What's a good birthday experience gift in NYC?

September 26, 2014 6:50 PM

A very good friend of mine has a birthday right before both of us will be in New York with a group of mutual friends. I thought it would be fun to gift him some sort of experience or activity in the city, but I'm trying to stay away from stuff that's "too tourist". I'm looking for something more unique- I've been to the city many times, but have yet to live there. Bonus if you are a a current or past resident!
posted by robadobdob to Society & Culture (8 answers total)

What are his interests? Budget? Do you want to give him an experience to do on his own, or something the group can do?
posted by retrograde at 6:58 PM on September 26, 2014

Noshwalks
posted by brookeb at 7:14 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Famous Fat Dave's Five Borough Eating Tour on The Wheels of Steel!

Eat your way through New York City. (Not cheap, though, but eats are included.)
posted by GoLikeHellMachine at 7:15 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Cheese 101 at Murray's Cheese Shop
Full Moon Sail on the Schooner Adirondack
posted by Mender at 8:06 PM on September 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Without knowing more about the birthday boy, some random ideas:

• An immersive theatre experience, like Sleep No More (Hitchcock-inspired, loosely based upon Macbeth, dance-based without any dialogue), or Then She Fell
• A behind the scenes hard hat tour of the abandoned Ellis Island hospital
• One of the Momofuku large format meals like bo ssäm, dry aged ribeye, whole rotisserie duck, fried chicken, chicken/lamb and rice? The Breslin has them as well.
• A foraging tour in Central Park
• A class at Brooklyn Kitchen
• Helicopter ride (if it's a pooled group gift for just him)
• A guided tour of the Woolworth Building (until recently, off limits and no photos allowed)
• One of Levys' Unique New York! tours: graffiti and street art, TV & movie locations, architecture, punk rock, and more
• A "Hack the Met" tour
• A scavenger hunt
• A day at Spa Castle
• A nice boat ride around Manhattan with the AIANY Around Manhattan Architecture Tour
• One of the MTA museum's excursions

And keep an eye on whatever Atlas Obscura has going on for events.

Not sure when you're in town but Open House New York is October 11-12 and Eero Saarinen's beautiful TWA Terminal is open to the public again on Saturday, Oct. 11. See it before it gets turned into a hotel.
posted by kathryn at 8:07 PM on September 26, 2014 [14 favorites]

If you were asking me what I'd like, I'm seconding Sleep No More.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:19 AM on September 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Another vote for Sleep No More.
posted by spec80 at 12:01 PM on September 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all for the great suggestions! For those of you asking for more details... we will be in town the last week of October leading into the marathon (10/30-11/3)
posted by robadobdob at 10:20 AM on October 6, 2014