Toby B

Toby is our uber-busy events editor for Mommy Poppins LA. Feel free to email Toby about events for our LA area calendar.

Latest posts by Toby

Harvest Festival at Underwood Farms, Nights of the Jack, and More Top Things To Do in Los Angeles This Weekend

Submitted by Toby B on Wed, 09/24/2025 - 8:40am

Fall fun on the farm. Photo courtesy of Underwood Family Farms

Looking for the best things to do in Los Angeles this weekend? Here are some of our favorite events and activities to add to your list this weekend

It's harvest time in LA, and we are reaping in lots of... well, pumpkins mostly. There's the farm-fresh pumpkins of the 28th Annual Fall Harvest Festival at Underwood Farms, the photo-ready pumpkins of the Nights of the Jack at King Gillette Ranch, and the ride-adjacent pumpkins of the kid-friendly Knott's Spooky Farm. Other fun that's cropping up this weekend includes LA Comic Con at the LA Convention Center and the Annual Watts Towers Day of the Drum Festival & Jazz Festival.

Best Halloween Events in Los Angeles 2025 for Kids and Families

Submitted by Toby B on Sun, 09/21/2025 - 12:00pm

Treat yourself to an adorable Halloween. Photo courtesy of Kidspace Children's Museum

Halloween events are creeping up on us, bringing chills and thrills, bags full of sweets, and loads of Halloween events in Los Angeles—including Boos at Zoos, Halloween haunts, cemetery tours, and trunk-or-treats. Among the Halloween events in Los Angeles we're looking forward to are Carved at Descanso, Oogie Boogie Bash at Disneyland Resort, and Boo at the LA Zoo, plus tons of Halloween shows and movie screenings.

Some kids (and adults) like the spooks and scares while other kids prefer gentler Halloween activities, so in our Halloween Fun and Activities Guide for Los Angeles & Orange County Kids, you'll find our picks for not-so-scary events for preschoolers as well as scary Halloween haunts for big kids—plus free Halloween events in Los Angeles for kids, and much more.

Ultimate Guide to Fall Festivals in 2025 for Los Angeles Families

Submitted by Toby B on Sun, 08/31/2025 - 2:07am

Pick a peck of pumpkins at the Annual Pumpkin Festival Cal Poly Pomona. Photo courtesy of the Cal Poly Pomona Facebook page

Fall festivals in Los Angeles do exist, even if the warm beach weather says otherwise. While other places have a season called fall, LA has something more like extended summer weather with back-to-school fun and a pumpkin aisle at Trader Joe's.

Of course, the beauty of an endless summer that fades gently into Halloween or Thanksgiving—usually right up until that guy in the red suit arrives—is that family-friendly fall festivals keep going strong through November. Check out some of our favorite annual faux fall festivals in Los Angeles, from Labor Day through Day of the Dead.

For more fall fun, visit the best pumpkin patches in Los Angeles, go apple picking near LA, and see what other seasonal activities should be on your fall bucket list in our Fall Fun Guide for Los Angeles and OC Kids.

27 Best Things to Do in Los Angeles September 2025 with Kids

Submitted by Toby B on Fri, 08/29/2025 - 3:07am

The Spider Pavilion creeps into September. Photo courtesy of the National History Museum of Los Angeles County.

September kicks off with loads of long Labor Day weekend events and keeps it going with some early Halloween activities, plus so many more things to do in Los Angeles with kids!

Fall fun is officially upon us, as September marks the end of summer and the gateway to Halloween and spooky season. LA's favorite venues, like Underwood Farms and Irvine Park Railroad, are kicking off their seasonal festivities in Los Angeles this month, and the Spider Pavilion creeps and crawls back to the Natural History Museum. There's also a wagon-load of fun festivals coming to Los Angeles this September: dinos, the Maritime Festival in Dana Point, and the Los Angeles Union Station Train Festival 2025. New this September: an exhibit about the movie Jaws at the Academy Museum, the inclusive Help Group's Family Fun Day, a live production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (oy gevalt!), and Gabby's Dollhouse Live! in Long Beach and Thousand Oaks.

These are just a few of our favorite things to do in Los Angeles this September, and more events are added to the Los Angeles Family Activity Calendar each day. Keep reading for the best things to do in Los Angeles this September.

If you're eagerly waiting for all things fall, see where to leaf peep near Los Angeles, where to go apple picking near LA, and plan more autumn adventures in our Fall Fun Guide for Los Angeles and OC Kids.

