Things to do with the little ones this weekend: Boo at the Zoo! and Ascarium! Score some fun freebies too!

Boo at the Zoo!

As part of the month long Boo at the Zoo  festivities at New York's famous Bronx Zoo, they are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Goosebumps - Scholastic’s bestselling series by fright-master R.L. Stine. This weekend, October 20th and 21st, the first 1,000 kids aged 14 and under to arrive at the zoo will get a FREE copy of a Goosebumps book from Scholastic. 

Don't forget if you Buy 4 or more tickets you will receive an exclusive, limited-edition Boo at the Zoo Snake Hat Free when you visit during Boo at the Zoo, weekends now through October 28th. Children 12 and under wearing a Halloween costume will receive free general admission with one paid adult general admission! SCORE!

 

Thrills, Chills and Cute Animals too!

New York Aquarium 'Ascarium'

And don't forget to check out the New York Aquarium, also known as the 'Ascarium' for Halloween, Get ready for spooktacular fun at the Aquarium’s annual Halloween Celebration! This season’s Ascarium is a swashbuckling pirate adventure with nautical and pirate-themed activities for aquarium-goers of all ages. You and your little ones can journey through the Haunted Seafari Adventure, experience spooky pirate tales, enjoy sea shanty musical performances and gypsy dancers, and play pirate games of skill. 

Don’t miss the special Halloween 4-D feature, The Curse of Skull Rock, after collecting treats and venturing into the Haunted Seafari!

And don't forget, kids in costume get in for free. Each child (ages 3-12; children under 3 are free) in costume will receive a free child's general admission with the purchase of one full-priced adult general admission ticket. Limit two per family, may not be combined with any other offer.

Both the Zoo and Aquarium will be offering 'Treat Stations' making your visit to each that much sweeter!

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Disclaimer: Ascending Butterfly is participating in a sponsored ambassador program from the Bronx Zoo/NY Aquarium. As a part of this program we have received paid advertising compensation, a premium family membership and merchandise for placement of digital advertisements and specific postings related to programming. However all opinions are 100% my own. And I have been visiting this particular zoo since my childhood!

MARTINI, The Moms, & Kristin Chenoweth 'Toast to Survivors' Breast Cancer Awareness Luncheon #BCAM #martiniminis

On Monday, October 15th I got the opportunity to attend a very special event. The 'Toast to Survivors' Luncheon which was held in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month at Alison Eighteen Restaurant in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, New York City. The event celebrated strong and beautiful women and toasted them with MARTINI Sparkling Rose. Television personalities Denise Albert and Melissa Gerstein, known collectively as 'The Moms', along with speakers Elizabeth Chabner Thompson, MD, MPH, Debbi Musen, Dee Dee Ricks and celebrity guest actress Kristen Chenoweth all shared their personal stories, and MARTINI donated $10,000 to Kristin Chenoweth's Charity, Maddie's Corner, to be allocated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Right Action for Women.

Here are some event highlights:

Debbi Musen, Breast Cancer Survivor and mom of 'The Moms', Melissa Gerstein speaks about her battle with Breast Cancer.

Debbi Musen, Breast Cancer Survivor and mom of 'The Moms', Melissa Gerstein speaks about her battle with Breast Cancer.

Debbi Musen, Breast Cancer Survivor and mom of 'The Moms', Melissa Gerstein speaks about her battle with Breast Cancer, her daughter Melissa is standing on the right hand side of the shot.

Debbi Musen, Breast Cancer Survivor and mom of 'The Moms', Melissa Gerstein speaks about her battle with Breast Cancer, her daughter Melissa is standing on the right hand side of the shot. I don't know how Melissa was able to hear her mom recount her story without breaking down herself! She remained incredibly composed. I for one was trying very hard to hold back tears during the entire luncheon!

Above: Debbi Musen concludes and her daughter Melissa is on hand with a hug!

Above: Speaker Dee Dee Ricks, a Patient Advocate and  Survivor, named among Wall Street's Most Powerful Women!

Above: When Dee Dee Ricks quoted Harold P. Freeman of the Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute of which Ricks is chairman, by saying "Poverty should not be an offense punishable by death" There was applause throughout the entire room!

