A New York Birthday Outing

Hello YOU + ME* Ladies,

I have a question for you. My friends in DC are planning on surprising another friend of mine by taking her out for a special birthday "Day in New York City" in a couple weeks, and being a New Yorker myself, I want to make sure that day is indeed special. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make this little outing into a memorable event? All suggestions welcome!
Many thanks,
C.

Dear C.,
Your friend is so lucky to have girlfriends like you to take charge of her birthday! A surprise outing to New York is pretty much guaranteed to be memorable, but it's the little details that will make it feel like the day is actually a celebration in honor of her.

- Surprises are the best. No, we don’t mean the embarrassing, make your friend want to hide under a rock kind, but rather the “I can’t believe you took the time to put this together” kind. Now, we don’t know when your friend’s New York outing will be unveiled, but setting the tone for the event by telling her in a clever way is the perfect way to begin the fun:

Mail her postcards from New York the week before her outing with clues about the trip,

 

send her a box of black and white cookies with a note tucked inside, or deliver her a tote a couple days in advance or the morning of your departure with clues about the day's activities: a metro card, mittens and a ceramic version of the iconic disposable coffee cup to represent an ice skating expedition, a mini empire state building or brooklyn bridge if those activities are on your list, pretty wooden chopsticks if you anticipate dim sum in Chinatown, or new nail polish if manicures and pedicures are in the works (They totally should be--as expensive as New York is in almost every respect, for some reason it has the cheapest/best manicures and pedicures).

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- Because a festive day in the city doesn't always involve eating at typical meal times, consider Mario Batali's Eataly for some lunch/snack/happy hour nibbling (this is probably best on a weekday since the weekends are jam packed). Um, 50,000 square feet of cheese, pasta, fruits, veggies, pizzas, baked goods, coffee, and wine. Yes, please. We're not sure when exactly this birthday surprise is taking place, but if the birthday girl is a foodie, you may even want to check out La Scuola at Eataly for a food or wine class. The classes are still getting off the ground, but we're big believers in making things happen for the sake of a birthday. Give them a call. I bet you could arrange some sort of private class that perfectly suits your group's tastes.

While we're talking Mario Batali, we also want to suggest the weekend wine classes at Otto. It's only steps from Washington Square Park, so you can't beat the location in terms of proximity to other activities and we can both vouch for the food and wine (in fact, Otto was my first meal out after having my daughter).

- In terms of specific activities, we know you'll be able to come up with something fantastic. Although it will probably be pretty chilly a few weeks from now, the city will be starting to embrace the holidays (yay!). It's a perfect time to take advantage of some of the seasonal activities New York has to offer--like ice skating! You have three rinks to choose from: Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center (shown), and Wollman Rink in Central Park. Take a few spins around the ice and then dive into some Irish coffees or spiced cider.

- Oh, and make sure one (or more of you) is the dedicated photographer for the day/night. There is nothing worse than ending a fantastically eventful day with your girlfriends only to realize that everyone left their cameras untouched the whole time. Plus, you have a special reason to be a diligent photographer--making a photo book of your day together is a great gift for your friend. Some of our favorite photo books come from Blurb and Shutterfly.

Give your friend some birthday love from us and do let us know if you need some more specific tips. Making birthdays special is one of our favorite things!

xo,

ME*

P.S. Have you entered our 100th post giveaway or signed up to Spread the Cheer? You definitely should!

Comments

[Celia]

You ladies are amazing, thanks so much for the insight! I love the tote idea especially. Cheers!