Labor Day Weekend 2025 in Los Angeles: Festivals, Blippi, and More Things to Do with Kids

Submitted by Toby B on Wed, 08/27/2025 - 9:29am

End the summer with gelato. Photo courtesy Gelato Festival World Masters

Looking for things to do this Labor Day Weekend 2025? Add these fun things to your list of what to do with kids in Los Angeles this Labor Day weekend.

Labor Day weekend marks the end of a jam-packed Los Angeles summer. This weekend brings some summer favorites to a close, such as the 2025 Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival, the OC Parks Sunset Cinema Movie Series, and the Rescue Exhibition at Discovery Cube LA. Crank up the volume on Labor Day weekend with festivals like the Gelato Festival World Masters, the Long Beach Greek Festival, and the Orange International Street Festival.

There's still time for summer fun, so head to the best beaches in Los Angeles over the long Labor Day weekend or take a family road trip from Los Angeles. Make those end-of-summer memories with ideas from our Ultimate Los Angeles Kids Summer Vacation Guide.

21 Best Things to Do in Los Angeles August 2025 with Kids

Submitted by Toby B on Sun, 07/27/2025 - 9:15am

Enjoy free music at Getty Garden Concerts for Kids. Photo courtesy of the event.

Summer is not over yet, and there are so many things to do in a Los Angeles August! It's a great time to enjoy outdoor movies & concerts, summer festivals, and the best beach days.

A Los Angeles August is that crazy time of year when the height of heat and summer fun collides with back-to-school, and parents need to turn the dial up on the end-of-summer fun. Luckily, the events and outings in Los Angeles this month do not disappoint, and there are loads of amazing activities to do before the school bell rings, and many of them are free.

Monster trucks zoom into August at Monster Jam at Crypto.com Arena and the Hot Wheels Trucks Live Glow Party. Culver City's annual Fiesta La Ballona returns for some end-of-summer fun. And it's no trick: this year's August celebrations include Halloween, as both Midsummer Scream and Disney's Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party get the spooky season off to an early start.

These are just a few of our favorite things to do in August—there's so much more! When the heat is too much to grin and bear, we've got Places to Beat the Heat in LA. When your credit card says to take it easy, we've got Free Things To Do In Los Angeles This Summer with Kids. And don't forget to check back weekly for our picks for the best things to do in Los Angeles each weekend.

25 Things To Do in Los Angeles Before School Starts

Submitted by Toby B on Sun, 07/20/2025 - 8:39am

Kidspace is packed with summer essentials. Kidspace Campout photo by Jamie Pham.

Quick: It’s time to shoehorn all these last favorite things to do in Los Angeles before school starts up!

Is it me, or did this summer go by extra fast? I feel like we didn’t get to do half of our usual summer traditions, and now school is about to start. Hopefully, you at least got in a few day trips, visited a few beach towns, and got to go swimming in a lake or two.

But perhaps you haven’t made it on as many outings this summer? Well, there's still time to check out some really cool museum exhibits (like Discovery Cube LA's Rescue Exhibition) and shows for kids (such as Roswell That Ends Well, The Actor’s Gang out there take on Shakespeare) that truly should not be missed—they won’t be here when the next school vacation rolls around and are easy to squeeze in between your Target run for notebooks, and last-minute doctor’s appointments...

Check out more end-of-summer fun in our Summer Activities Guide for Los Angeles Kids. And if school is starting soon for your family, our Back-to-School Guide has pretty much everything you need.

4th of July Weekend in Los Angeles: Fireworks, Parades, and More Things To Do With Kids

Submitted by Toby B on Wed, 07/02/2025 - 10:12am

The Pacific Park Ferris Wheel, photo by alexc43, courtesy of the Santa Monica Boardwalk.

4th of July weekend in Los Angeles is alight with fireworks, fun runs, parades, and more family-friendly events to add to your list for this weekend.

4th of July festivities will be everywhere this week in Los Angeles! Take in the red, white, and boom of fireworks over water, sporting arenas, and theme parks. Watch 4th of July parades marching by, go to carnivals, and more. The LA Convention Center gets animated with Anime Expo, and Pageant of the Masters turns its players into living works of art. The makings are here for a spectacular red, white, and blue weekend.

For a complete list of all the dazzling 4th of July fireworks in Los Angeles, check out where to see 4th of July fireworks in Los Angeles and the best 4th of July activities that aren't fireworks if you choose to have a more low-key celebration. We wish you a Happy Independence Day, LA!

Please note, several local Independence Day events have been canceled or postponed, among them the annual celebration in Gloria Molina Grand Park.

Toby B

Latest posts by Toby

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