Above: The Moms thank speaker Dee Dee Ricks

Above: The daughter of a breast cancer survivor and a patient herself, Elizabeth Chabner Thompson, MD, MPH, as a Radiation Oncologist she learned the most about the Battle when she went through it herself, it's not so easy when someone who is normally on the other side of things experiences it first hand. Her organization, Best Friends for Life, has a mission to improve the patient experience and the BFFL bags that are distributed to patients (directly now from various hospitals) is packed full of everything a breast cancer patient needs during treatments.

Above: Right before Kristen Chenoweth was about to take the stage!

Above: Kristen Chenoweth takes the stage and greets Melissa Gerstein with a Kiss, to the right  Denise Albert

Kristin was in a bad accident this past summer, she cried to her mother, "Why Me?" Her mother gave her excellent advice. She said, "Why not you? Don't say why me, say why not me and deal with it."

Earlier one of the speakers asked if there were survivors in the room, by number of years, my mom raised her hand when they asked if there were any survivors over 10 years in the room, Kristen remembered that my mom had raised her hand, and she was pointing to her when this shot was taken, which is why this picture is particularly special to me!

Kristen Chenoweth thanks event sponsors MARTINI Wines who sponsored the 'Toast to Survivors' Luncheon and provided Sparkling Rose!

Tony and Emmy award winning actress Kristen Chenoweth took time off years ago to care for her mother as her mother battled Breast Cancer she shared her story with warmth, openness and an endearing grace and humor!

 

MARTINI Wines presented Kristen Chenoweth with a check for $10,000 for her charity, Maddie's Corner!

Kristen Chenoweth receives a check for $10,000 for her charity Maddie's Corner,  as you can see she was genuinely touched and very grateful for the support for her cause!

Above: Left: Melissa Gerstein, Center: Kristen Chenoweth, Right: Denise Albert all wearing lovely pink  dresses and bracelets in support of Breast Cancer Awareness during the Questions and Answers Session at the "Toast to Survivors" Luncheon held at Alison Eighteen in New York City.

Above: Left: Melissa Gerstein, Center: Kristen Chenoweth, Right: Denise Albert all wearing lovely pink  dresses and bracelets in support of Breast Cancer Awareness during Questions and Answers Session at the "Toast to Survivors" Luncheon held at Alison Eighteen in New York City.

Above: Left: Melissa Gerstein, Center: Kristen Chenoweth, Right: Denise Albert all wearing lovely pink  dresses and bracelets in support of Breast Cancer Awareness during Questions and Answers Session at the "Toast to Survivors" Luncheon held at Alison Eighteen in New York City.

Left: Denise Albert, Right: Melissa Gerstein collectively known as 'The Moms' wrap up another amazing Mamarazzi event in New York City!

Above: Kristen Chenoweth poses for pictures during MARTINI and The Moms Mamarazzi 'Toast to Survivors' Luncheon in New York City

Left: Denise Albert, Dee Dee Ricks, Center: Elizabeth Chabner Thompson, Debbi Musen, Far Right: Melissa Gerstein, Pro Image Used WITH Permission. 'Toast To Survivors' Luncheon, New York City.

Left: Denise Albert, Center: Kristen Chenoweth, Right: Melissa Gerstein

Above: 'Toast to Survivors' Luncheon Sponsor, MARTINI, provided their Sparkling Rose to attendees

These lovely ladies kept the MARTINI Sparkling Rose flowing !

Right: Denise Albert and her lovely mom!

Left: Melissa Gerstein and her lovely mom, Right: Debbi Musen, Survivor and event speaker at the 'Toast to Survivors' luncheon in New York City!

Above: Left: Ascending Butterfly, Right: Mama Butterfly

It was an amazingly emotional but wonderful event and I'm honored to have been invited. All the speakers were amazing. It's not easy to be that honest and raw about an experience that is so harrowing. I know full well just how vulnerable hospitals make you feel. All of the speakers faced their battles with humor and grace, and if during the battle of their lives they could remain inspired, so can YOU. My mom is my inspiration and example, she is a survivor too, and I loved that she was able to share this day with me! As you know I'm not prone to featuring Celebrities on Ascending Butterfly, my exception is when they are involved in giving back. I don't care where celebs eat or shop. I don't care what they wear. But when they are doing something for the greater good, I am more than happy to share that! Anyone who is willing to stand up and share their story to make things easier for the next person is someone who will always have my admiration and respect! As always, The Moms pulled off another incredible event. I don't know how they do it!

