How many weekend mornings do you wake-up and realize you have 48 free hours and no plans? That was quite a luxury pre-kids but now, it just makes me panic. I recently discovered a great resource that helps me avoid such crises.

Macaroni Kid is a free weekly e-newsletter and website that lists all of the best events and activities for kids and families in your community. It was started about a year and a half ago in the Hamptons(aka the east end of Long Island, NY) and it now reaches more than 125 communities around the country.  Local parents write each edition and put their own spin on it. I use Macaroni Kid in Manhattan and in the Hamptons – the events they list are things I actually want to go to and that both Benjamin and I will enjoy. Last weekend, we found out about Curious George Family Day at the Jewish Museum which was a ton of fun (and killed 3 hours on Sunday afternoon).

The NYC edition (www.nyceast.macaronikid.com) is run by Manhattan mom Monica Storch.  Monica does a wonderful job listing free events such as library and bookstore storytimes as well as cool places to go that you might not otherwise hear about like the Glass Gardens at NYU and the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden on E.61st street.  Each week, she also hosts awesome giveaways (full disclosure, last week she did a giveaway for a $50 GIFT HERO gift certificate).

I encourage you to check out Macaroni Kid and sign up for your local edition. If you are lucky enough to live in Manhattan, visit Monica’s website to sign up.  For other cities, visit http://national.macaronikid.com/ to learn more.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 6:47 am by Stefanie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.