This is Amanda and my first year to coordinate the Mums and Dads branch of the Australian Women of New York group. We have both thoroughly enjoyed the last year of planning events and meeting new and existing Aussie Mums and Dads in New York.
Blog posts
We began the year by asking the question “Is it okay not to love New York with kids?”. We had such a great response to this article from Australians and readers of other nationalities. It seems like moving to any city is tough when you have young children!
We also gave you “survival” tips: surviving the subway with kids, Aussie Mum, Nakia Gordon’s tips for surviving the cold with children and also her advice for how to “survive” (enjoy) the festive season in New York with kids.
One of my personal challenges this year was to visit every playground in Central Park before it got too cold. I’m happy to say that I achieved this! I’ve written about my experiences which will be up on the blog in the new year to provide inspiration for when we actually feel like going outdoors again.
Events
Most of the events this year were focused on getting Mums out of the house! Amanda and I tend to think that the kids have enough parties and fun things to attend but we couldn’t resist holding an Easter Egg Hunt. It was a hugely popular event with over 100 people attending and had representatives from all 5 boroughs! It will definitely become a yearly tradition.
We also organised a group booking to Women of Letters, which is one of my favourite things to do in New York and held summer drinks at Tavern on the Green.
We held dinners all over the city: Pio Pio in May was based in Hell’s Kitchen, Burke and Wills in October on the Upper West Side and our Christmas Party at Coarse NYC in the West Village. We’ve had some great events this year but I have to say Coarse NYC was the best food. We had a 6 course tasting menu with matching wines. My only complaint was that the wine pour was a bit generous for a Monday night. The school run was tough on Tuesday morning!
We have some interesting events in the pipeline for next year. We hope you enjoy the holidays and we look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.
AWNY | Australian Women in New York 