In-person performances are back and you don't need to dig into your 401(k) to give your kids a memorable live theater experience in NYC. This winter, there are lots of family-friendly productions that cost a sliver of what you'd pay to see one of our favorite Broadway productions.

There are wonderful winter theater options for kids of all ages from toddlers to teens, including shows aimed specifically at the preschool set (Sesame Street Live, Blippi: The Musical); stage adaptations of popular picture books (Rosie Revere, Engineer & Friends); and eye-popping spectacles for the whole family (the aerial arts-filled The Little Prince, Flip Circus). Bonus: Some of our winter theater picks are also being streamed to at-home audiences.

Best of all, most of these 15 family-friendly winter theater shows have tickets starting at $25 or less, so you can take the whole family for less than the price of one Broadway seat!

By now you've probably heard that Broadway is back! But what about theater for young audiences? Because children under age 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, many beloved theater series for families, including BAMkids, Just Kidding at Symphony Space, La MaMa Kids, Central Park's Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, and Lincoln Center Kids, are still on pause. Even the New Victory Theater is reopening with a show for high schoolers. However, if your family is craving the communal magic of in-person theater, there are some fabulous fall theater shows aimed at tweens and teens, plus an eye-popping Winnie the Pooh puppet show for the sippy-cup set.

'Tis the season to get the gang all dressed up to see some holiday shows. While there are plenty of extravaganzas to splurge on, like the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and all those beautiful Nutcrackers, if you've got young children you may not want to blow all of your bucks on theater tickets.

That's why our roundup of Christmas-season family theater includes a range of productions, from inexpensive, low-key offerings perfect for fidgety preschoolers, to over-the-top spectacles that are worth the investment.

From live stage adaptations of classics such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Christmas Carol, to seasonal musicals based on popular picture books, to amazing circus feats and offbeat experiences, here are our top 18 holiday shows for NYC families for the 2019 holiday season.