How to spend Christmas in NYC while on a budget
Central Square Park
Ever wanted to spend Christmas and New Year's Eve in the big city but felt like it was too much to afford? Well here's a list of things to do in NYC while you are on a budget! Last year during the holidays, me and my best friend spent Christmas in New York while being 2 broke college students. If it was possible for us then it can definitely be possible for you. The first thing we did to ensure we could save some money was to buy our plane tickets at the perfect time.
The best time to buy airline tickets is 1-2 months in advance of the trip. Next is finding an affordable hotel to stay in. My friend and I were fortunate enough to have family that lives in NY that we were able to stay with. If you don't have any friends and family to bunk with you could always try cheaper alternative rental arrangements such as Airbnb or other vacation rental organizations. Next is saving money on food. When you're on vacation, a lot of your money can go quickly because you're spending so much on food. The first week in New York we made sure to buy groceries and make ourselves a big breakfast every morning before we went out for the day. So instead of spending money on fast food and restaurants for each meal, we limited ourselves to only eating out once during the day.
Now let's get into how you can explore the city while staying on a budget. The most affordable use of transportation in NY is the New York Subway Station. The most convenient ticket for us to purchase at the time was the 7 day unlimited pass. You can travel anywhere in NYC during the week for just $34. On the first day we decided to explore Manhattan. We took pictures, ate NY pretzels, and visited shops and stores in upper Manhattan. The most exciting part of the day was going to Macy's. The Macy's in New York goes all out during the holiday season. The Macy's in Herald Square is one of the largest department store's in the world! The Macy's store has 11 floors and each one was decorated for Christmas. Macy's also has holiday decorated windows and an entire floor dedicated to Santa land. Macy's during the holidays will definitely be enjoyable for you and your friends and family. Just make sure you make reservations ahead of time if you are interested in seeing Santa in Santa land. Macy's gets extremely busy during the holiday season.
On Christmas Eve we went ice skating in Central Park. Ice skating was on the top of the list for things that we wanted to do in NY. The prices were reasonable and the views of Central Park were amazing. After ice skating we went to the Plaza Hotel and explored more of Manhattan. We went shopping and bought matching PJs, Christmas cookies, and groceries to prepare for our Christmas breakfast the next morning.
The next few days in New York were spent doing sightseeing. Sightseeing is an easy way to explore the city without having to spend any money! Me and my best friend are obsessed with TV, film and books. Seeking out locations where our favorite movie and tv shows were filmed was definitely on the top of our list!
F-R-I-E-N-D-S Building
F-R-I-E-N-D-S Building Fun Fact: The show Friends was only filmed in LA. They only filmed the outside of this building for idealized location purposes.
Logos Bookstore
The bookstore from "You" (Netflix Series) Fun Fact: The owner of the store shared with us that he had to remove all of the books in his store to replace them with fakes books so Netflix wouldn't get copyright. During filming they forgot to replace one book and had to reshoot a ton of scenes all over again.
Broadway!
If you are interested in seeing a Broadway show for a good price you should check out the TKTS ticket booth for half off tickets. In order to get a good deal you have to show up to the booth pretty early to see what is available. TKTS have multiple locations in the city other than Times square.
Times Square on NYE!
Content Creator Tip: If you're looking to get some New Year's Eve pics without the crowd, make sure you go to Times Square super early in the morning. We woke up around 5 am to come to Times Square for Good Morning America. It was SUPER empty. I could still see confetti falling from the buildings from just a few hours ago when the ball dropped.
I hope this blog helped you find some fun, inexpensive, and exciting things to do in New York for the holidays. What's on your New York City bucket list?