By Renee Martinez
Buffalo, New York is must-visit destination for families. Unfortunately it tends to get a bad rap. Mention Buffalo and people assume snowstorms and dreariness. The truth is that visiting Buffalo can be a reasonably priced and fun family getaway. Thirty minutes from Niagara Falls, ninety minutes to Toronto, an hour to Rochester or an hour flight to New York City. Buffalo is convenient.
Important note: beginning June 1, 2009, the rules regarding passport requirements will change. Learn more about passport requirements or helpful tips for crossing the Canadian border.
Things to do with kids (especially boys):
- Buffalo Zoo
- Buffalo Museum of Science
- There are numerous area school public playgrounds, so finding free outdoor activities is easy
- Aquatic & Fitness Center to go swimming
- Erie basin marina or the Buffalo Erie Country Naval and Military Park. Tours available.
- Martin’s Fantasy Island
- Darien Lake Theme Park Resort
- Outlet mall – more for mom, but offers a good selection of stores
- Tift Nature Preserve offers programs for learning about nature – but very limited hours
- Niagara Aerospace Museum in Niagara Falls, close to the Casino on the American side. It even has a play area with legos and things.
- Explore and More
- Glen Falls Park off Main Street-access to a nice waterfall, mud, ducks, etc.
- Fort Niagara-lots of places to run around and they have tours too.
- The Amherst Museum, especially at Halloween or when they have craft shows.
- The Holiday Inn on Grand Island. Kids can swim in their pool for $5 and adults for $7. They have a kiddie wading pool that is shallow. It is clean and fun there. You can order from the restaurant as well and they bring food right to you at the pool. Kids can bring boats to float in the shallow pool.
- Clay Hands Pottery – a fun thing to do on a rainy day. You can select a piece to paint, and they even fire it for you.
- Bounce Magic – go when they first open to miss the crowd.
- Several area outdoor ice rinks. Fountain Plaza in Buffalo, in East Aurora, and one coming soon to Niagara Falls.
- Vidler’s – a real five and dime store like days past. The children love to find inexpensive things to bring home.
- Winter: Skiing at one of the area’s ski resorts. Several to choose from with ski rentals available.
- Niawanda and Isle View parks along the river. Can take skates, skateboards, your dog, etc..
- Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve
- Walk by Niagara Falls. Park on Goat Island. Parking is about $8 -unless you have a NYS recreation /parks parking pass.
- Artpark used to have kids mornings on Saturdays. They had places to dig with big trucks under a bridge with little stones. The kids could drive these little trucks around and get all dirty. It was fun for the kids-but not sure if they still do it.
- Adventure Landing Putt-Putt mini golf
- Lockport Cave and underground boat ride
- Check out Fun 4 Kis in Buffalo for more ideas!
Places to Eat
- Anchor Bar; home of the original “Buffalo wings”
- Duffs: also a great place to get chicken wings.
- The Hatch: a restaurant on the waterfront marina
- Get some ice cream from Mississippi Mudds too.
- My Tomato Pie restaurant in the Northtown Plaza has a gluten free menu.
- Zebbs offers free kids meals on Sundays with each adult meal purchased.
- Pizza Plant gives kids pizza dough to play with while they are waiting for their meals.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
