General Questions

Watch this video for an overview and introduction to our booking platform.

What is the Mommy Poppins booking platform?

MommyPoppins.com is one of the leading family activity sites in the world, used by over 15 million families to find fun things to do at home, in their area, or while traveling. Our calendar lists live local and virtual events, activities, attractions, and more.  Service providers can list their businesses and specific activities.

Our booking platform allows providers to add direct ticketing right in their activity listing so users can purchase tickets or book services quickly and easily.

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Who is it for?

Businesses, non-profits, and cultural institutions who offer high-quality activities and services to families can list their organization, activities, or both in the following categories:

• Attractions
• Camps
• Classes
• Events
• Online & On-Demand
• Parties
• Schools & Preschools
• Special Needs
• Stores & Services
• Tours & Travel

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How do I get listed?

You can list your business and or activities by clicking the GET LISTED link at the top of the site or going to mommypoppins.com/listings. To be listed as a provider, select a membership level and create your business profile. To list activities, click on the Activities tab.

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Do I have to pay to be listed?

You can list activities for no upfront cost using our free membership. Free members can list one qualifying Basic Activity Listing and up to five Premium Activity Listings using our booking platform to sell tickets.  Upgrade your account to a paid membership to list your business with a dedicated Provider Page about your business, including a description, logo, photo, and video, or to list additional activities.

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What activities can be listed for free?

Basic Activity Listings can include in-person or virtual events that are appropriate, entertaining, and enriching for families and meet the following guidelines:

• Must be a high-quality, family-friendly event.

• Can not be a camp, class, open house, marketing event, service, or attraction. 

• Can not be a series of events, subscription, or anything that required ongoing registration. 

• Can not cost more than $30 per person.

Camps, classes, marketing events, and activities costing more than $30 per person must be listed as Premium Activity Listings using our Booking Platform. There is no upfront fee for Premium Activity Listings, but there is a platform fee deducted from any sales made through our on-site booking service. Services and attractions can be listed with Provider Pages or Premium Activity Listings with Booking. 

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Can I list a free activity, open house, or trial class?

Free events can be listed as Basic Activity Listings as long as they meet our basic listing guidelines. Open houses and trial classes can be listed as Basic Activity Listings by accounts with a Provider or Provider Plus Membership.

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How will customers find me?

Our calendar is promoted across our website. Once users are in the calendar, they can search by activity or by provider and use our filters to find options that match their location, dates, type of offering, and ages. You can also feature your activity listings to put them at the top of search and promote them in the featured calendar across our site.

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How do I use Mommy Poppins booking?

Our Premium Activity Listing with Booking allows users to purchase directly from your listing on our site to increase sales. You can add booking to any activity listing by clicking the booking options box when you are creating the activity. See our How to Create a Premium Activity with Booking Demo Video and guide for complete instructions.

Membership Levels

Do I need to choose a membership level?

We offer three membership levels. All memberships allow you to list activities, but the number and type vary. Our paid memberships also give you a Provider Page on our site. The default level is the Free Membership, so if you do not select a membership level, you will automatically be provided a Free Membership.

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What's included in the Free Membership?

Free members do not have a Provider Page on Mommy Poppins but can list one Basic Activity Listing and up to 5 Premium Activity Listings with Booking. There is no monthly fee for this level, but any bookings are subject to a higher platform fee.

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What's included in a Provider Membership?

Provider Membership Includes:

• A dedicated Provider Page for your business, including a business description, website link and contact info, photo, promotional video and logo.
• One Basic Activity Listing.
• Unlimited Premium Activity Listings with Booking.
• A lower platform fee on sales made through our booking service.

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What's included in a Provider Plus Membership?

Provider Plus Membership includes:

• A dedicated Provider Page for your business, including a business description, website link and contact info, photo, promotional video and logo.
• Ten Basic Activity Listings.
• Unlimited Premium Activity Listings with Booking.
• Our lowest platform fee on sales made through our booking service.

How to List Your Business

What are the benefits of a Provider Page?

A Provider Page is your business's presence on Mommy Poppins. It's where our readers get to know (and trust) you as a business.

We also link to businesses with Provider Pages in our editorial content, meaning our editors are more likely to include your business in relevant articles, and your information can be kept up to date across our site because when you update your business profile, it will automatically update everywhere your business is mentioned on our site!

A Provider Page includes:

• An in-depth description of your business
• Logo
• An image
• Promotional video
• Business address
• Direct links to your email, phone, and website
• Upcoming activity listings

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Can I list my business without listing any activities?

