Top Picks for This Weekend
’Tis the season to do good, have fun. While diving into seasonal kids’ activities, bring canned food goods or new mittens, hats or scarves to add to The Giving Tree for the less fortunate at Rockwood Museum & Park’s FREE Holiday Open House, Fri.-Sun. in Wilmington, DE. The Un-Gala at W. Conshohocken’s Cradles to Crayons Sat. invites families for crafts, games and sorting & packing winter essentials for low-income and homeless kids. And the Jingle Fest Holiday Bazaar & Family Fun Festival at Oaks, PA’s Greater Philadelphia Expo Center Sat. gives 100% of the funds raised to Horse Power for Life, benefiting kids and adults with cancer.
Two local towns use a pinch of holiday magic to transform into 19th-century London during FREE Dickens Festivals. Sat. in downtown Medford, NJ, encounter live music, jugglers, face painters, magicians, ice carvers, street vendors, Santa & Mrs. Claus . . . and three Frozen characters. Sun. in downtown Narberth, PA, enjoy period caroling, performers, puppet shows, carriage rides, ice sculpting and a kids’ scavenger hunt to search for costumed Dickens characters like Scrooge and Tiny Tim.
Go on an international adventure with your museum “passport” Sat. during the 19th-annual FREE Peace Around the World Family Holiday Celebration at Philly’s Penn Museum. Journey to eight “countries,” including China, Haiti, India, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland and Russia, to experience and discover their holiday traditions with kids’ music, storytelling, dance performances, henna hand art, face painting, balloon art and a family craft. Top the afternoon off with sugary bonus: Kids get free cupcakes!
More Local Events the Kids Will Love
Take family time to relax from shopping stress with a Children’s Holiday Tea Sat. at St. Davids, PA’s Radnor Hotel and the Winter Princess Royal Tea Sun. at Egg Harbor City, NJ’s Tuscany House at Renault Winery Resort.
Visit with Santa, watch It’s a Wonderful Life and carol with local schools during the FREE Christmas Open House at the Smyrna Opera House Sun. in Smyrna, DE. Toys for Tots and canned good donations welcome.
Kick Off the Holidays!
There’s a flurry of wintry fun at Sister Cities Park’s FREE FrostFest in Philly Sat., complete with holiday-themed crafts, carols, kids’ karaoke and a decorate-your-own-treat “frosting” bar.
Celebrate the season when kids’ favorite first-grader takes the stage during Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells at the Bristol Riverside Theatre Sat. & Sun. in Bristol, PA.
Get a head start on Hanukkah Sun. Taste-test some of Philly’s top chefs’ potato pancakes during Latkepalooza at Philly’s Gershman Y and a enjoy a bevy of Jewish family fun at the FREE ChanukahFest at Wilmington, DE’s Siegel Jewish Community Center.
Take part in traditional Swedish holiday celebrations and kids’ processions during Lucia Fest & Christmas Market at Philly’s American Swedish Historical Museum Sat. and Sankta Lucia Celebration at Wilmington, DE’s Old Swedes’ Church Sun.
Dive into the holiday classics with Movie Night at the Museum’s showing of Elf at Wilmington’s Delaware Museum of Natural History Fri. and The Polar Express Movie Screening at Millville, NJ’s Levoy Theatre Sat.
Deck the halls with personal flair! Join the Starr Garden Recreation Center’s Ornament Making Party Sat. in Philly and the Fernbrook Farms Environmental Education Center’s Wreath Making Family Workshop Sat. & Sun. in Chesterfield, NJ.
Help make someone’s holiday special. Bring a new, unwrapped toy to the Toys for Tots Toy Drop at Egg Harbor Township, NJ’s Storybook Land today and Fri. or the Holiday Toy Drive at Philly’s Eastern State Penitentiary through Dec. 14 for local kids with incarcerated parents.
Walk in two different Winter Wonderlands this weekend. Sat., have old-fashioned fun in nature at Media, PA’s Tyler Arboretum and Sun., enjoy carriage rides, visits with St. Nick and holiday store displays for FREE at Philly’s Headhouse Square Shambles.
