Best of Bethesda 2025 Editors’ Picks: Kids & Pets

December 26, 2024 3:00 p.m.

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Most enticing new treats for pets

Take your dog on a “sniffari” at Rockville’s Pet Wants, then stroll the King Farm pocket park outside its doors. Owner Anita Terzic-Kostadinova says pets are welcome to sniff around the store and sample treats to find their favorite. “We always love seeing dogs’ confidence grow as they can run around and sniff,” Terzic-Kostadinova says.  

She and her husband, Peter Kostadinov, opened their Pet Wants franchise store in April 2024 after developing a devoted following of dog (and human) customers while selling Pet Wants brand dog food at farmers markets, primarily the Kentlands Main Street Farmers Market, for more than three years. She was inspired by the Pet Wants brand as she searched for food and treats that were agreeable to the couple’s two Shiba Inus, Yoshi and Kimi, who are prone to skin and digestive issues. Her husband encouraged her to “go with something I already did for myself and our dogs, and loved,” Terzic-Kostadinova says.  

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Pet Wants is a chain that offers small batch, freshly made dry dog food under the Pet Wants private label. According to Terzic-Kostadinova, the food has no soy, corn, wheat or byproducts. Other popular items include dehydrated chicken jerky, freeze-dried beef liver and unique chews such as collagen braids. Their offerings also include holistic skin care products for dogs, and bags of pumpkin-cranberry biscuits made by Terzic-Kostadinova herself. Pet Wants offers free delivery in Montgomery County for orders over $29. 

302 King Farm Blvd. #140, Rockville, petwants.com/rockville


Best nights out for kids

Sitters can be hard to find, but parents need a break every now and then. For your next date night, we’ve got you covered with our breakdown of the best Kids’ Nights Out in the area. 

For toddlers

The Tot Space, an activity center that opened in September in Rockville, offers a monthly Parents’ Night Out for kids ages 3-6. The three-hour sessions (6-9 p.m.) include arts and crafts, music and movement, story time and games, plus playtime with musical instruments, dress up, Lego bricks and sensory toys. Each session is centered around a different theme; past themes have included Kidchella (like the Coachella music festival in California but for little ones), Pumpkin Patch Palooza and Totsgiving. Pizza and snacks are included in the flat rate of $69 per child. Kids must be potty-trained.   

1321A Rockville Pike, Rockville, thetotspace.com 

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Kids and adults playing a game
Kids After Hours. Courtesy Kids After Hours

For elementary schoolers 

Activities at the monthly Kids’ Night Out sessions run by Kids After Hours are meant for kindergarteners through fifth graders and include arts and crafts, movies with popcorn, dance parties, gym games such as dodgeball and line tag, and tabletop games such as Uno and Connect 4. They’re held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on a variety of Fridays for $25 per child. With locations at 25 schools around the county, there’s probably one near you. Kids don’t need to be currently enrolled in that school or after-school program to attend a Kids’ Night Out at the location. 

kidsafterhours.com/school-year-programs/kids-night-out

Kids playing rock paper scissors shoot
Montgomery County Recreation’s Club Friday. Courtesy Montgomery County Recreation.

For tweens 

Activities such as laser tag, glow-in-the-dark kickball and DJ dance parties are designed to appeal to kids in grades three through six at Montgomery County Recreation’s Club Friday, which runs on select Fridays from October through the spring at five community centers around the county. Registration is for the season; participants can attend as many sessions as they like at the selected site for $60-$95. Sports, trivia, party games, billiards, pingpong, video games and crafts are also part of the lineup, depending on the location. Snacks such as pizza and chips are provided.  

activemontgomery.org (On the website, click on “search” and then click on “activity search” and then type R03002 into the “activity number or keyword search” box.) 

Kids jumping
Kids Night Out at My Gym Potomac. Photo courtesy My Gym Potomac.

For mixed-age siblings

Big kids as well as their younger siblings, ages 3 to 9 years old, are welcome at My Gym’s Parents’ Night Out, generally held monthly at the Potomac activity gym. The events, from 6-9 p.m., include supervised games and activities, such as relay races, a ball pit, a trampoline, a rock climbing wall, balance beams and other gym equipment, and pizza is served. Each month there’s a different theme, such as ninja night or pajama party. The cost is $49 per child. Kids must be potty-trained.  

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11325 Seven Locks Road, Potomac, mygym.com/potomac/events

For artsy kids

Kids age 6 and older with artistic flair can enjoy an art project and movie night at the Amazing Art Studio, a paint-your-own-pottery space in Gaithersburg. On the first and third Friday of each month, Kids’ Night Out events feature a family-friendly movie and coordinating project—think the 2023 animated film Migration matched with painting a ceramic duck, or Disney’s 2012 film Brave with a painted canvas that says “Be Brave.” There’s also popcorn, pizza and a sweet treat for dessert. Each session runs from 6-8 p.m. and costs $38 per child.  

115 Crown Park Ave., Gaithersburg, amazingartstudio.com/calendar


Sharon Mazel
Photo courtesy Sharon Mazel.

Best local parenting Instagrammer

Being a new parent is hard. But bad days don’t make you a bad mom or dad.  

Supportive messages like this reflect the tone of Sharon Mazel’s Instagram account, @sharonmazel, which has nearly 300,000 followers. Mazel is an author, parenting coach and mom of four who makes succinct daily posts about navigating life with children through cheerful infographics. The topics of Mazel’s posts range from how to trim baby’s nails to things that are no longer easy when you’re a parent (privacy in the bathroom, among others).  

Mazel, 53, of Silver Spring, started the account in early 2020 to share evidence-based, easily digestible information for parents feeling overwhelmed by the volume of tips available in the digital age. Mazel also shares her wisdom via local talks and her 2023 book, Bite-Sized Parenting.

sharonmazel.com

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