Yes. Our search allows users to discover businesses by activities offered or by providers, so if you prefer not to list any specific activities, or you are a service or other business that doesn't offer activities, users can find you by searching by provider.

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How can I get the most out of my Provider Page?

• In the first sentence or two, write what services you provide and what is most unique about your business compared to others in the same category. It could be your location, your facilities, your offerings, your approach, etc.
  • For instance: "My Polite Child offers summer day camps and school holiday camps in Tribeca that teach etiquette to children 8 to 12 using cooperative games and role play."
• In the following paragraphs, make sure to provide enough information about your business that readers feel confident signing up with you. Go more in-depth about your general offerings and approach.
• DO write your description in the third person ("ABC Preschool helps kids learn to love school," rather than "We help kids learn to love school.")
• DO use the exact name of your business as it appears on your website or other materials. (Provider Page titles may not include taglines or slogans.)
• DO include a video if you have one; readers often request to see demos of classes, and including one on your Provider Page will help you (and readers) get the most out of your presence on the site.
• DO NOT include URLs, contact info, or offers in your description text; use the special fields provided for this info.
• DO NOT include dates, times, prices, or seasonal/holiday language in your business description - these become outdated quickly. All this information can be included in your activity listings.

Check out this sample of a great Provider Page for inspiration.

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Image guidelines for Provider Pages:

• Photos must be horizontally oriented and between 620x400 and 1200x750 pixels (960x650 is ideal) with no text or logos.
• Logos should be square and 140 x 140 pixels.

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I can't find my Provider Page.

You might not be able to see your Provider Page yet if it is waiting to be moderated. To maintain the best experience for the reader, and to keep the site to the high standard that our users expect from Mommy Poppins, all Provider Pages are moderated before being published. Depending on volume this can take up to two days.

You will receive an email notification when your Provider Page is live. It can then be found in our calendar or search by selecting "Providers" and using the correct keyword or filters based on the tags you selected in your business profile. Make sure you have correctly tagged your business offerings in your profile and that you have an active paid membership so your business can be easily found.

How to List Activities

What are the benefits of listing activities on Mommy Poppins?

Each week over 100,000 people use the Mommy Poppins calendar to plan their days and weekends. We offer two kinds of activity listings: Basic Event Listings and Premium Activity Listings with Booking. All listings can include a detailed description and image, and, if you use our booking platform to sell tickets directly on our site, you can increase your sales by making it faster and easier for customers to make a purchase immediately.

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What types of activities can I list?

We offer Basic and Premium Activity Listings for family-friendly in-person and virtual events, classes, camps, and parties, and tickets for attractions, tours, and travel.

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What's the difference between a Basic Activity Listing and a Premium Activity Listing with Booking?

Basic Activity Listings can include in-person or virtual events that are appropriate, entertaining, and enriching for families. They link directly to the event website rather than using our premium booking platform service. Please see our Activity Listing Guidelines for more details.

Camps, classes, marketing events, and activities costing more than $30 per person must be listed as Premium Activity Listings. There is no upfront fee for Premium Activity Listings, but there is a platform fee deducted from any sales made through our on-site booking service.

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Can I list a free activity, open house, or trial class?

Free events can be listed as Basic Activity Listings as long as they meet our basic listing guidelines. Open houses and trial classes can only be listed by accounts with a Provider or Provider Plus Membership.

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How many activities can I list?

Each membership level has different limits for the number of events and activities you can list.

• A Free Membership allows one Basic Activity Listing and up to five Premium Activity Listings.
• A Provider Membership allows one Basic Activity Listing and unlimited Premium Activity Listings.
• A Provider Plus Membership allows up to 10 Basic Activity Listings and unlimited Premium Activity Listings.

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How do I create an activity listing?

Log into your account and from your "Activities" page, click the pink "Add an Activity" button.

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What should I include in my activity listing?

Try to make your description compelling by specifically describing the unique features of your event.

• DO write your description in the third person ("Kids love Zoo Camp!" rather than "Kids love our camp!")
• DO make your description compelling by specifically describing the unique features of your activity.
• DO NOT use hyperbole, all caps, or exclamation points. This will be edited out and could cause a delay in the publication of your listing.
• Do not include URLs, contact info, or offers in your description text. There are special fields for this info.

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There's a mistake in my activity listing. How can I edit it?

Log into your account and click on the pencil to edit your listing at any time. Edits are moderated by our editors before being published, which can take a few business days. You will receive an email notification once your updated listing has been published.

