Anna Fader

Founder & CEO of Mommy Poppins
Anna was born in Park Slope, spent her early years in the West Village. By the time she graduated high school, she had lived in 4 of the 5 boroughs. Growing up in NYC in the '70s meant the streets were her playgrounds. Museums and avant garde music venues were the kid-friendly activities. And living downtown taught her the importance of creating community for families in NYC.

Now, raising her own two children in the city, she tries to create the same sense of magic and community she felt growing up, despite today's more commercialized version of kid-friendly New York.

She started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to share a more artsy, educational, uncommercial, community-oriented vision of raising kids in New York City. Today Mommy Poppins is relied on by millions of families as the authority on the best things to do with kids beyond New York City: from Boston to Philly, Los Angeles, Houston and travel guides for dozens more cities and destinations.

Latest posts by Anna

Foundation for Jewish Camp's BunkConnect Helps Families Experience the Magic of Summer Camp

Submitted by Anna Fader on Sat, 01/04/2014 - 10:00am

Every child should experience the magic of summer camp. After all, summer at overnight camp is the adventure of a lifetime. It’s where kids discover who they really are, build connections and create memories they’ll hold onto for their entire lives. And, it also happens be a whole lot of fun.

For years the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) has worked to help children experience the immersive atmosphere of Jewish camp where Jewish values, connection to Israel, and the culture of Judaism are entwined with sports, arts and crafts, and friends. With BunkConnect—along with a Find-A-Camp tool and the One Happy Camper grant program—Jewish camp should be accessible for every family.

Free Sledding and Hot Chocolate in NYC Parks Saturday, January 4, 2014

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 3:00pm

It's official... an official snow day that is. On Saturday, January 4, the Parks Department is inviting New Yorkers to come out to a neighborhood park for some winter fun. White-capped hills around the city are open for sledding, snowman-making and more. And at five designated locations, the Parks Department will be handing out sleds and free hot chocolate while supplies last from 11am to 3pm.

Best Tech Gifts For NYC Living, Plus Skylanders Giveaway

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 12/17/2013 - 10:00am

Whenever I need recommendations on what to buy, I turn to my friends at Cool Mom Picks. Liz Gumbinner and Kristen Chase, the founders of Cool Mom Picks and Cool Mom Tech, know their stuff; especially when it comes to the very best gear, toys and design for stylish kids and their grown-ups. So I'm super psyched that Liz has offered to give us her best tech holiday gift picks specifically for New Yorkers, because, you know, we have special needs.

Check out her great gift ideas that will make anybody's tiny-apartment-living, stinky-subway-commuting, trying-to-stick-to-a-budget please just a little bit better. And then read on because we've got a great giveaway from Target for a Skylanders Swap Force Starter Pack with an Exclusive Target Two-Pack.

Best NYC Brunch Spots for Families? Try A Hotel

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 12/10/2013 - 4:00pm

The wonderful thing about brunch is that it embodies a sense of luxury and decadence: Waking up late, lingering over indulgent breakfast foods, and sometimes even drinking before noon! But then there’s brunch in NYC, which often includes waiting ages for a table at crowded and noisy restaurants. That may have been fine when you were childless, but now that you have kids, you're just happy if you can eat some eggs and get home without a meltdown. Hitting a trendy brunch spot and savoring a second cup of coffee is out of the question.

Personally, I’d given up on brunch long ago until a random and fortuitous thing happened. Last fall, I was forced to have breakfast in a hotel and something dawned on me. Hotels are great at breakfast, they are generally kid-friendly and, aside from a few of the famous ones, they never have lines for brunch.

To test my theory, I set out to look for the best hotel brunches with kids in NYC. Over the past six months, I’ve been brunching with my family at hotels all over Manhattan to find out if they really are the special secret I imagined them to be. After months of selfless brunch testing (see the sacrifices I make for you?), the results are in. I’ve discovered some truly off-the-radar brunch spots that you should definitely add to your list. After all, just because you have kids doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the finer things in life—you just need to find the right place to do it.

5 Reasons to Love Our Brand-new Mommy Poppins App: Free in the App Store Today!

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 10/01/2013 - 5:00pm

UPDATE: Our iPhone app is no longer active, but our site is optimized for use on mobile and has maps to find locations near you. You can add it to your home screen too by dragging the URL to your phone.

Finally, after months of work and lots of reader support, the Mommy Poppins app is now available for download! We're very excited to share it with you and look forward to hearing what you think, too.

We created this app to help families find the best places for kids to learn, create, shop, eat and play indoors and out while on the go in NYC and beyond. You'll find the same curated content that we offer on our site, all tried and tested by local moms so you're in the know before you go.

A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated and spread the word about our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that helped ensure that the app could be offered for FREE.

Here are 5 things we hope you'll love about the Mommy Poppins app. Or just go ahead and download it now for FREE in the iTunes app store and decide for yourself what your favorite features are.

Back to School Swagapalooza Giveaway 2013

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 4:00pm

It's back-to-school time, when parents heave a joint sigh of relief/groan of pain as they send their kids off to be educated for another year. To help you ease back into the new school routine, we're doing a huge giveaway with back-to-school essentials and swag.

We've got some amazing prizes that you and your children will love. Brand-new bikes, a year's supply of school uniforms and vitamins, backpacks, books, school supplies and more. Click on each link to enter that giveaway. You must enter each giveaway separately to be eligible to win that prize.

There are multiple ways to enter. Plus you can share with your friends to earn even more entries, and spread your entries out throughout the giveaway week. Pay attention, though, because each giveaway ends on a different date. Good luck!

Five Reasons to Love House Swapping

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 08/15/2013 - 10:37pm

#familytravel

Traveling with a family can be hard. You have to negotiate everyone's needs, children don't always adjust to new surroundings or schedules easily and have frequent and sometimes finicky eating and other needs, and it's just plain expensive. The easiest way to solve many of these problems is to rent a home rather than staying in a hotel. While hotels are lovely, houses give you a lot more room and comfort and amenities that families really need, like a kitchen and possibly laundry, toys, and other kid-friendly gear. Renting a home can be less expensive than a nice hotel, but it could also be costly. One way to get all the comforts of a home without the expense is house swapping. I'm a big fan of house swapping and have done several vacations this way. House swapping is more than a form of accommodation, it's a way of life. Here's what I love about traveling this way:

Staten Island Yankees: A Kid-Centric Way to Go to a Ballgame

Submitted by Anna Fader on Mon, 08/12/2013 - 10:00am

While the New York Yankees and Mets get all the hype, going to a major league baseball game can be a major expense not to mention a major pain with kids. To enjoy the fun of America's favorite spectator sport in a more family-friendly format, in-the-know New Yorkers go to see one of our area's many minor league baseball teams.

The Staten Island Yankees are the Short-Season Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees and their games are incredibly kid-friendly. I recently attended a Staten Island Yankees game with my extended family and it makes for a great day or evening out, and includes a ferry ride, a fun ballgame with lots of action in the stands, and often fireworks or other special events. We continue our month-long focus on Staten Island with an outing at this popular ballpark.