December 2 to January 8
Leading the winter celebration festivities is Chicago's Navy Pier, which hosts a winter wonderland to coincide with the holiday season. The 11th annual attraction features indoor ice skating, a ropes obstacle course, a 50-foot-high, indoor Ferris wheel and carousel, as well as fair-style slides, rides and fun for kids of all ages and sizes. Holiday movies are shown on Mondays, while live bands play on weekend nights, and a Family Pavilion State allows children to visit with Santa.
Recommended Hotel: Four Seasons Hotel Chicago
Winter Carnival, Quebec City, Canada
January 27 to February 12, 2012
If it's winter, Quebec City knows how to celebrate in style. Quebec's world-famous Winter Carnival features a Day Parade and First Night and Second Night Parades, and a number of unique for families, including a Snow Bath, Normandin Soapbox Derby, and a 400-foot Ice Slide. The festival also features ice sculptures and workshops, sleigh rides, ice skating, snow rafting, crafts, artic spas, fireworks and plenty of food, including delectable fare found at the Sugar Shack.
Recommended Hotel: Fairmont Chateau Frontenac
Winterlude, Ottawa, Canada
February 3 to 20, 2012
Three weekends are devoted to this winter festival that includes ice carvings and snow sculptures, as well as Snowflake Kingdom, a snow playground filled with snow slides, obstacle courses, horse-drawn sleigh rides and more fun the kids won't be able to get enough of! Be sure to lace on some skates for Rideau Canal, the world's largest skating rink! This year's Winterlude, the 34th, also features Taste of Winterlude, giving families a chance to sample the best cuisine of Ottawa, tour local restaurants and learn new recipes and cooking techniques.
Recommended Hotel: Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello
Winter Carnival, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
February 8 to 12, 2012
For nearly 100 years, the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival has brought families to the already family-friendly ski resort for even more snow-covered fun. As the oldest continuing winter carnival west of the Mississippi, families flock to the town's ski joring events down Lincoln Avenue. Ski jumping, racing, parades and the Lighted Man and fireworks night show are annual highlights.
Recommended Hotel: Steamboat Grand Resort & Condos
Snowfest, Lake Tahoe
March 2 to 11, 2012
North Lake Tahoe celebrates great spring weather and skiing with 10 days and nights of fun for its 31st consecutive year. Snow events are held at popular ski resorts like Squaw Valley, Diamond Peak, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Alpine Meadows and Homewood, including parades, races, concerts, and special events for all ages.
Recommended Hotel: Ritz-Carlton Highlands Lake Tahoe
Favorite family biking locales in North America combine stunning scenery with a relatively easy grid of bike trails and uncongested backcountry roads. All of these locales offer exhilarating rides, guaranteed to inspire all ages to travel on two wheels. Many of the cities on the list, like San Anton...
1. Celebrate a Historic Anniversary. Boston's historic Fenway Park celebrates its 100th anniversary this year -- the perfect time to take in a ballgame while enjoying the history of America throughout the city. Give your school-aged children an up-close and personal history lesson by visiting some ...
The unofficial start to summer is nearly here, and this May 25 to 28 weekend is filled with enticing deals for families. Get out there and start your summer!
Broadmoor Resort, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Escape to the Colorado mountains for a two-night Memorial Day Family Escape at the Broadmoor. ...
There are few rites of passage as exciting as taking a child on his or her first camping trip. Families bond while roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, making shadow animals on the tent wall, chasing after fireflies and inhaling fragrant whiffs of pine. Whether you are an experienced camper from pre-...
1. The National Mall
There's no question that the National Mall, the two-mile strip of wide-open green stretching between the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol and surrounded by Smithsonian museums and national monuments, is a must-see destination for kids. "The Mall," chock full of our nation'...
1. gogo Kidz Travelmate
If you're traveling with a child weighing less than 50 pounds, you won't want to leave home without this ingenious contraption that in seconds lets parents convert most car seats into a stroller. With the gogo Kidz Travelmate, there's no more lugging both a heavy car seat ...
On a recent ski vacation, my family of five traveled with five cellphones, three laptops, three iPads, two iPods and just for good measure, a GPS! Given the prevalence of electronic devices in our daily lives and our somewhat compulsive reliance upon them, taking a true vacation feels almost imposs...
The 1969 film, "If It's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium," depicted a funny, but sometimes all too true, look at a tour group of Americans traveling through Europe so quickly they barely knew where they were and what they were seeing.
Today, tour groups are quickly becoming an attractive option for ...
When you think of an all-inclusive vacation, your mind goes straight to the Caribbean, doesn't it? But you don't need to leave the country to get an all-in-one vacation -- resorts in the U.S. also provide all-inclusive getaways with accommodations, meals, and activities all packaged in one easy pric...
All-inclusive resorts can be a lifesaver to families traveling. Instead of watching a budget go through the roof when taking on extra resort expenses or spending a trip saying no to the kids, all-inclusive resorts allow families to plan ahead and stay on budget, while giving kids all the fun they ca...