If your listing has booking options and/or a deal, you can edit these by clicking on the ticketing and deal icons next to the listing on your activities dashboard.

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I need to change the date and/or time of my activity.

You can edit the date and time of your activity by clicking on the pencil icon next to your activity in your dashboard. If you have sold tickets for this activity already, please make sure to communicate the new information to customers and provide a substitution or refund if the new schedule does not work for them. Mommy Poppins charges providers a $10 fee for each refunded ticket.

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Why hasn't my activity listing (or edits) been published yet?

All submissions are moderated by our editors to maintain quality and consistency on our site. Depending on volume, this can take a few business days.

Activities submitted by clients with paid memberships are moderated first. Free listings are moderated on a first-come, first-served basis. We receive a high volume of submissions, especially around holidays, and it's possible we will not get to all free activity submissions.

Another reason your activity may not have been published is that it is already on our calendar. You can search for your activity to see if there is a different listing of it published.

When your activity is published, you'll receive an email notification with the link.

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How do I cancel an activity listing?

Rather than delete canceled events, we add "- CANCELED" to the title of the listing so that anyone who has saved the event can see the new status. If you have sold any tickets, you will need to offer a substitution or refund. Mommy Poppins charges providers a $10 fee for each refunded ticket.

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How do I renew or extend an activity listing?

If an activity listing's final date has passed, the listing will no longer be searchable on the website. If you wish to renew the listing, you can clone it, update the title, dates and times, and any other details that need to change. Please make sure to double-check all ticketing options, including any sales number limits to make sure everything is accurate. Then you can save it to resubmit it for moderation.

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Selling with Our Premium Booking Platform

What are the advantages of having users book through Mommy Poppins?

With Mommy Poppins, businesses can reach over 100,000 families per month searching for events, activities, camps, classes, parties, and more that are just like yours. They're already here, looking for something to do. Our booking service lets parents book your service instantly, with no additional clicks-before they forget or get distracted.

Our booking platform is non-exclusive, and there is no risk or up-front cost with our free membership. It's simple: You create your listing; parents find you and book instantly; we take care of processing payment; you sit back and run your business.

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How do I use Mommy Poppins booking?

You can add a booking to any activity listing by clicking the booking options box when you are creating the activity and adding one or more options for purchase. Simply give the option a name and price, and enter the number of spots available.

You can add multiple prices or types of tickets. For instance, you can create different ticket types (and prices) for general admission for adults or children, matinee or evening performance, sibling discount price, 5-pack discount price, etc.

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How do I list a day or week of camp?

If you are offering a class or camp with flexible scheduling, you can offer each option as a different ticketing type within the same activity listing. Simply create different ticketing options in your activity. For example, name one "Full Day, Price $35" and the other "Full Week, Price $175." You could also offer "Half Day Mornings," "Half Day Afternoons," "Four Week Session," etc. The customer will select the date they want to attend (or start their session) and then select the option they want.

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How do I offer a bundle of sessions?

You can offer bundles of sessions by creating a pricing option. For example, you could offer "One Lesson, $35" and "5 Pack, $175." The customer will select their first date and then you can coordinate additional dates once you are in contact with them.

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How do I list an activity that has no specific date or time?

If you want to list birthday parties, attraction tickets, lessons, services, or other offerings that don't have a specific date or time, you can input the days you offer it, but leave the time blank and it will be listed as "various times." Then use one of the following methods to allow people to book:

• Use the popular app Calendly (or another public calendar app) to create a schedule of availability. Embed the link to your calendar in your listing description and users can check availability before purchasing. If you use this for all your scheduling it will make it easy to manage all your bookings-otherwise please make sure to update availability in the app if slots become unavailable.
• List select times. For instance, your parties may sell out on weekend afternoons, but be generally available on weekend mornings and evenings. You can list select spots that generally don't sell out and allow people to directly book those slots. This streamlined process can lead to more bookings, but please make sure to update your listing if a slot you offer becomes unavailable.

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What happens when someone purchases my activities?

When a purchase is made, you will receive an email notifying you of the sale, which activity was purchased, and the customer's names and contact information. They will also receive a confirmation with the redemption instructions you provided in your listing. If needed, you can follow up with them for additional details. You can also download a report of all your purchased activities from your activities dashboard.

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How do I get paid?

After you receive your first booking through our platform, you will receive an invitation to join our vendor portal and provide your direct deposit and W9 information. Payments are paid out monthly by direct deposit. If you would like to get paid out immediately, please reach out to our customer service for details.

