Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Best Babysitter Alternative


  • Kids Design the World

    663 Vanderbilt Ave., nr. Prospect Pl., Prospect Heights; 718-971-2280

    Susie Kurkowski, the owner of a toy store that offers knitting and cartooning classes, understands that parents of 7 p.m.–bedtime terrors need happy-hour dates. So last summer, she launched Saturday drop-offs (4 p.m. for toddlers, 6 p.m. for the 4-to-8 set). Tykes craft cardboard robots, finger-paint portraits, and build block towers in the backyard. These two-hour reprieves are so popular that Kurkowski has added weekend-morning sessions for boozy brunch, too. At $29 per child, it’s cheaper than the sitter.

From the 2015 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine