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Frugal Fun Made Easy, Right Here on Long Island

Wendy L Wednesday, December 14, 2011

We know many of you continue to carefully watch your spending under the current market conditions. Shopping, dining, and entertainment are areas many people tend to cut back on in order to maintain a budget, however, that doesn’t mean having to take all the fun out of you and your family’s life.

There are still plenty of options available in Long Island that’s affordable. And, to kick off our first weekly post on “Local Shopping & Dining on LI,” we are featuring affordable options to entertain kids during the holidays.

Here are this week's highlights:

Holiday Lights and Ice Skating: Head over to the Newsday Holiday Lights Festival in Melville for some evening holiday fun with the entire family. It features 625 feet of holiday lights on display, a full-size ice skating rink and a holiday marketplace. Open Thursday thru Sunday, you can purchase tickets online. Choose between a ticket for only the holiday lights walk or one combined with ice skating and rentals. Adults are charged $6.52; $8.69 for a ticket that includes ice skating and rentals. Children between the age of 2 and 12 are charged $4.35; $6.52 for a ticket that includes ice skating and rentals. A portion of each ticket purchase goes towards Newsday Charities Help-A-Family campaign.
A Seriously Decked Out Home: Don’t feel like having to spend a dime for some holiday fun with family and friends? Well, you don’t have to if you can make it to Lindenhurst! Lindenhurst is home to the Lindy Christmas House at 405 North Broadway. It has been a rising star in terms of private homes going over the top with holiday decorations and lights. Year after year, since the 1990s, this home has been drawing crowds. Some things old and some things new you can see this year include a New Year’s Eve ball that is mechanized to drop like the one in Times Square when it strikes midnight on Dec. 31. Other highlights include a Christmas tree standing over 20 feet tall made out of lights and other decorative lights that flicker to the beat of music. Donations are accepted and it goes towards local charities.
Christmas Tree Shopping and A Visit to Santa and a His Live Reindeer: Hick’s Nursery in Westbury is one of the largest nursery and garden centers available in Long Island. This Christmas store has been around since 1853. Each year families come by for Christmas shopping (don’t forget to print the $10 off coupon featured in this week’s “Local Steals, Deals and More” blog post) as well as holiday fun for the kids. The store features an animated story display and Santa and his live reindeer are available to greet kids. A North Pole mailbox is also available for children to send a letter to Santa. Letters that are received by Dec. 18 and that include a self-addressed stamped envelope will get a response back from Santa.