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  Restaurant delivery
  Other Groceries/Goods Delivered
  Dry Cleaning
Share Ideas!
  Child-friendly/Take-out Restaurants
  Kiddie Classes
  Indoor Playspaces
  Day Care/Preschools
  Miscellaneous

Restaurants

• Ling-Ling Chinese Restaurant, 59 Main St., Millburn (973)912-8838: Health-conscious Chinese food
• Chopsticks House, Union (908)688-6028
• Peking Teriyaki (973)994-2222: Chinese & Sushi bar
• Joe's Pizzeria & Vittoria Ristorante, 101 Springfield Ave., Summit, (908)522-0615
• Apadamo Pizza, 301 Millburn Ave, Millburn, (973)467-5818
• Arturo's, Maplewood: Italian
• Emack and Bolio's, Short Hills (973)467-2929: Lunch delivery until 1pm
• Banana's, Broad Street, Summit (908)598-1333: Jamaican take-out
• *** Also see list of recommended child-friendly/take-out restaurants below, pick up dinner on your way home...

Other Groceries/Goods Delivered

• Milk and dairy delivery: McHugh Milk Company - Cream'O'Land dairy products. P.O. Box 743,West Caldwell, NJ 07007, (973)473-4174.
• Spring Water delivery : Poland Springs: 1-800-950-9396
• Short Hills Pharmacy, Chatham Road: delivers prescriptions, gifts, supplies (delivery charge)
• Summit Food Market, 423 Springfield Ave, Summit (908)277-4500: delivers groceries for a small fee.
• Maple Kosher Meat Market, Millburn Mall on Vaux Hall Road, (973)688-2080: meat delivery

Dry Cleaning

• Spotless Dry Cleaners, Millburn Ave - pick up and delivery
• Ozzie's Dry Cleaners - setting up a drop-off window
• New Wyoming Cleaners, Millburn Ave - now delivers
• Wong's Laundry - they do a great job on shirts.  My husband likes them better than Spotless for shirts.  (J.Pazer)

Child-Friendly Restaurants, or take out

• JP Lee's, Millburn Avenue, Millburn: buffet and Mongolian BBQ, tons of kids there. Average food but great for kids, especially if they're picky eaters, and you don't want to wait for service.
• Hunan Spring, Morris Avenue, Springfield (973)379-4994: Chinese take-out.  One of the better tasting Chinese restaurants in the area (Jannette Pazer)
• LaStrada, Millburn Avenue, Millburn: pizzeria type restaurant in the front, but can get real Italian entrees. Rear dining room usually has kids, but a little crowded for strollers.  Outdoor seating in the summertime. We order dinner entrees by phone and pick them up - very friendly and they give us freebie bread and dessert because we're repeat customers. Tiny bathrooms, we change diapers on the bench outside the back door.  When Frank saw how hungry my children were while we were waiting for a table, he gave them foccachia bread to munch on.  A wonderful part of the community.  (Jannette Pazer)
• Village Trattoria, Maplewood
• Jolly's Pizzeria & Restaurant, Springfield (973)376-0392.
• Broadway Diner, River Road, Millburn: very friendly diner, usually good service, great for breakfast/brunch. Downstairs room ("Off-Broadway") usually open when crowded and they show cartoons on the TV. No changing table, but a big shelf to change diapers on.
• J.J.'s Roast House, Morris Tpke., Short Hills.
• Mexico ?, Main Street, (973)635-2022.
• Maple Kosher, Union (Millburn Mall), takeout meals.
• Tabachnik's, Union (Millburn Mall), (908)686-7077: Dinners-to-Go. Can fax in order, open until 6:30pm. $9.95 Dinner for 2.
• Whole Foods, Millburn Avenue, Millburn: nice deli section, rotisserie chicken, prepared foods.
• Nana's Deli in Livingston has take out that I've liked (though it's a bit expensive).  (Cheryl Bader)
• Chicken Nest in Livingston has take out that I've liked (Cheryl Bader)
  
