How To Check Out Museum Passes Just Like Library Books In New Jersey
Many local museums have “free admission days” courtesy of their corporate sponsors or for members of certain banks. You might have figured out that I’m a bit of a Frugal Fannie, so I always put these days on my calendar.
However, they never seemed to work out with our schedule and the kids’ activities. What if you could pick the day to take your whole family to a local museum for free? I’m not kidding!
Did you know that you can check out museum passes to local museums from your library just like you can check out a book? I had no idea they did this until we joined the library in our new town in 2016.
I guess I should have been paying better attention because getting Library Museum passes for free entry is right up my alley!
While the passes that each town library offers are different, there are a lot of common places in the museum pass program. For a nearly complete listing of NJ Libraries and their passes, check out this article. Here’s a sampling of the participating museums that our library and other Bergen/Passaic County libraries offer free entry to their members.
- Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey
- Boscobel House & Gardens
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden
- Children’s Museum of Manhattan
- The Frick Collection
- Guggenheim Museum
- Grounds for Sculpture
- Imagine That!
- Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum
- Montclair Art Museum
- Morris Museum
- Museum of Modern Art
- Museum of the City of New York
- New York Historical Society
- New York Transit Museum
- Newark Museum
- The Paley Center for Media
- Storm King Art Center
- Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park
- Yogi Berra Museum
How to Find Library Museum Passes from Your Public Library
To find the list of library museum passes that your town offers, go to your own Library’s website and look for the link for “Museum Passes.” Our Library puts it under the “Card Benefits” section, so look for something similar.
If you’re having trouble finding it, go to Google.com and search “The Name of Your Library Museum Passes.” That should pull up a direct link for ya! If you still can’t find it, I’m sure your local library staff can tell you about their museum pass program. My local library has both an in-person pass registration and an online option to reserve these passes.
Reserving a library museum pass is very easy, and you can do it five weeks in advance! If you are already a member of your library and have a website log-in for your library card number, you’re golden! From your library’s Museum Pass page, you will likely be directed to MuseumKey.com to see pass availability and reserve museum pass for your chosen day. I’ve even done it on my phone!
♥Planner’s Tip♥ If you know you want to go on a certain day (special occasion, kids off of school), put a calendar reminder on your phone for exactly five weeks to the day. That way, a robot can remember and remind you first thing in the morning! #Delegate
There are so many different ways to use these library museum passes! Have family visiting from out of town? Look for passes that cover 6 people. Looking to plan a special outing for a birthday, Mother’s Day, date night, etc.? Or maybe you’re trying to fill Spring or Summer Break without breaking the bank? This is an economical way to explore somewhere new in the Tri-State Area.
We’ve been to the following places from the list, and I absolutely recommend them!
INTREPID AIR, SEA, AND SPACE MUSEUM (Manhattan, NY)
This is one of the places where the library museum pass really provides A LOT of value as this pass includes tickets for 6 people. Boy, I had no idea that visiting “The Big Boat” was so expensive. Kids tickets are $24, and adult tickets are $33. We took my father-in-law, a former pilot, with us too, so the library museum passes were worth $147. We packed lunch and ate in the cafeteria, so our only big cost to visit was parking ( I love the ParkingSpot app for NYC!)
I really have no idea about boats and airplanes, and my kids aren’t necessarily into them, but they had a blast! The Intrepid is a decommissioned aircraft carrier from WWII that is now the base for this combo air, sea, and space museum literally in the Hudson River. It used to be the floating home for 50,000 sailors, so you can imagine the size of it!
A visit to the West Side of Manhattan just scratches the surface of things to do in NYC. Plan on spending the whole day here exploring what WWII life was like on the boat, learn about some very famous airplanes (The Concord and the A-12 spy plane), and checking out the Space Shuttle Pavilion featuring The Enterprise. Or my personal reason to come – – it gives you an excuse to sing “I’m On A Boat” most of the day.
IMAGINE THAT! (Florham Park, NJ)
My kids LOVE this place! IMAGINE THAT! is a play place focused on pretend and imagination and best for the preschool and under 8 set. This place is smaller than the bigger museums and is very manageable for one adult to go with multiple kids. It’s the size of 5 Starbucks—to give you an idea. They recently renovated it to make it one big open space with different areas, making it easy to keep your eye on kids in multiple play areas.
My kids work their way through every section of the place – grocery store, nursery, pet vet, fire truck, train table, dress up/dance studio, pirate ship, castle, indoor playground! It’s an enjoyable day. Even though it is kind of far from our house, we go a lot, so I ended up buying a book of passes, and they have a coupon in the KidStuff fundraising book. However, you can also go for free if you can check the museum pass out from the Clifton Library. ( Go ahead, check your phone for Clifton friends and family, I’ll still be here)
STORM KING ART CENTER (New Windsor, NY)
Kids at an art center? I said it! It’s not your typical art museum, that’s for sure. Storm King Art Center is a 500-acre outdoor museum featuring oversized sculptures where my kids can be super loud, run like wild animals, and not break anything!
