The Newport Winter Festival is a 10 day family affair held annually in February with a TON of activities to participate in and attractions to attend. It seems every business, restaurant and hotel gets in on the act applying discounts and conjuring up activities to entice you to spend some time with your family.
Essentially, you purchase a pin for each of your family’s members for the price of $9. These entitle each of you a discounted rate for dozens of attractions. The restaurants take 10% or more off of your bill. Local attractions like The Tennis Hall of fame discount admissions and have kids fun events like foam tennis. There are cook off contests sponsored by local restaurants where you can sample and vote on your favorite and shows like Charismatic comedy with Magic Matt Roberts that will knock your socks off. We watched him do a Houdini straight jacket escape that was truly amazing. Some family friendly activities are free. We spent almost a whole day at Easton’s beach at no charge. The parking was free, beach polo was free, the kids block digging event was free and our subsequent kite-flying also free. We then took a long walk on the Cliff Walk to end our day. There were so many events to choose from!!!
The organizers of this event definitely have kids in mind. They ensure that there is a large selection of family friendly day and evening events for you and your kids. Additionally this 10 day festival typically coincides with the east coast February break. This makes it a great idea for a getaway if you cannot afford plane tickets for February break.

Disclosure: My family and I were provided complimentary pins and VIP passes to evaluate the attractions of the Newport Winter Festival 2012. I was not required to make a specific opinion and my review was not influenced in any way.

The ambiance created here is like your typical breakfast spot. However, this one is in Newport RI so you already know things will be pricey. The location is on a busy street near the ocean. If you are lucky you can score a table near a window to get a people watching view which always keeps the kids entertained.

They are open for breakfast and lunch only. When you walk in you are immediately greeted by their case of terrific baked goods. Many passersby just stop in here for one of their signature muffins. Unfortunately the hostess desk is located right at the bakery case so there is some confusion about who is waiting for what. On a weekend you can expect a bit of a wait for a table.
The décor here is outdated and bathrooms somewhat dingy. However, the food was good and the service exceptional. We were promptly greeted, explained the menu and specials…a lobster eggs benedict!! The kids enjoyed some eggs and home fries, while I had some pancakes and hubby the previously mentioned lobster dish.
Our server always made sure we had our appropriate drinks even though we were seated far from the center of the action. She also brought us coffees to go without a request.
Our family shared one of their famous baked items…a cinnamon roll and can’t wait to go back and try a raspberry chocolate chip creation.

We recently stayed at the Newport Harbor Hotel and Marina. This restaurant is located inside the hotel.
We got to the spot late on a Saturday evening in winter after having some difficulty at the local Hyatt in Newport. The restaurant did not have many people in it, but the bar area was hopping. We did not wait for our table, but the service was slow. The waitress was also our bus person and she cleaned our table rather slowly, and then brought our food out rather slowly. We ended up spending more time eating than we wanted to due to the slow service. However, she was a very nice person and was very helpful with the menu checking on the availability of the queens cut prime rib for my 10 year old twins to share. Additionally the host was great with the kids. He joked with them and made sure they were having a good time and apologized for the wait.
The food was good and relatively inexpensive. There was the regular kid’s selections, but we were also able to order off of the adult menu and share. Even though we had to wait, our server made sure the bread kept coming.
Breakfast here was another matter . There was a breakfast buffet that was $10/person adults and kids. Drinks were not included and we ended up spending more on our breakfast than on our dinner!!!The buffet included eggs, sausage, potato and other usual breakfast foods along with yogurts, fruits and cereals. We decided to only eat dinner here when we had a lot of time!!!

This is known as First Beach. Expect to dig deep into your pocket in season ($20) weekends to park, but worth it for a great family beach.
The beach is also located within walking distance of the famous Cliff Walk should you tire of your time at the water. The beach has a great carousel, concession stand and indoor aquarium. The carousel operator was great with the kids on this old-fashioned ride. As we were entering a ride was starting and he let them get on without paying the $1 fee stating he would get it from us when they got off. When we paid him he thanked us and then told the kids to get back on for another ride.
The SMALL aquarium is not by any means a destination. However it is a diversion from your stay at the beach. There are tanks, touch pools and some unique local species to view. There is also a craft area and a puppet theater for the toddlers. Admission here is a hefty $6, but the proceeds go to the Save the Bay foundation and the docents are very informative and great with kid’s questions.
We visited during the winter while a Winter Festival was happening in Newport. In addition to all the activities above there was also a ‘Block Hunt’ which we had never heard of before. The good citizens of Newport had hidden hundreds of wooden blocks in the sand on the beach. They had the block areas separated by age group. When you found a block in the sand you won prize. There was also one special silver block per age group that entitled you to a larger prize. As we were unprepared with sand shovels the kids had a blast digging with seashells to find their blocks and searched in vain for the silver block until someone else located it. The cost for this ---free.
We also watched a beach polo match at Easton’s. There were tons of people there watching this dramatic game on the beach. The crowd was very friendly and it was a festive day.
This beach has so much to offer families even outside of the Winter Fest activities. Consider this spot on your next trip to RI.

The Newport Art Museum is housed in a former Newport Mansion. The Griswold house was built for a John N A Griswold , a China trade merchant and financier. During the early 2000’s the house was restored to reflect its use as a summer cottage during the gilded age, but also as a venue to display works of art.
The house is very child friendly, however there are many stairs which make it stroller non-friendly, It is a smaller museum and carrying a smaller child would not be an issue for most. There is also a disabled entrance to the rear of the building.
The works of art vary from the 18th century pieces to contemporary artists with a focus on those important to Newport history. There is also a museum shop and a kid’s education program. Kids are very welcomed here and we felt very at ease.
While we were at the museum we took part in a performance of ‘Murder at the Museum’. This is an audience participation show held in the hall of the museum. It is running through May 5th. As part of the show we were encouraged to look for clues throughout the museum to figure out ‘whodunit’. What a great way to see the museum and keep kids engaged!!
This show was performed in partnership with the Marley Bridges Theater Company. Tickets are $15 adult and $8 for youth. The kids were engaged throughout the show and one of ours was even called up to be part of a dancing scene during this comical performance. They are still talking about it today. It was one of the highlights of their trip, AND they were apprehensive about going. Obviously this program is not for the toddler set. Our kids are 7 and 10 and the material involving murder in a comedic way was age appropriate for them. However, I can see being concerned if my kids were younger or did not understand the concepts involved.
We would love to head back to the museum and check out more of the exhibits, but would miss looking for clues and interviewing potential suspects. It was like a real life Nancy Drew “Murder in the Museum’.

On a recent trip to Newport my family and I were provided admission to the museum and a seat in the performance in order to evaluate the attractions of Newport. I was not asked to include any specific review and my opinion was not affected.