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FTC: Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post. No monetary compensation has been received to share my recap coverage of this event. And before other PR firms and brands get excited, Ascending Butterfly will only post about or recap events we have attended personally. If we did NOT attend we will not post about it here!

HERSHEY’S® BOO BLVD. - Throwing the Perfect Halloween Bash! + Treats #Giveaway

Long time readers know that Halloween is my favorite holiday, and horror movies have always been my favorite movie genre! The first movie I got to see sans parents was a horror movie. I love to look back on pictures of me in Halloween Costumes starting from when I was little, they are usually such a great indicator of what was popular at the time.

After a certain age my family decided to stop letting us 'trick or treat' and our family and extended family would get together and throw a Halloween Party mostly at home, or sometimes at a rented space depending on how many people were joining in on the fun that year. I still think House Parties are more fun and certainly a whole lot safer.

We still hold the same traditions now, instead of allowing the kids to go door-to-door our families still get together and hold a big family party mostly geared toward the little kids, and then we'll take the older kids to the movies the next day. We can't resist a costume party, and even the adults still like to dress up!

And we definitely like to exchange Halloween cards, Check out this card display below, I used it to get ideas:

I love creative cards any season, but they are especially fun during Halloween. Isn't that FrankenVampire on the top left totally sweet? I love how even the most innocent things can become creepy during Halloween, take the cat for example:

OK in all fairness Black cats have always been associated with Witches and Halloween! (Little known Ascending Butterfly trivia, I once owned a Black Cat, which I named Ebony - I know Creative right? LOL Someday when I tackle Mount Closet I'll dig out pictures of me with that cat and post them as a Wordless Wednesday. Perhaps I should post a picture of my closet, it's certainly the scariest thing I've ever seen!)

And of course what is Halloween without a Jack-O-Lantern?

Whose idea was it to creepify pumpkins anway? 

Getting everything organized for the bash is half the battle won, it's such a shame it all only comes out once a year!

Something about these Ghosts say 'cute' not scary!

I've always loved Hello Kitty and don't ever remember seeing a 'Halloween Kitty' version of HK especially on a mug!

These would be perfect to fill up with treats as a fun surprise for any visits with teachers or your doctors office reception staff!

Above: Check out these fun treat cups already pre-assembled with a mock licorice stick straw!

Above: When I saw this, I had to have it! An Owl Pumpkin! Brilliant! (And a bit of Italian thrown in for fun, I would like to visit Italy! so I should start practicing! Hmm, I wonder how you say BOO in Italian?)

Above: Did anyone else want to wait it out with Linus for a 'Great Pumpkin' sighting? I did!

Above: Did the peanuts gang open my scary closet? Something about Lucy is different? ;)

Above: That one is addressed to YOU! Happy Halloween Butterflies! Feeling Festive yet?

All month long HERSHEY’S is hosting HERSHEY'S BOO BLVD where you can check for new blogs (this post by yours truly will be featured there!) , crafts, recipes and videos through October 31st! In fact each of the blogs by the bloggers featured are hosting giveaways too, so be sure to visit them all and double your luck!

I'm not even sure how they knew because no one asked us, but they sent me my favorite treat of all, REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups. It's a bit eerie that they somehow knew that one is my favorite, I'm almost sure I've never posted that anywhere! (See you got 2 unknown facts about me in one post, I feel so exposed!)

These were probably devoured by 'team butterfly' in seconds!

Snack Size does mean it's OK to have 2 or maybe 4 right?

As you know, here at Ascending Butterfly Halloween is always all treats and absolutely NO tricks! I had to make sure some extra goodies were involved in this deal for my butterflies, and HERSHEY'S not only stepped up to the plate with hosting a giveaway, they are offering treats to 20, yes that's right TWENTY Ascending Butterfly Followers! SUH WEET!

I like keeping it simple, so the first entry in rafflecopter is super simple, and how much extra credit you want to do beyond that is always up to you!

And don't forget our monthly 'Featured Handbag in the Spotlight' is back with a Nicole Miller Designer Handbag Giveaway ($295), it ends on 10/31 so be sure to get in your entry if you haven't done so already!

WIN IT!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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FTC Disclosure: I am participating in the HERSHEY’S BOO BLVD. campaign via Mom Bloggers Club. This post was sponsored by HERSHEY’S. All opinions expressed are 100% my own.