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

Free Tickets to New Family Film Standing Ovation

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 07/09/2010 - 7:38am

If your kids love High School Musical, Glee or American Idol or if they just love to sing and dance, then they might be interested in the new family film, Standing Ovation. Standing Ovation is about 5 friends who go against the odds to perform in a singing and dancing competition. The film is filled with original music and dance numbers. Read on to watch the trailer and find out how you can get free tickets to the movie before it comes out, just for our Long Island readers.

Site Improvements: New Preschool Guide and Events Search

Submitted by Anna Fader on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 7:18am

We keep pretty busy here with our daily posts on all the cool stuff to do with your kids in the city, but I usually have one or two projects I'm working on in the background to make the site better. This week I'm announcing two that I've been working on for longer than I care to admit, our new Preschool Guide and our new and improved events calendar search function. I hope both these new functions will be big improvements to the site.

What You Need To Know About NYC Beaches and Riptides

Submitted by Anna Fader on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 5:04am

I was so saddened yesterday to read about a 12 year old girl who drowned on a class trip to Long Beach. I have been reading with dread the stories over the past few years of adults and children drowning at the beaches around NYC, frequently due to strong currents and riptides.

We can not go back in time and save this little girl or the others that have died due to rip currents, but I hope to spread the word to all parents to educate yourself and your children to know what to do in case they are carried off in a strong current. Knowing what to do in a riptide can make the difference between life and death.

The Mommy Poppins Summer Fun Guide and Contest

Submitted by Anna Fader on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 10:09am

Summer is one of the most exciting times on this site. I love digging up all the amazingly cool stuff to do around the city all summer long, and so much of it is free. We spend so many summer days just running around the city, checking out neighborhoods and places we don't have time to get to all year long. It's really fun and I love sharing it here with you.

Our Summer Fun Guide is where you'll find all those posts collected in one place. It's got our lists of the best beaches, swimming pools, neighborhood itineraries, music festivals, concerts, outdoor movies, sports, even places to eat and drink. And, of course, there's our list of 100 Free Things to Do this Summer with Kids in NYC (not to mention our event calendar which is jam packed with fun stuff to do too).

What more could you possibly need to have an awesome summer? How about winning a Flip Video Camcorder!

Summer Solstice Celebrations and Make Music New York City 2010

Submitted by Anna Fader on Mon, 06/21/2010 - 6:39am

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Also called Midsummer, (as in Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night's Eve), the summer solstice has been celebrated around the world since neolithic times with traditions that are now a mix of Pagan and Christian rituals.

When I was a kid there used to be a Summer Solstice Celebration in Riverside Park that we attended every year which involved staying up all night long making music. It was one of the quirky, artsy things that I was lucky to experience growing up in NYC.

Today there are slightly less out there ways to celebrate the Solstice that still capture the sense of freedom, revelry, and hapenstance of those magical celebrations and truly are only in NYC events and are the types of cool events that your children will remember for the rest of their lives.

Join me at an exclusive free preview of the new summer kid film, Despicable Me

Submitted by Anna Fader on Sun, 06/13/2010 - 12:09pm

THIS EVENT IS FULL. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR MORE EVENTS LIKE THIS.

I'm teaming up with Universal Pictures to host an exclusive preview of the hot new family movie, Despicable Me. This is not one of those things where you show up and maybe get a seat. We will have the whole theater just for Mommy Poppins readers and everyone with a ticket is guaranteed a seat, plus there are going to be goodie bags and free popcorn and soft drinks.

The NY Minute: Tips for New Parents, Festivals and Carnivals, UWS with Toddlers, Toy Theater Museum and More

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 2:34pm

Photo of the Week: A pie eating contest at Mohonk in the Hudson Valley last weekend. I tried to convince my husband to take part, but he wasn't into it. I can't imagine why—although apparently the kids said the pies were too hot and one kid kept having to stop to pick the pie out of his nose.

Last week we launched our Family Travel Guide and it wasn't until the middle of this week that somebody asked me if there was supposed to be more than two posts in it. Uh, yeah. Apparently the only one who could see the guide was me. Nice.

So I am relaunching our Family Travel Guide with a great new feature—visibility! Woohoo.

Elsewhere in Gotham, this week was all about lists:

Memorial Day Weekend Kicks off the Summer Season with Pools. Beaches, Sprinklers, Weekend Travel and Fish

Submitted by Anna Fader on Fri, 05/28/2010 - 8:35pm

Photo of the Week: This guy was waiting for the bus with us on Randall's Island last weekend and was dyin to show us the colassal striped bass he caught out of the East River. Believe me, it wasn't the worst smelling thing on the bus that day.

Woohoo, long Weekend! Memorial Day Weekend unofficially kicks off the summer season, meaning the beaches, sprinklers and swimming pools are all opening starting this weekend. Also opening this weekend is the new Luna Park amusement park at Coney Island.

Anna Fader

Latest posts by Anna

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