  
• NOT child friendly: The Brick Oven, Millburn Avenue.  No children's menu, and they insisted that for a small dish of pasta for my children, they'd have to order an adult pasta dish and pay extra for sharing.  (Jannette Pazer)
  

Kiddie Classes

• Donna Bernstein's (Susan Steinberg's sister) Messy Artist Class (2-4 years old)
  
Donna does a great job with the kids doing a variety of arts and crafts. More than I would think my 2 year old could do!  My 4 year old enjoyed it too!  Collage, Painting, and just plain fun! (from Susan Taylor)
• Gymboree - (any comments?)
• Diamond Gymnastics - Rt. 10, East Hanover (near BB&B) - lots of fun, Mommy & Me classes for toddlers, 3-5 year olds, birthday parties. Nice big open facility, very lenient letting me do things with toddler while older daughter is in class, and they let everyone (grown-ups, older/younger guests) run around and try stuff during birthday parties. Climbing wall too for older kids and grownups.  Just started Summer Camp in '99 with swimming, climbing, gymnastics, sports and crafts.
  Update: back in '99, summer camp had too much downtime, eating junk food and watching videos while waiting for pickups (one was rated PG!).  The climbing parties are often staffed by young people who don't know much about climbing or safety. (from Jannette Pazer)
• Sunburst Gymnastics, Union - supposed to be better than Diamond Gymnastics because less waiting between turns.
• Livingston Gymnastics (on Eisenhower Parkway) - We really like the teachers there.  The facilities aren't as nice as Diamond, but the kids love the instruction. (Cheryl Bader)
  
• The Connection (was YWCA), Summit -  nice selection of classes but very difficult to get into any of them, terrible parking situation some days.
• JCC, Northfield Avenue (warning - a friend's 4 year old almost drowned during swim class because teacher didn't notice and lifeguards were picking up toys.  Parents had to dive in the water in their clothes. Believe it or not, this happened to someone else too!).
• Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Livingston: free storytime, crafts, gymboree (1 Monday/month)
• Millburn Library - Storytime, Arts & Crafts - really great

Indoor Playspaces 

• JT's Play Zone--it's in West Orange, on Pleasant Valley Way. Compared to the city indoor playgrounds, it is tiny, and it has no arts/crafts, but it has enough play equipment to keep the kids occupied and it is open all of the time. (Pam Kruger)
• Explorer Museum in East Orange--it's actually a great little children's museum, tucked away in a residential neighborhood.  Unlike the children's museum in the city, it's never, ever crowded and can keep kids busy for hours with story time, arts/crafts, etc.  Downside: only open Saturdays 10-3. (Pam Kruger)
• Morris Museum: in Morristown usually has one or two exhibits suitable for little kids. (Pam Kruger)
• Romp Around: I just found a great indoor playspace over the weekend.  It is called Romp Around.  It is a little far - on Rt 22 East in Greenbrook, but great for doing some shopping then taking a break.   It costs $7.50 per child.   (Elise Titan)
• Chuckee Cheese's -- the kids love it and the pizza is not bad.  They also offer salads. (Susan Steinberg)
• RTE 10 Chuckie Cheeses is better than RTE 22. I was just at the one on RTE 22 over the weekend and it is really not worthwhile. The one of RTE 22 is huge, very crowded, full of older kids and not at all manageable while the RTE 10 location is small, less crowded and really geared for small children. I swore that I would never go back to the one of RTE 22. (Tamar Elbaz)
  
