<p>I’ve gotten really great ideas here for everything from cooking to trips, so maybe someone will have some great ideas again.</p>
<p>I just started my first job, and with the money I had to repay for an apartment deposit, first month’s rent, furniture, etc., I don’t really have money left until my next paycheck.</p>
<p>It’s also my best friend’s birthday, and I really want to do something great for him, but all I have is literally $20. Does anyone have any ideas for what I could do for a small present (under $20) and maybe something free that I could arrange to do in the City?</p>
<p>P.S. I know that some people may suggest to do something together with some of his other friends, but they are not in the City and won’t be coming up for the actual birthday.</p>
<p>Take him to see the tree at the Rockefeller center, I think they are offering free ice skating, and get him a birthday cupcake at the Magnolia Bakery Rockefeller center.</p>
<p>If you (or he) are a Bank of America card holder, they offer free admission to several museums nationwide (on certain dates), here’s the link to NYC:
[Museums</a> on Us 2008](<a href=“Bank of America”>Bank of America)</p>
<p>How about looking up gallery openings and hopping from one to the other? Last year (this time), my D, best friend and I did, and stumbled on a John Lennon exhibit in Soho that was amazing.</p>
<p>Buy large cups of hot chocolate and take a walk around Central Park. It’s a different place in the winter. Very calm, quiet. </p>
<p>Check out Grand Central Kaleidoscope Light Show
Shows run every half hour on the half hour from 11 am - 9 pm, daily. Free. Grand Central Station (winter time only). While you’re there, check online for the details of a self directed free tour of Grand Central Station.</p>
<p>Free is my middle name. I could spend a week in NY and hardly spend any money.</p>
<p>Oh! Don’t forget the Staten Island ferry is free. Time it so you take the 4:15 pm (it’s 25 minutes each way) over & immediately hop back on to see the city go from day to night, it’s quite a sight, especially when you watch Lady Liberty all become lit up.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas! I am definitely going to look into some of them. Unfortunately, he has already done some of the more well-known ones (like the ferry and Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, Christmas displays). If anyone has any ideas that are less-known, please let me know!</p>
<p>When I first moved to NYC many years ago, I went sightseeing on my own to a lot of things that I had never seen before. I went to the South Street Seaport, I saw Wall St., (in those days there was the observation deck at the World trade Center); I walked around Greenwich Village and took in the sights (I had been there, but never explored so much). You can go to get a cannolli and coffee in Little Italy. New York is a walking city, and there are so many neat neighborhoods to explore. Admission at the metropolitan museum of art is pay what you wish, so you can pay a small amount. You can spend a great day there.</p>
<p>Walk around Times Square, buy him/her gift at the street vendors, you can get some awesome deals. Go into St Patricks cathedral. Got to Museum of Natural History. You pay an entrance fee but it is a donation. You do not have to pay what they ask, it is a suggested donation.
Walk around greenwich village, have lunch or dinner in one of the eateries. Walk into the vintage book and record stores.</p>
<p>Also, go to Serendipity and have their frozen hot chocolate.</p>
<p>The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a suggested admission price only. When I was a student I paid less than they suggested - I pay more now to make up for it. The downtown galleries or the more upscale ones on 57th Street are fun. We used to go see stuff at the auction houses when I was in school.</p>
The downtown galleries or the more upscale ones on 57th Street are fun. We used to go see stuff at the auction houses when I was in school.</p>