Take the Family to the Theater: The Nutcracker & Shows for 2018

When I was little, I loved going to see shows with my mom. We saw some locally and as I got older, we’d occasionally see shows on Broadway too. We’ve taken the kids to the circus and a couple kids concerts but I had been waiting to take them to the Nutcracker until this year. They are in first and second grade and I thought they were ready to sit through the ballet. We chose to see the New Jersey Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC). 

My girls were so excited when I told them we were going. Alex brought her own Nutcracker along to watch the show. We chose an evening performance and left Dad home with the baby brothers. Even though the evening show starts at 6pm, it’s still very family friendly and we were home by bedtime.

The MPAC theater was the perfect place to see The Nutcracker for the first time. The parking was easy, the theater was a very manageable size with kids and the performance was amazing! During the intermission there were 2 cast members at the front of the theater for the kids to meet and get autographs. My girls were so thrilled that one of the rats was there to meet and a wooden soldier too. It was also neat for the kids to get to peek down and see where the orchestra sits. They had never seen that before.

I was nervous that they were not going to sit through the whole show because as they said “there’s no talking in this??”. The show was fast moving with beautiful costumes and also so many children were in the ballet which they loved to see. For more info on The New Jersey Ballet and their complete list of performances, click here.

Seeing The Nutcracker at MPAC

If you are looking to take your family to see The Nutcracker, I would highly recommend the performance at MPAC. There are still plenty of shows left before Christmas. There are shows every Friday night and two shows each Saturday and Sunday.

Great Family Shows for 2018

MPAC also has a full line up of family shows for 2018. We’re hoping to see Pinkalicious and Masters of Illusion with the girls. There are also some great shows on Tuesday afternoons for just $15 a ticket, like Go Dog Go and The Cat in the Hat. Click here to see the full list of family shows at MPAC for 2018.

Disclosure: We were not compensated for this post. We did receive some tickets for the purpose of review. We love the theater and the arts and hope to encourage more families to see shows! All opinions are our own.