brand mixed into a serving of velvety decadent soft-serve ice cream? Well, this isn't just a kid's dessert fantasy. It's a reality at the recently opened Spoons in Seaford on Long Island.

The cereal bar-ice cream shop offers a small express window behind a slew of stores off of Merrick Avenue. It's dishing up tons of brand-name cereal varieties and more cool toppings for ice cream. So, of course, we did the hard work and tasted-tested the new ice cream spot. Read on for our review.

Find more sweet treats at these area candy shops, or check out our guide to Family-Friendly Long Island Restaurants.

NOTE: Spoons is closed for the season. Reopening in April 2018. It also expects to open a second location in 2018!

Think surfing, and palm trees and Pacific ripcurls might spring to mind.

Kids love music. And most of them love Pete the Cat. And pretty much every parent adores any FREE city activities. So my family was very excited to see the skateboard-riding, guitar-playing feline from the popular picture books come to life onstage in this year’s show by Theatreworks USA as part of its FREE summer series.

The 45-minute musical, recommended for ages 5-8, is nonstop action, with lively singing and dancing throughout, and plenty of funny jokes and scenes guaranteed to make kids laugh.

Summer is here, as is the burning desire to cool down with an ice-cold frozen treat. We previously rounded up some of our favorite ice cream parlors in Westchester, and now we're turning to frozen yogurt. But what adults crave in a frozen-yogurt shop isn’t necessarily what kids want (gummy worms on top of cabernet-pomegranate twist?).

Choosing where to go for fro-yo is fraught with numerous options—partly because there are often new shops opening and others closing (Eastchester lost Nuts About Yogurt, while Pure Bliss recently closed in Pelham and Larchmont). Sure, there are many national chains to choose from, but our interest lies more in the local operations. To help guide our readers, my family made the ultimate sacrifice in visiting a bunch of fro-yo shops in Lower Westchester—strictly for our readers’ benefit, of course. A few calories later, we’ve whittled these down to a choice few and have offered the inside scoop.

Read on for the skinny on fro-yo! Be sure to sign up for our newsletters and follow us on Facebook to stay in the know about all things kid-related in Westchester.