Bring Family Traffic
Create a timely reason for families to visit and attract audiences beyond the property's regular customer base.
FOR SHOPPING CENTERS
Family Expos for
Family Expos for
Shopping Centers.
A turnkey family-focused event concept designed to bring family traffic, extend dwell time, activate retailers and strengthen the property's role as a community destination.
FAMILY EXPO FORMAT
The Program Includes
Family Expos bring children, parents, educators, businesses and community organizations together in one highly visible mall activation. The program can be customized around the property's audience, tenants, available space and seasonal calendar.
- Children's Business Fair
- Goods, Services and Technologies for Kids
- Family Activity & Entertainment Zones
- Startups for Children
- Educational and Cultural Programs
- Career Fair in Children's Organizations
- Contests, Workshops and Interactive Activities
- Sponsorship and Partnership Opportunities
CUSTOMIZED FOR THE PROPERTY
Build an event around your mall.
The format can work as a one-day activation or develop into a recurring annual, semiannual or seasonal platform.
ADVANTAGES
Value for the Entire Property.
The Expo is designed as more than an event in a common area. It can support traffic, tenant participation, marketing, community relationships and the shopping center's family positioning.
Extend Dwell Time
Activities, workshops and the Children's Business Fair encourage families to stay longer and explore more of the mall.
Engage Retailers
Tenants can host activities, promote products, offer giveaways and meet customers through relevant activations.
Attract New Audiences
Bring schools, clubs, young entrepreneurs, nonprofits, educators and community groups into the property.
PR Opportunities
Generate visual, family-focused stories for social media, newsletters, local media and marketing campaigns.
Community Partnerships
Strengthen relationships with schools, public agencies, nonprofits, businesses and family-service organizations.
Social Responsibility
Support children, young entrepreneurs, learning, wellness and inclusive access through visible community programming.
Seasonal Programming
Fill quieter periods between major holidays and promotions with meaningful, repeatable family experiences.
FLEXIBLE MALL INTEGRATION
Designed Around Your Space.
A central event area can host the Children's Business Fair and main activity zones, while selected activities, demonstrations and retailer activations can extend into adjacent corridors, atriums or secondary areas.
- Central destination: create a recognizable Family Expo hub.
- Distributed activity: encourage circulation between mall areas.
- Retailer participation: connect tenants to relevant activities and audiences.
- Flexible scale: adapt the program to available space and operational requirements.
ORGANIZER & RESPONSIBILITIES
A Turnkey Event Partner.
The event is organized by the Kid-Friendly World Foundation, a nonprofit, tax-exempt Section 501(c)(3) organization and a member of ICSC.
Kid-Friendly World coordinates:
- Event concept, program and activity coordination
- Participant, exhibitor, sponsor and partner recruitment
- Promotion and community outreach
- Coordination with schools and young entrepreneurs
- Event-day hosting and operational management
- Insurance and applicable event compliance
- Layout, logistics, safety and retailer coordination with mall management
BOOKS
Ideas Behind Better Family Places.
Two practical publications explore family-friendly destinations, play, development and the design of better family experiences.
BOOK
Kid-Friendly World
Ideas for making communities, destinations, events and experiences more welcoming for children and families.
Find on Amazon ↗
PRACTICAL GUIDE
How to Build the Best Activity Park
A practical guide to strategy, design, operations and growth for family-entertainment projects.
Read the content ↗SELECTED RESEARCH
Research for Family Destinations.
Six selected articles examine play, family value, repeat visitation, destination design and the future of family entertainment.
The FEC Gap: What Family Entertainment Parks Leave Unresolved
Family entertainment parks can have great attractions and still deliver a weak overall experience. The framework identifies deeper problems affecting repeat visits, family value and development.
Read article ↗
The Neuroscience of Play
Developmental science helps explain why children climb, jump, slide, explore and repeat—and how physical play can become even more valuable.
Read article ↗
Invest in the Parks of the Future
Family entertainment can move beyond novelty decay and static attractions toward an adaptive, development-rich model built for repeat visitation.
Read article ↗
What Parents Want from Family Entertainment Centers
Parents describe how affordability, multi-age value, comfort, shared experiences, food, safety and changing reasons to return influence loyalty.
Read article ↗
The Family Entertainment Park of the Future
The next generation of parks can evolve from fixed attraction venues into adaptive family experience platforms.
Read article ↗
Novelty Decay: Why Children Get Bored
An attraction can remain mechanically perfect while becoming psychologically old. Learn how parks can create something new without constantly replacing equipment.
Read article ↗Explore all publications and research.
Visit the complete NY Family EXPO publications collection.
CONTACT
Discuss Hosting Opportunities.
Tell us about your property and what you would like to achieve. Start a conversation about bringing a Family Expo to your shopping center.