End the holiday season on a high note! Many cities now have a "First Night" celebration: a family-friendly New Year's Eve with parades, fireworks, and, most of all, performances-- by musicians, dancers, acrobats. First Nights are low-cost, too: guests typically buy and wear a First Night button, which gives admission to all the fun.

Also, many resorts and other destinations are picking up on the "family New Years" buzz. Check out family New Year's Eve at Panama City Beach's "Beach Ball Drop", at Hershey PA, Disney World, a family camp in Vermont, and more...

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^{Photo by Susan Cole Kelley, courtesy of First Night Boston.}

If you're heading to Mexico or the Caribbean over the holidays - it's easy to bring along a toy, or baby clothes, or school supplies, and pass them along to kids who need them. Many small charities and schools accept "direct donations", and some resorts make logistics super-simple. Read more about Bringing In-Kind Gifts for Kids.

And for those who've vacationed during the year: now's a good time to remember the hardship that often lies outside the charmed circles of the resorts. Your kids may even have noticed signs of poverty and wanted to help somehow.

Check out some ideas for "giving back" in ways that your kids can easily understand: give to a "Children's Village", for orphaned kids; give an animal -- pig, goat, duck -- that can feed a family. Sponsor a child in the DR, which is such a popular spot for all-inclusive holidays.

• Click for ways to give back that your own kids can easily understand.

*Photo courtesy of The DREAM Project, Dominican Republic.

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New additions to a set of Christmas Vacation Packages include:

• free night at the 2400-acre Sandestin Resort in northwest Florida (and Santa Tuck-ins available for a modest fee that goes to a Toys For Tots charity)
• holiday show with your stay at upscale Chateau On The Lake, in Branson Missouri
• ice skating at Rockefeller Center, with your stay at Apple Core Hotels in NYC
• "Stone Mountain Christmas", at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia.

And that's in addition to decorating your own little tree at a Vermont Inn, and more...

See Christmas Vacation Packages

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Here's a site that might help family travelers save some bucks, when visiting towns in the U.S.: enter a zip code, and couponmap.com serves up a bunch of coupons at restaurants and other businesses in the area.

And while on the topic of saving money, see also:

• Kids Eat Free
• Kids Ski Free
• More deals and ideas for affordable getaways

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