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Free & Cheap Fun with Kids for Winter Holiday Break
What are you doing this week? Check out these lists of great cheap and free fun in our region — and maybe add a few more of your own. These lists were written in summer, so you’ll have to gloss over some suggestions and skip those fountains (brr). But you should find plenty of fantastic activities here. And if you’ve already done everything in your own city, plan a weekend getaway trip to a nearby city and take advantage of their fab freebies: Best Kids’ Bookstores in Cascadia 35 Free and Cheap Things to Do with Kids in Vancouver, BC 10 Things to Do with Kids in Vancouver (Rainy Day…
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Kid Picks for Seattle Restaurant Week
On Sunday, October 17, Seattle Restaurant Week kicks off. For almost two weeks (October 17-28), Sunday through Thursday, diners will enjoy three-course dinners for just $25 at over 100 area restaurants. Evado PR helped me collect information on kid-friendly restaurants that offer children’s menus. I’ve highlighted menu items that might be more adventurous, along with the standards. Of course, these menu items are offered the other 51 weeks, so you’re not limited to dining during SRW. Don’t see your favorite restaurant listed here? Don’t stress. Call ahead and ask whether they make special accommodations for kids, whether smaller portions or appetizer options. Go to the Seattle Restaurant Week site to…
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San Juan Island: Cheap camps and free tours
The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor (on San Juan Island) is offering two great family activities this summer. But if you want to take advantage of either one, you’d better act fast! San Juan Island offers a truly spectacular family getaway — picture pastoral countryside and artisan farms alongside regular family-fun attractions like a movie theater, great food, toy stores and a bowling alley. Here are the details on the activities (and read my Whale Museum review here): Pod Nods at the Whale Museum, San Juan Island, Washington State If your kids are between the ages of 6-10 and you’d like a fun (yet separate) escape for the whole family,…
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Tips and Hints: Finding a family-friendly hotel
Kid friendly hotels – whether in Portland (Oregon) or Portland (Maine) — are blessedly similar. Sure, the landscape changes, but a great hotel offers both respite and recreation to vacationing families. Here are questions we ask before we go, we or read over hotel websites to find the answers. Any of these points are equally valid if you’re looking for family friendly New York City hotels or kid friendly Las Vegas accommodations. And of course, you’ll want to take into account customer reviews or guidebook recommendations (I recommend dozens of kid-friendly Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle and Portland hotels in my book Northwest Kid Trips). However, it’s rare to find a hotel…
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Families Travel! Taking the Kids to Vancouver on Amtrak
Canadian-born Seattle resident Connie Wanklin-Iskra, her husband Matt, son Makhno (almost 3) and daughter Naomi (6 months) decided to enjoy a car-free weekend in Vancouver, BC. So, over the long US Memorial Day weekend, they decided to take the Amtrak train‘s route to Vancouver for a two-day trip. “We wanted to stay longer, but felt we might need a day to recover when we returned,†Wanklin-Iskra says. “Which was definitely the case.†They boarded the Amtrak in Edmonds, Washington at 8:07 a.m. and arrived in Vancouver, BC, almost four hours later. The train was $70 round trip for each adult, half-off for Makhno and free for her daughter (and other children under age 2). Once in Vancouver, it was…