Fun things to do in NYC with your friends and your Friends kids

Let’s face it, becoming a parent is hard, becoming a parent before all your friends do is even harder. Since giving birth my friends have (quite shamelessly) replaced their love for me with the love of my daughter. In an effort to still get invited with them on outings I’ve pretty much scoured the NYC for fun things to do that I can entice both them and my daughter with. The following activities have kept a room full of toddlers thoroughly entertained as well as left parents raving. It’s so nice to know that there are fun things to do in NYC for both your adult best friends and the kid friends you birthed.

Chelsea Market Food Tour |NYC is a melting pot of people from all over the world and Chelsea Market is a fun place to get your fill of delicacies from all over, a great place to go when looking for things to feed people with a range of palates. It also houses boutiques with unique offerings As a native New Yorker, I tend to think I know everything there is to know about my city. But the Like A Local Tours had me seeing the city in a whole new light. I learned all about the Chelsea Market building. From the history of its origins as the Nabisco factory and home of the first Orea cookie to its current status as one of the most expensive purchases in the history of America. For the first time, Chelsea Market was more than just a building housing sample sales of epic proportions.

When it comes to the actual food consumed and the history you learn on the tour it seems to vary a great deal from tour guide to tour guide. The first time I went on the tour the food was enough to serve as breakfast and lunch. We made 10 stops sampling food from all over the world. We tried sesame treats from Isreal that I found I have a fondness for. We had traditional Italian Pizza from Filaga and chose our favorite slice to select. We sampled hot sauces at… and satiated our sweet tooth with samplings of super fudge brownies from Fat Witch Bakery, warm southern biscuits with fresh fruit preserves and chose mini donuts a person.

Food tours are a fun thing to do in NYC with you friends and their kids

The second time around we ate a quarter of the food we had the first time. we made half the food stops and received half the servings of food we did the first time. The tour went up and down many stairs many times with no attempt to accommodate for the stroller, such as directions to the elevator or only making a stair trip once versus doubling back multiple times, where the first tour guide was extremely accommodating to the presence of one child in our group. Depending on the day, you’ll leave a Like a Local tour with your belly full, a smile on you and in awe of the fun things to do for a day out with your friends and your kids, contained in one NYC block.

Both times my daughter enjoyed herself, because chealsea market is enclosed I allow her to move freely about and without a jacket which makes it a great place to go on a colder or rainy day. There were were more food options that appealed to her toddler tastebuds on the first tour than the second, for example the second time we took the tour the guide purchased the same pizza slice for everyone. However goat milk cheese isn’t as visually appealing to most kids as it is to adult friends. This could easily be solved by making it clear to your tour guide which slice your kid would be more likely to consume, I simply didn’t know to do this as the first time I had been asked before the order was placed.

Cooking Class | This Christmas I got my daughter a toddler-friendly knife because she constantly begs to help in the kitchen. When researching fun things to do in NYC the beautiful kitchen at Fresh Made New York was atop my list. So glad we made it in because the cooking class was fun for all. We learned to make spinach ravioli and garlic breadsticks from scratch. The class truly inspired me to take on more difficult cooking projects at home for the benefit of both me and my daughter. Who knew making pasta from scratch could be so fun and easy?

One of my favorite things about the FreshMade cooking class was their use of fresh organic ingredients. The fact that they’re able to make most of their recipes really sold me on the class. it meant that this class was truly a fun thing for all of us to do regardless of your dietary restrictions. Being able to be a part of every step of the cooking class really sparked joy in our tiny friends’ kids. Of all of the things to do in NYC cooking and sharing a meal together is one of the most fun. The culmination of being able to consume the fruits of their labor really made them beam with pride. Even the picky eaters in our group gave the food a try because they knew

Looking for fun things to do in NYC? Take to the water

Cruise Ship | Most days New York City’s borough of Manhattan is an island only in name, so it’s nice to be reminded you are indeed surrounded by water. Spirit of New York cruises is a really fun thing to do in NYC, its a full-service way to entertain the entire family for a few hours. Recently I went on a night cruise with a group of friends and their children, that enabled me to relive what it was like to have a night out in a totally kid-friendly environment.

NYC’s Spirit Cruises have so many fun things to do on board. They thought of everything, from the moment they welcomed you on board to the moment you left the cruise ship you were swept up in a celebratory mood. The ship itself transported you but the crew really made an effort to move you. Though there was a buffet open to the guest that we experienced in a nice orderly fashion guided by crew members, they catered to the children first. Offering off the menu options for the tiniest guests in kid-friendly options, they bought out food for the children first. In a short time, it took for children to get their food delivered they were entertained by the activity packs provided for them by Spirit.

There was a very short amount of time spent sitting as moms adults and kids alike spent much of the time on the dance floor. I don’t know if this is the case for all Spirit Cruises but that night the DJ was on fire. Mixing guaranteed old school crowd-pleasers with the newest tunes, there was something for everyone. From Solid gold Oldies to Hip Hop. Reggeaton to Afro Beats there was something for everyone and it kept everybody dancing the night away. My absolute favorite part was being able to get down and dance with my girls both big and small.

It was great to see New York landmarks in a totally different light, from a breathtaking new vantage point. The nighttime cruise made NYC itself the fun thing to do. The kids in our party got a really big kick out of sailing under bridges they had just taken the train over that morning. If you are close enough to a body of water you can basically always see lady liberty keeping watch of New York’s shores. A beacon of hope for the new generations of Americans and a symbol of the city’s past as an entry point of huddled masses of immigrants that add to New York City’s unique flavors.

The moral of this story is really that the key to finding an activity in NYC fun for all the people that matter in your life make sure there is food and lots of it. Things in NYC stop being fun when everybody is hangry and tiny humans do what they do best, bounce off the wall.

Fun things to do in nyc, Friends kids