GIVEAWAY: A Doll That Dares

What’s edgier than a doll that dares to scare? This
Halloween, get into the spooky spirit with Madame
Alexander dolls for girls who prefer ghosts and goblins to princesses and
ponies. —

Ideally for little “ghouls” ages 14 and up, these dolls are
part of a legendary
collection that began in 1923. Known for making beautifully handcrafted
pieces, the Alexander Doll Company continues to inspire so many decades later
with these Halloween-themed dolls.

Franken
Wendy ($84.95), a little lady with pale green skin and black stitch marks, looks
menacing as anything in a black frock, red socks and patent leather boots. A
battered black top hat completes the chilling effect, with style to boot.

Trick
or Treats ($99.95) is another Wendy doll with curly taffy tan pigtails, a polka
dot bow and freckles. She’s adorned with emerald green ribbon, pumpkin appliqués
and an orange tulle petticoat. Candy apples help accessorize her look.

On a personal note, I considered myself the luckiest lass to
have the Little Women collection of Madame Alexander dolls when I was growing
up. Had I known these daring dolls were part of the Alexander empire, my
holiday wish lists would have grown!

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY: Lucky for you, we are giving away one Franken Wendy doll to a New York Family reader! To enter, send us an email explaining why you’d like to win to familygiveaways@manhattanmedia.com and put “Madame Alexander” in the subject line. Then, post on our Facebook page telling us who in your family would love the doll most. Deadline to enter is Monday, October 31.

$84.95 and $99.95, madamealexander.com

Manhattan Mandarin

Manhattan Mandarin runs the Mandarin after-school programs at over 40 schools nationwide, including St. Bernard's, Chapin, Allen-Stevenson, and Buckley. Whether in schools, students' homes, in the office, online, or on our beloved China trips, our teachers and tutors have helped hundreds of students of all ages master the Mandarin language on their own unique paths to fluency. Our philosophy has always been to make private lessons and classes perfectly tailored for each individual student. We look forward to working with you. - Jamie Keyte, Founder

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;

PaleyLand Holiday Experience

Celebrate the holidays at PaleyLand at the Paley Museum, New York's must-visit destination for a holiday adventure, just steps from Rockefeller Center! Our five-floor immersive holiday extravaganza, includes photos with Santa and holiday characters, crafts, giveaways, screenings of classic holiday favorites, hot chocolate, a magical train display, and more. Escape the cold and the crowds, and enjoy our indoor wonderland where families can play, relax, and create timeless memories together in our holiday oasis in the heart of midtown Manhattan. General Admission to PaleyLand is free for children under 12. The holiday extravaganza is open from November 20 &ndash; January 5 at the Paley Museum, 25 W 52 Street, NYC. Paley Members enjoy free access. Come to PaleyLand again and again to see all your favorite characters and screenings. After just one visit, membership pays for itself! &nbsp;