Sure, there’s a chance of some snow in the forecast to kick off 2024 but don’t let that get in the way of making fun plans to start the new year. Go ice skating at a winter village, catch a live performance of Paw Patrol or join New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith at a fundraising event to support families affected by cancer. Make sure you check dates, times and weather before you head out.
WEEKEND
Newark Winter Village
Mulberry Commons Park, Newark
Thursday- Sunday
Try go-karting, ice skating, playing carnival games, renting a heated private igloo or getting food from local vendors.
Festival of Trees
Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton
Thursday – Sunday
Take your time walking through the museum’s elegant galleries, where Christmas trees, mantels and porches will be decorated for the holidays by local businesses, garden clubs and non-profit organizations.
Threading Memories
Art@Bainbridge, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton
Thursday – Sunday
Korean-born artist MiKyoung Lee hosts her first solo museum exhibition. The exhibition features richly textured large-scale sculptures and wall-mounted works and explores themes of domesticity, family ties, and how we process memory and experience.
A Longwood Christmas
Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA
Thursday – Sunday
The beautiful landscape includes 1,100 acres of flowers, plants and trees. The 2023 theme is retro, with a nostalgic feel and throwback decorations to your favorite toys as a child. Everywhere you look, inside and outside, will be decorated for the season with bright lights and glittery tinsel.
Festival of Trees
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center and Amboy Bank, New Brunswick
Friday – Saturday
The trees on display will represent several countries and cultures and traditions from around the world.
Historic Smithville & Village Green
Smithville
Friday – Saturday
This quaint South Jersey shopping town gets all decked out for the holidays with a talking Christmas tree and “dancing” trees on Lake Meone, plus a train ride, s’mores by the bonfire and tons of boutiques for shopping.
PAW Patrol Live: The Great Pirate Adventure
CURE Insurance Arena, Trenton
Friday – Sunday
The performance is an interactive live stage show, where your kids will learn pirate catchphrases, dance the pirate boogie and help their favorite pups follow the treasure map and solve picture puzzles throughout their mission.
Holiday Lights at The Bronx Zoo
Bronx Zoo, The Bronx, NY
Friday – Sunday
The zoo comes to life at night with immersive light displays, custom-designed animal lanterns and animated light shows. This year, there will be new lantern displays showcasing the wildlife of New York’s ocean waters and wetlands, plus a new interactive experience celebrating bioluminescent creatures.
Pier Village Ice Festival
Pier Village, Long Branch
Saturday – Sunday
Sculpting teams from across the country will work during an afternoon of live ice carving in an elimination style “speed carving” format. As part Winterfest, there will be firepits, live entertainment, winter cocktails and hot chocolate.
A Very Furry Christmas Celebration
Sesame Place, Langhorne, PA
Saturday – Sunday
The theme park will be transformed into a one-of-a-kind Christmas wonderland with millions of twinkling lights, rides, decorations, and entertainment and activities. This is the last weekend of the holiday celebration.
FRIDAY
Casino Royale
The Suites at 76, TopGolf Swing Suite, Morristown
Sanaa Saleh, the wife of New York Jets Coach Robert Saleh, is a survivor of sexual abuse and founded Sanaa’s Stars to help other victims, especially children. This casino-style fundraiser will include Top Chef passed cuisine, a premium bar sponsored by D’USSE’ VSOP COGNAC and Armand de Brignac (Ace of Spades Champagne), luxury live auction items, DJ and live music by Sound Entertainment.
SATURDAY
The Flip Side
Madison Community Arts Center, Madison
This improv comedy troupe will take audience suggestions to develop its skits and mini plays.
Make Your Own Birdfeeder Workshop
Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, Bernardsville
Winter is a critical time for birds to find food. All the ingredients will be on hand to make a suet mix for the log feeder and a bonus suet cake to take home. Note that peanuts and peanut butter will be used.
SUNDAY
Kancer Jam
NJIT Campus, Newark
New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith will host his first-ever fundraising event, joined by his Devils teammates and fans for an afternoon of frisbee-throwing fun to support local families affected by cancer. Teams will play a round-robin with the division winners competing in a playoff to decide who will meet for the Championship of “Smitty Jam.” Those waiting their turn to play will have the opportunity to interact with Devils players.
Reptiles Alive
Echo Hill Park, Flemington
Many snakes and turtles live in Hunterdon County. Find out if snakes are slimy and how fast a turtle moves. Discover what reptiles need our protection and which reptiles should be observed at a distance.
The Battle of Princeton
Princeton Battlefield State Park, Princeton
Join the Princeton Battlefield Society for a reenactment of the January 3, 1777, Battle of Princeton, followed by a memorial wreath-laying ceremony at the Colonnade and Memorial Grove at the Princeton Battlefield. You will watch British and American reenactors fire muskets and cannons, and then you can participate at a memorial wreath-laying ceremony with military units and color guards.
Superfrico Brunch and Matinee of “The HOOK”
Spiegelworld, Caesar’s Atlantic City Resort, Atlantic City
Every Sunday, adults 18+ can sit down for brunch and then enjoy a showing of “The HOOK,” which pays homage to Atlantic City’s golden age of live entertainment through acrobatics and a chorus line.