• NJ Children's Museum -- it's in Paramus, about 30-minute drive just off the GSP, but it's a nice diversion on a weekend.  It's very similar to the old "Imagine That," which used to be on Rt. 10.  No food is available there and you can't bring your own, so make sure the little tiummies are full.(Susan Steinberg)
• Time In: I just saw an add for a place called Time In, just off Rt. 10 in Randolph.  Also a bit of a hike, but may be worth it.(Susan Steinberg)
• The Little Gym: Check out http://www.thelittlegym.com.  They have locations in Montclair and Cranford.  A branch is opening in Livingston this spring.  Looks pretty good. (Susan Steinberg)
• Barnes and Noble has story hours both during the week and weekends (different locations are different times and days--check both Springfield and Watchung on Rt. 22) (Isabel Goldfaden)
• The Children's Museum in New Brunswick was a great couple of hours for us (I have a 2 year old).(Isabel Goldfaden)
• JCC: We also joined the JCC (general membership and anyone can join) allows you to go to both Whippany (which has a great kiddie pool and great hours) as well as West Orange (not as toddler friendly).(Isabel Goldfaden)
• Millburn Library: Story hour at the Millburn Library on Saturday mornings is drop in for toddlers in the Millburn/Short Hills Township.(Isabel Goldfaden)
• Rexplex: we went to recently....a bit of a drive, but fun. It's called Rexplex and it's right near IKEA in Elizabeth.  It's a huge complex with all kinds of activities.  Geared to kids older than mine....with ice and field hockey, roller blading and skate boarding, soccer, health club and much more. For the younger kids, there is a carousel, a climbing maze with ball pit, bumper cars, rides and an arcade (for all).  There are some places to get food there as well. (Cheryl Bader)\
• The Connection (in Summit) -- they have an open gym for a minimal fee.  It's only on certain days, though.  Call to check.(Susan Steinberg)
• Connection for Women & Children in Summit used to have a drop in play area for young kids on Wed & Friday around noon. They may still have it. (Monica)

Day Care/ Preschool

• B'nai Israel, Millburn Avenue - until 2pm.  Many use because it's walking distance.  Edie uses them.
• B'nai Abraham, Livingston - until 2:30pm.
• B'nai Jeshrun, South Orange Avenue - until 2:45pm.
• Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan NJ, West Orange (973)736-3200
• Mickey Fried Preschool at Oheb Shalom in South Orange.  Several of us send our kids and love the school.  The director Iris Ehrlich is great and the teachers are really good.  The kids love the variety of learnings, activities, walks to the libary etc.  Their summer camp is nice too.  The facilities are basic.  We're really happy with it. (Cheryl Bader)
  
• South Mountain Nursery School - 7am-6pm.  Tamar loved it, Susan Steinberg used them.
• The Learning Circle (formerly Summit Child Care Center), Summit (908)273-7017- good reviews, drop-in care, nice new facility.  Jannette, Shari and Felice used them.
• Neighborhood House, Taylor Ave, Millburn. Sue Taylor used them.
• Millburn Cooperative Nursery School.  It's a wonderful, empowering environment for 3 and 4 year olds!  Children learn life skills.  Mornings or afternoons - not all day.  Parental involvement required. (Nancy Lynn)
  
• Millburn Montessori school
• ABC School for Wee Folk, Short Hills (973)379-2542. So-so reviews.
• Family day care - at people's homes - get referrals from social services (see next item), use NJ State Registered (they get inspected). Jannette Pazer used family day care and was very happy with it.
• Referrals for day care centers or family day care: Community Coordinated Child Care of Union County (973)923-1433/1-800-834-1184; Programs for Parents (Essex Co.) (973)857-5171; Children's Services of Morris County (973)927-6060
• Referrals for nannies: The Nanny Network ($150 application fee): Susan Steinberg used them.
• Maplewood Online is a decent potential source of nannies. (Cheryl Bader)
  

Miscellaneous

• Wheel of Fortune, 7:30pm, channel 7 - helps kids learn their letters
• Sticker shortage? If you run out, post-it notes work well as a substitute (at least for younger kids)
• Blues Clues fan? Nickelodeon has web pages with teacher materials to go along with each episode, plus cut out paw-print "clues", handy-dandy notebook, pictures, etc. See the Blues Clues web page or Nickelodeon's Web site for Educators.
• Mobile baby or toddler? Exersaucers allow you to keep them amused in one place while you shower. Cover tray with toys or cheerios.
• Catalogs - save time, shop at home: Useful maternity/baby/toddler items: One Step Ahead 1-800-274-8440; The Right Start 1-800-LITTLE1.

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This page last updated January 8, 2003.