New York for my husband's 40th

[Justwondering89]

A little advice please.

My husband and I have always discussed visiting New York for his 40th. He is 38 this year. We didn't do anything special for his 30 as we'd just had a baby. We now have three children 7, 5 and 3.

Financially, we're hanging on, not comfortable by any means but I am notoriously good at saving and selling and always find a way to make it work through saving well in advance, deals and Quidco etc. So I need to start figuring out if this is possible now, we can't do last minute.com. So I have a few questions.

Should we go alone, just the two of us? currently I have a good childcare set up with my mum for a few nights but it would limit us to 3 nights realistically. I've never been far away from them let alone abroad, it terrifies me even when I know they are ok.

1. Should we go with our couple friends? (that would be two rooms with two adults in each). They are great fun and we get along fine, they don't have children so no extra childcare arrangements.

1. Should we go with the children? It would give us the flexibility of more nights but potentially less packed in because of paying for the flights for 5. Flight doesn't bother me, just whether we can actually do a lot of the 'New York things' that we would do alone, is it at all little legs friendly?

1. Cost, any idea of a ball park figure factoring in flights, accommodation, a show maybe, the usual sights, food?

Apologies for the long post. Trying to get my ducks in a line for this one, usually we brainstorm together but I really want to keep this a surprise because he'll never expect that I've actually made it happen! Thanks in advance

I'd like to know this too as we are planning a similar trip.

One thing to take into account is that space is at a Premium in New York. When we went we stayed in the smallest double room we’ve ever had. I guess a family room would be bigger, but it would be a squeeze.

A difficult one because it would be great to take the kids to New York but you wouldn’t want to spend too long in a small room with them.

However you do it, NY is wonderful and I’m sure you’ll have a great time. Check out the High Line and the view from the Rockerfella or Liberty.

Also I wasn’t that keen on the fancy restaurants I went to in NY but really enjoyed the diners, if you are trying to save on the £.

Thank you. We are definitely diner people not fancy people. He would be happy with street food the whole time. Food is life for him so he would much prefer stopping at anywhere delicious on the way to places rather than spending time at a restaurant.

I went a few weeks ago and had a great time. However, it was incredibly expensive! We didn't do the Citi Pass, which (long story short) I should have. But we did most of the main sites, a show, hotel was room only so all meals/drinks/snacks were bought, taxi rides to/from airport and couple of times from A to B .. spent somewhere around $2000 in 4 days. An evening meal for 2 -and I'm talking bog standard, eg a soft drink, a beer, 2 main meals was around $70 and then a 20+% tip on top - it all added up v quickly.

Don't take the kids. They'll be too young to appreciate NYC. The city is hard work with small kids and they jetlag will knacker them. If you're desperate to take them, wait until they're older.

Also cost ... I've just come back. I warn you right now that New York is seriously expensive due to exchange rate and cost of living. Double whatever budget you have.

I'd honestly do it without the DC - it's a lot of steps / subway travel and imo would perhaps be easier to go and explore without considering young children too? Also money wise it will be cheaper for just the two of you - obviously totally depends on if not having the DC there would be something you'd miss.

Ballpark costs - we've done NYC for 5 nights a time between 3.5k-7k for flights and hotels. 3.5k was premium and a lovely hotel room in midtown, 7k was business. We tend to stay around the broadway area because it's a good central hub for getting around for us. We spent about 3-5k in spending money each time - but we are big spenders on holiday, we like eating out / doing experiences / buying fun things, we budget to be able to not think about it when away. It can definitely be done cheaper but even in the basics NYC is now mega expensive! We went last year at Christmas and again this year, even in those 6 months the prices had gone up lots again which was wild.

Go just you two. There's so much to do, you don't want to have to consider what other people want to do.

I was in NYC during the Truss tenure when it was close to £1:$1. Its better now but it is really expensive.

It is a crap holiday for a 3&5 year old - even my teen dds got tired. Its 25k+ steps a day walking holiday in reality.

We bought an attraction pass but is very still pricey to visit the attractions.

By the time you add on tax,tip and a soda to drink that $15 burger and chips becomes a £100 meal for a family of four.

We did totally love it, its a fab city gor teens, but it was good to get to DC which was much cheaper as most attractions are free!