Halloween in New York City

The big to-do in town is the parade in Greenwich Village. The bigger to-do for little ones is trick or treating. Suburban parents who recall trick or treating as a child as setting off alone in their neighborhoods are baffled by the urban adaptation of Halloween.

Trick or treating is done within buildings, to a preset list of apartments, of those residents who sign up before hand.

It makes me sad that my children cannot set off alone. My older child would adore to take off with her friends. But taking the place of the potential threat of razors in apples are some equally hideous fears of safety for children. So perhaps it has evened out – trick or treating in suburban neighborhoods is now the chaperoned and planned outing it is in the city.

Here is a short list of handy resources for Trick or Treaters in New York City.

Dylan’s Candy Bar for fancy candy
1011 3rd Avenue @ 60th Street , (888) 395-2676

Economy Candy – for lots of candy
108 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002
Phone: (800) 352-4544




Halloween Adventure Shop: for costumes
104 4th Avenue
New York NY 10003
212.673.4546

Halloween Guides

New York Magazine

Mommy Poppins

New York’s Best Playgrounds for Children

New York is the greatest place for kids. When my daughters were a little younger I would buckle them into the double stroller, pack up a couple of sippy cups, hard boiled eggs and rice crackers for lunch and go see the sights. We would do the playground hop, stopping at every playground on our way across town. My destination was either City Bakery (for a chocolate cookie) or the Cupcake Cafe across the street in Books of Wonder (for a cupcake). It was a dilemma, cookie or cupcake – which one to consume? I never had to worry about it being fattening because pushing the double stroller was such a work out. I always tried to time my expedition to coincide with the farmers market in Union Square so that I could purchase my groceries and tie them onto the stroller. The only thing I had to be careful of were the moments when my daughters would charge towards the swings, leaving my unbalanced stroller to topple backwards. That could get messy.

One warm spring day I ambitiously walked all the way downtown and took the water taxi across the river from Manhattan to Brooklyn. I got off at Fulton Ferry Landing and bought the girls ice cream at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory located in a former fireboat house. I waited until we got to Jaques Torres in Dumbo until I fulfilled my sugar craving. There, I devoured some petite chocolate morsels. Then, we went to the playground under the Manhattan Bridge. I rested on the bench and my daughters tried out every slide and swing and made new friends with the other kids playing in the park. I had a great time talking to all the other moms and dads who were there. Parenting in NYC is a joy because there is so much that I can do with the kids that I enjoy as much as they do. Everyone is happy.

Best Playgrounds in NYC

Stuyvesant Town has multiple playgrounds. No cars in the center and a clean public bathroom close by. Whoowee! Look for Stuytown’s famous black squirrels.

Tompkins Square Park can get crowded but definitely the best place to people watch, lots of gorgeous, trendy Europeans. Be careful of broken glass.

Chelsea Waterside Playground is good for a hot day because of the fantastic water play areas. Bring a towel.

Visit Madison Square Park if you want some water play but don’t feel like dealing with the whole water scene in Chelsea. This playground is sweet and fun plus they schedule story telling.

Union Square Park is perfect after the farmer’s market. Stay away from the sand playground because kids want to take their shoes off and believe me – you DON’T want them walking around barefoot in it. Think kitty litter for rats.

The Glass Garden is NYU’s secret immaculate garden playground. It has a garden, green house, and hammocks. An oasis. My FAVORITE playground. Plus they do birthdays.

Teardrop Park between Warren and Murray Streets, east of River Terrace to North End Avenue. This playground is really hard to find but once you do it is worth it. The great slide is fantastic (I always feel compelled to go down it too) and the bluestone wall is fun. It’s near the monument to the Irish Famine which is also a good place to go because it is AMAZING. It is a built hilltop covered with Irish grass, wildflowers, thistle and has a reconstructed cottage from Ireland. Truly a surprising place in the middle of Battery Park.

Ancient Playground uptown I have to mention it because it looks so cool, though, we have never gone to it because I have usually exhausted my children by visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and by the time we walk by, it is time to go home and sleep.

Pierrepont Playground in Brooklyn Heights. I grew up going to this playground so I have a gazillion wonderful memories here – (remember the seesaw?). It is as popular now as it was when I was a kid. Actually more so, you might have to take a number to get inside on a Saturday.

This article was written for My Urban Sherpa by Victoria Kann, illustrator, educator, co-author of Pinkalicious, and mother of two playground enjoying children.

Fall is birthday season

Fall is birthday season at my house. This means birthday parties to host, birthday presents to give, and my birthday to celebrate. And it means a lovely succession of dinners out. This all takes quite a bit of planning and starts with a list of excellent places to shop and eat. Here is my list of indispensable birthday resources.

For entertaining at home stop at Zabar’s … where you can plan a menu around their wonderful selection of breads, cheeses, prepared foods, and wonderful selection of fresh produce for the do-it-yourselfers.

Gifts for the science-minded preteen are easily found at the AMNH shop, for the fashionable at Berkley Girl, and for the fun at Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

Young nieces and nephews and their development-oriented parents will adore gifts from Yoyamart and Kid O.

Goodie bags are easily assembled at Dylan’s and E.A.T. The Store, where selection, convenience and fun come at a price. Bargain hunters can put together a fun goodie-bag at Target and H&M.

Children receive an enormous number of gifts, more than can be enjoyed by any one child in any given year. These gifts are best shared with Evan’s Life Foundation, a wonderful 501c3 that distributes gifts to children for Christmas who will not perhaps have any other gifts to open.

For the discerning stepmother, restaurant reservations are best made at Bouley, Fedia, or Esca if followed by theatre tickets. Here the food, décor and service will all be excellent.

For an Atkins dad, Peter Luger for steak, Milos for cooked fish, and Sushi Yasuda – for sushi will not disappoint. Here the food and the service will impress, and the noise levels permit audibility.

For bestfriends, where a quiet moment is found tete-a-tete at lunch, Four Seasons.

And for a casual and celebratory dinner for oneself, uptown choose Centolire, downtown choose Prune and in the middle – though not midtown – choose Union Square. If you take your birthdays as seriously as an adult as one does as a child – choose all three.

Frog Exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History

First came the butterflies, then snakes and now frogs. These live animal exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History are more popular with 2, 3, 4 and 8, 9,10- year-olds, according to the random sampling in my house over the last few years, than AMNH’s other great exhibits.

In one hour of a hot afternoon you can visit a colorful selection of frogs in a comfortable air-conditioned wing of the museum. The frogs come from the same farm that raises the snakes, though their ancestries range from Africa to South America, Asia and America. Knowledgeable docents and interactive displays enhance the exhibit: one interactive display illustrates frog sounds, another is a virtual dissection. How nice to get that experience without torturing the poor frog or the poor child tortured by the torturing.

A nice break from the pace and heat of the city.