Anna Fader

Founder of Mommy Poppins

A fourth-generation Brooklynite, Anna started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to help families find the best things to do with kids in NYC, with a particular emphasis on sharing activities that are free, affordable, and enriching. The site, used by millions of families, has grown to become the ultimate resource for parents in the major US cities, plus travel guides for 100s of destinations.

Anna is a believer in the magic of summer camps, traveling with kids, and that you can raise kids on a budget and still have a rich life full of amazing memories. Anna's first Mommy Poppins book, The Young Traveler's Journal and Activity Book, published in 2025 and co-written with her daughter, Amelia Eigerman, brings that ethos to life, in addition to this website.

Latest posts by Anna

Spectacular Holiday Giveaway Finale: 9 Giveaways to NYC's Top Family Events

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 12/04/2008 - 8:59am

Just two days left in our week of Holiday Giveaways and we're finishing it off with a bang. For the next two days we have a huge number of tickets to some of NYC's best family events: We're giving away two family packs to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Plus four tickets to Wintuk. Four tickets to the Big Apple Circus. And ten tickets to New York Shop, which I'll be giving away in pairs. That's nine giveaways in the next two days. That's over $1500 in prizes!

Here's the trick, the giveaways are going to start at random times and end at random times, so keep checking back to catch one. There's lots of tickets to win, so send the links to your friends and you can all go to one of these events together. You can enter as many of the guiveaways as you like and you can also win more than once.

I'll also be announcing the beginning of each giveaway on Twitter, so if you are on Twitter, follow me and you can keep tabs on the situation from there.

Spectacular Holiday Giveaway: Clutter Be Gone

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 12/02/2008 - 4:59pm

How do we accumulate so much stuff, when, I swear, we never buy anything? We do our best to follow the one-in, one-out rule. My kids are actually pretty good about giving up their old toys (they have a knack for expressing contempt and disdain for most of the things in their lives). And yet, my closets look like booby traps for unsuspecting fools who might attempt to open them. They are so packed with...I don't know what.

Cleaning up, to us, means moving everything from the surface of the place we want to be clean to some other surface that is as far from that one as possible. I dream of making it my life's work to make our home a sanctuary where every place you rest your eyes is a perfect picture of tranquility and beauty. Hahahhaha. Well, maybe in another life, the one where I'm not scrambling from one thing to the next every waking minute of the day.

But wouldn't it be nice to have someone just come in and take care of these things. Even just a little facelift before our homes are over-run and picked over by relatives over the Holidays. A little nip here and a tuck here to get our apartments organized. I Thought so.

Shopping Locally: Craft Fairs, Sample Sales and Holiday Shopping Events

Submitted by Anna Fader on Tue, 12/02/2008 - 12:36pm

Buying local is the hip new thing, but beyond just being trendy and "supporting local businesses," buying local is important to us because it builds community and sustains what we love most about NYC: its cool, eclectic mix of unique, small shops and walkable city streets.

There are several Holiday shopping events that make shopping locally into fun, outings. Plus we've got a round-up of sample sales.

Win Big in our Week of Holiday Giveaways!: Today, $300 in Toys

Submitted by Anna Fader on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 8:39am

This week to promote our Holiday Guide, we're doing a whole week of fabulous giveaways. This is by far the best line-up of giveaways we've ever done on the site, with well over $1000 in awesome prizes.

We're kicking it off with two awesome giveaways of Mattel's best selling toys for boys and girls. Each prize is worth $150. and will make you the most loved parent ever on Christmas or Chanukah. Check out what you get:

Countdown to Christmas: 5 Advent Calendar Ideas

Submitted by Anna Fader on Sat, 11/29/2008 - 6:43am

At the zoo today my friend was telling me how her daughter is already having anxiety about Christmas being over. She said they were even thinking of celebrating Chanukah this year just to spread it out a little and avoid the whole ONE BIG DAY thing. It made me think about the genius of advent calendars for spreading out the fun of the Holidays over a longer period of time.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the advent calendar is really a perfect thing. They are beautiful, creative and hold tiny little treats in them that get to be opened one-a-day, working up to Christmas. What could be better than that? Some people put candies or small presents in their advent calendars, but the really great thing about them is you can create your own advent calendar tradition. You can also make an advent calendar out of just about anything. I've seen some really beautiful and cool home-made advent calendars.

Here are my best ideas both for advent calendars you can make and what to put inside them:

Free Play: November 28-30, 2008, Holiday Activities, National Day of Listening, Winter's Eve Festival and more

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 11/28/2008 - 7:01am

Picture 34.png The Turkey's back in the fridge waiting to be pulled out for sandwiches, the family's in a tryptophan-induced stupor. OK, time to figure out what we're doing for the rest of the weekend!

This weekend will be a bunch of Christmas Tree lightings and Santas will be ready to hear children's wishes. In our Holiday Guide you'll also find lots of other holiday activities like visiting the Department Store Holiday Windows and Holiday Train Shows. Plus there's the opening festival of the new Children's Center at the 42nd St Library.

Here are some other interesting events and activities to do with the kids this weekend:

New Children's Library Center at Main 42nd St Branch

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 7:14pm

When I was a kid I basically lived at the Jefferson Market Library. We climbed on the bronze oxen sculpture (the things we let kids do in the 70s), watched movies in their little viewing room and worked my way through the books, literally, starting from A. It's a great children's library. But, there are shamefully few great children's libraries in New York City and last year they closed the main children's center at the Donnell Library which was a double shame. But I'm super excited to hear that they are opening a beautiful, new Children's Library Center at the 42nd St. main library. WOW!

Thankgsgiving Day Updates: See the ballloons up close without the crowds

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 4:11pm

Two last-minute updates I wanted to share:

South Street Seaport Ice Skating Rink, which was supposed to open tomorrow, Friday, November 28th has been postponed. The rink is not set up yet. I'll keep you posted.

Also, I got a great tip from my friend, Jonathan, last night on how to see the giant Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons up close without the crowds of the inflation station.

Anna Fader

Latest posts by Anna

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