I’ve seen couples having a romantic picnic here as well as larger groups gathering. It’s a gorgeous place with multiple picnic areas, and they do have a lovely cafe that serves sandwiches…. and adult drinks:) I like to describe this place as Art in Nature with Beautiful Hudson Valley Views. You really can’t go wrong here!
They have some paths for strollers, but my three-year-old could walk /hike most of the day, so we kept the stroller parked. We did give her a couple of piggyback rides, and they have a shuttle to different areas of the park for those who need a lift.
We went for an entire day to celebrate Father’s Day and didn’t even scratch the surface of what you can do there. We plan on going back in the fall to take in the Fall Foliage – with our library museum passes, of course! COVID NOTE: Even with these public library free entry passes they have a limited number of spots a day. Call or email to reserve a time slot for your family!
Have I piqued your interest? Check out what passes your library offers and make a shortlist of places you’d like to go!
This is a great opportunity to get out with the kiddos. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I hope your library has passes too!
I had no idea! Even though I don’t have children at home, we enjoy museums! Thanks!
I just discovered this a couple of years ago! This program needs a PR person 😉 ( I joke because I used to be a PR Person)
How cool is that for people who live in big cities! I love free! Here in my small town in the northwoods most of the museums are free. We do have a wonderful children’s museum and I think they charge for that. I will have to check it out for when the grand kids get older.
That is awesome that most museums in your town are free!
These look great! I’m in NJ as well and am always looking for day trips. I never thought to look to the library first! Thanks!
Thank you! I wonder if we know some of the same Dance People in NJ. I was on the Rutgers Dance Team in college, so i’m a dancing mom too!
Looks like a lot of cool museums and activities. Many are doing virtual activities now too.
yes! Liberty Science Center is offering amazing daily online activities. It’s one of our favorite places to go
I really like the details of your experience. I would love this with family. Thank you! I’m on a Boat… LOL!
Thank you! I wonder if your library has them too?
Great suggestions and certainly now since funds are limited at times. This is a really interesting approach – wouldn’t have thought that so many of these would be free admission. Thanks for the information.
Thank you! I, too, was shocked at how many our library offered!
Great resource! Some of those places are already on our radar for our next trip to NYC. Will pin for later!
Fantastic! Do you come to NYC often?
I’m inspired to check for free museum passes in my state. I didn’t know you could do this through the local library. Thanks for the tip!
so glad to have brought you something new!
This is a great way to have a family day out with very little cost! Thank you so much for sharing!
so glad you enjoyed it!
This is really good to know. I will have to search for museum passes!
Glad to have brought you a new idea!
We do this every summer – our library (in NW Suburbs of Chicago) does something similar and so sad to be missing out on it this summer!
Me too! I am hoping that in August the outdoor ones will be open and we can enjoy them again
We love going to museums! Going on free days are a big bonus!
It doesn’t get much better than free! 😉
Very interesting idea! museums are intriguing!
It makes for a great day out – FREE! Hope your library offers passes too
My family and I LIVE for this kind of stuff! How wonderful to know! Thank you so much!
So glad you have brought you a new idea! Hope your library offers passes too
The Louisville library offers a Cultural Pass every summer where kids can get into local museums and attractions for free. Only one accompanying adult can get in with the kids. It works out well for us though because I just take the kids with me while my husband is at work.
That is amazing! Go Louisvile Library!
Great article! I was able to take advantage of museum passes when I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. The library there also had this benefit available, and it’s free as well.
So glad to hear that communities across the country are doing this!
Great information! I know some of our museums have free days as well, but I didn’t know about the library!
I know right! The free days are always so crowded but with these passes you can still go for free – whenever it works with your schedule!
I didn’t know library passes had these perks! I’ll have to check this out.
I just learned about it a couple of years ago! We have really been enjoying the benefit of our local library
WE LOVE! LOVE! FREE LIBRARY MUSEUM PASSES. FREE IS FOR ME!
Love “Free is for me” I might have to use that 😉
This is great to know, thank you!! Those outdoor sculptures are so cool, and definitely an easy museum to do with kids.
You’re welcome! The outdoor places are great with kids– don’t have to shhhh them the whole day!
This is wonderful! I’ll have to see if this is available near me.
I hope your library has these passes too!
I tried searching my local library website and, hey! There it is! Great tip!!
I did a happy dance when I read your comment. So happy that my tip worked for you!
We’ve done this in San Diego! So cool that it’s an option.
Orlando is another popular vacation spot with science museums!
Shucks, I just checked Hawaii Public Libraries and we don’t have museum passes. I wonder if we can take advantage of museum passes as we travel, especially if we have friends in the area.
Ah man!!! If your friends have a library card, they can check out of their local library!
Wow I didn’t know this! What a great program. Don’t know if my library offers anything similar. I’ll be checking!
Glad to have brought you something new! Come back and let me know if your library has them!