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Ticket availability has changed. How do I change the number of spots available?

Log into your account and click on the ticket icon next to your listing. This is where you can review your ticketing options and make sure the dates, times, and number of tickets available for each option are accurate. Ticket availability is by each listed date/time so if you have multiple options, make sure to review them all.

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How can I delete a ticket option?

You can not delete ticket options, but you can hide options to stop displaying them as for sale. To do this, click on the ticket icon next to your listing on your dashboard, and click the "hide" box next to any options you no longer wish to offer. You must honor any tickets already sold, or offer a substitution or refund the customer if you can not. Mommy Poppins charges providers a $10 fee for each refunded ticket.

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Refunds and Cancellations

How do I set my refund policy?

You can set a refund policy and cancellation window in each activity listing. If a customer wishes to cancel within your cancellation window, a refund will automatically be provided. There is no charge for customer-requested refunds.

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How do I provide a customer refund?

If a refund is required due to a canceled activity or a customer request, please email us the customer name, email address, and the purchased ticket or tickets. We will process the refund for the customer and send them a confirmation. Mommy Poppins charges providers a $10 fee for each refunded ticket due to provider cancellations, which will either be deducted from your monthly payment, or invoiced if it exceeds your total sales revenue. There is no charge for customer-requested refunds.

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Membership Payments

When will I be charged for my membership?

Monthly memberships are charged on the date you sign up and on the same date each month going forward. Annual memberships are charged on the same date each year.

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How do I cancel my membership?

You can cancel your membership at any time and no further charges will be applied. Your new account status will take effect immediately and your Provider Page will be removed from the site. We can not provide refunds or prorate partial subscription payments. Platform or referral fees for any tickets sold are applied based on the membership level at the time of sale.

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I have an annual Provider Membership. Can I upgrade to a Provider Plus membership?

Please email us and we will be happy to help you upgrade your account.

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Featured Listings and Deals

How do I get more people to find my business?

There are several ways to get more people to find your business:

Having both a Provider Page and activity listings makes sure your business can be found in both provider and activity searches.

Activity listings can be featured. This will put a listing at the top of all listings for that date. All featured listings also rotate in the three spots adjacent to the featured calendar across the entire site.

Add a deal to your business or activity listing. This will add an eye-catching red "DEAL" flag in search results and allow your activity to be found when people filter to view only deals.

You can also advertise your event or business. We offer ads that can be targeted to our calendar pages or even to specific category pages so you can target your ads to people researching camps, classes, parties, and other topics. To find out more about advertising please email us.

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How do featured listings work?

Activity listings can be featured, by date, for a charge of $250 per day featured. On your Activities dashboard, simply click the + to the right of a listing to feature that listing. You will be asked which day (or days) you would like to feature the listing, and you will need to confirm payment for a featured listing.

Your listing will appear at the top of search and in the featured calendar across the whole site for that date. Your listing will also show up in one of the three featured spots adjacent to the featured calendar from the time it is featured until the event date. If the last date of your activity is more than one month away, your featured listing fee will renew monthly until it is canceled. All featured listings rotate within the featured calendar spots.

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Can I add additional dates to feature a listing?

Yes. Simply click on the thumbs up icon next to your activity on your dashboard and select the additional dates you would like to feature. From there you will simply confirm payment for the added dates.

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What is a deal and how do I offer one?

Deals can be offers, promotions, or discounts that are promoted on your activity or business listing page.

Offers must present a compelling value and include instructions for redeeming. Allowable types of deals include discounts, free demo classes, coupon codes, event-specific offers or promotions, and scholarship offers. Deals will be reviewed by our editors who have the right to refuse to publish any deal at their discretion.

Please note: If you are using our ticketing system, we do not have the ability to process coupon codes or discounts. When using our booking platform, offers must be something that you can provide after a purchase is made.

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What should I include in a deal?

Make sure to include all relevant information for redeeming your offer, including any coupon codes and all possible ways the user can redeem (online, by phone, or in-person). All deals should include an expiration date and list any restrictions. Your deal will automatically be removed from the site when the expiration date passes, and you'll receive an email notification. If you wish to add a new offer or extend the previous one, just go to the Activity Manager section in your account and click the star icon next to your listing.

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Can I add a deal to my existing listing?

Yes, you can add a deal at any time to any listing, just go to the Activity Manager section in your account and click on the plus sign under "Deals" next to your listing. If you already have a deal in place, you can edit it by clicking on the star icon.

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