Art Together: Snowflake Suncatchers
Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick
The free family drop-in art workshop will have you and the kids making a suncatcher as unique as a snowflake.
ShopRite Kidz Cook
Staten Island Children’s Museum, Staten Island, NY
Kids will prepare cauliflower mac-and-cheese during this caregiver-and-me program that introduces children to a diversity of foods, explains cooking concepts and helps build dexterity with cooking utensils. Included with museum admission.
ONGOING
Makerspace Saturday
Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, Madison
First Saturday of every month
Whether you are looking for a kid-friendly project or for something creative to do after spending time at the museum, drop by Makerspace for hands-on activities in a new collaborative workspace geared toward kids ages 5 -12. Kids will build with LEGOs, paint, make jewelry, experiment with engineering and coding robots, and more.
Tours of Crane House & Historic YWCA
Crane House & Historic YWCA, Montclair
Every Sunday
Take a self-guided tour to learn about the women of the Historic YWCA and the Crane family at your own pace. Take some time to walk through the gardens and meadow on site.
Wayne PAL Antique Collectibles Show and Vintage Flea Market
Wayne PAL Athletic League Complex, Wayne
First Sunday of every month, through April
The show features over 150 vendor tables in two large rooms and the front lobby where you can find vintage and sterling jewelry, glassware and Lenox, toys and trains, antique and collectible dolls and action figures, vintage postcards and photos and artwork, military, political and sports memorabilia including cards, magazines and newspapers, vintage coins and watches, classic rock CDs and more.
Winery in Winter Weekends
Terhune Orchards, Princeton
Saturdays – Sundays in January
There will be live music ranging from jazz to blues to folk to rock. Seating is available indoors amongst the wine tanks or outdoors with firepits. Adults can have hot mulled wine or tasting flights of Terhune’s wines. Kids can have fun with s’mores and hot cocoa kits. Light bites of cheese plates and chips & salsa baskets are available inside.
Fire & Frost Fun
Peddler’s Village, Lahaska, PA
January 5, 6, 12 and 13
Enjoy live fire artistry and ice carving demonstrations, fire pits, outdoor food and drinks, and a village-wide display of over 30 ice sculptures (including an ice throne made perfect for selfies).
Sunday Character Meet & Greets
Casino Pier Arcade, Seaside Heights
Sundays, January 7 – February 4
Take a break from playing in the arcade to take photos with your favorite costumed friends: January 7 Tower Princess and Agrabah Princess; January 14 Australian Pups; January 21 Snow Sisters; January 28 Trolls; and February 4 Enchanted Rose Princess and Mermaid Princess.
Big Apple Circus: Journey to the Rainbow
Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, New York, NY
Through January 15
More than 30 artists from all over the world will perform in costumes specially designed for the show, and there will be a live orchestra of eight musicians.
Antique Toy Train Show
The Museum of American History at Deptford, West Deptford
Thursdays-Sundays, through January 28
The show will feature O and O-27 gauge toy trains from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Lionel, Marx and American Flyer engines, with adjoining cars, will race against each other on two platforms.
Holiday Tea
The Mathis House, Toms River
Select dates, through January 31
Visit this gorgeous Victorian B&B with beautifully decorated tea rooms on the first floor, plus a year-round Christmas store in the attic. During the holiday season, come by for a special afternoon holiday tea or themed events like Friendsgiving Dinner, Scones With Santa, Most Wonderful Crime of the Year Murder Mystery and several holiday open houses.
Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY
Through March
The famous ice-skating rink returns to Rockefeller Center in NYC for its 87th season. While you’re watching the skating, or when you need to take a break from the ice, you can warm up inside the special skate chalets on the South Esplanade. This year will be the first time you can enjoy alcoholic beverages in the chalets, with a soon-to-be-announced menu of drinks by Other Half Brewery, served alongside a menu of après-skate bites. Skating runs through March but the chalets will be rentable from November 4 to January 14, 2024. Details on Family and Kids Day and opportunities to take photos with Santa will be announced.
Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park
Bryant Park, New York, NY
Through March 3
The rink is the largest, free ice skating rink in New York. You can relax at The Lodge, where you can eat and drink while watching the skaters.
Newport Skates
Jersey City
Through March 15, 2024
JC’s only outdoor ice skating rink is not only available for open skating but for lessons and parties, too.
Roosevelt Park Family Skating Rink
Roosevelt Park, Edison
Through March 31, 2024
There is open skating as well as skating lessons.
Night Forms
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton Twp.
Through April 7, 2024
You will have nighttime access to the art and horticulture throughout the sculpture park, which will be illuminated in an immersive experience.
The Science Behind Pixar
Liberty Science Center, Jersey City
Through May 5, 2024
Learn all about the science behind Pixar’s animated films. Kids can try a bunch of hands-on experiences like making a short film, creating a robot friend for “WALL·E” and designing a new movie set using props from “Monsters University.” Learn what animation rendering is, then practice it by rendering a scene from “Inside Out.” Create a digital sculpture from an artist’s sketch. Use lights to solve challenges similar to the ones Pixar faced in creating underwater scenes with virtual light in “Finding Nemo.”
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