New York City Gift Ideas

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Broadway, Tickets, Tours, Attractions

There are so many fantastic New York City gift ideas that will bring a smile to anyone who lives here, is moving to NYC, starting college in NYC or just visiting for a few days. You can treat your loved ones of any age to almost anything in NYC, like foodie gift cards, Broadway gift cards, museum sleepover, NYC VIP Experiences, Skip the Line Privileges, cruises, cooking classes and so much more.

Most of our top choices are gift cards, because they are the most versatile, but get ready to light up the face of the recipient as you treat them to front row Broadway Tickets, a VIP tour of the Empire State Building, a rock concert, a romantic cruise around Manhattan or free stay at a hotel.

Broadway Gift Cards

Ticketmaster Gift Cards

There is probably no more versatile gift in NYC than a Ticketmaster Gift Card or StubHub Gift Card. Ticketmaster (TM) is a primary seller, while StubHub is a reseller.

Ticketmaster (TM) is the primary ticket seller for all of the following:

Concerts – almost every NYC concert venue sells their tickets through Ticketmaster: Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, Beacon Theater, Radio City Music Hall, MetLife Stadium and many of the smaller venues.
Sports – since all our teams play at those same venues, a TM gift card is good for the Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Islanders, Giants, Jets, Knick, Nets and the US Open.
Broadway – about half of all Broadway Theaters use Ticketmaster. So, if you’re looking for a gift card for a particular show, you’ll have to confirm in which theater it is playing. All NYC theaters use either Ticketmaster or Telecharge to sell their tickets.
All the Disney shows are sold through TM. You can check which shows (current shows include: Hamilton, MJ, Shucked, Aladdin, Lion King, Wicked, Rockettes, Six and more) are sold through Ticketmaster by going to the Ticketmaster Broadway page and checking each show. If the link to buy tickets stays on the Ticketmaster site, then a gift card will work for that show.

About Ticketmaster Gift Cards:

Gift cards can be sent as a physical card or as an E-Gift Card. The Gift Card has no expiration date. The Gift Card can be used towards the purchase of tickets, parking, VIP packages and some merchandise. Ticketmaster Gift Cards can be used for events in Canada and the United States only. You may not use Ticketmaster Gift Cards to buy resale tickets or Platinum tickets.

StubHub Gift Cards

StubHub sells tickets to all the same sports, concerts and Broadway shows as Ticketmaster, but they are a reseller. Their prices are higher, but their seats and availability selection are significantly better. This means, if you know you want to buy your giftee an Orchestra Seat to a popular Broadway show, or great seats to the Yankees, a StubHub Gift Card will provide you with tons of options, especially since TM does not allow the use of Gift Cards on their own reseller site. StubHub is NYC’s most trusted reseller and all tickets are verified and guaranteed.

TKTS Gift Certificates

TKTS Broadway Gift Certificates – TKTS has several booths around NYC, the two main ones in Times Squar and Lincoln Center. They sell same-day discount tickets to a wide variety of Broadway and Off Broadway productions. TKTS gift certificates provide the recipient with flexibility to choose which show they want to see and when they want to see it. TKTS gift certificates, available from $25-$150, work like cash at all TKTS Discount Booths so you can give the gift of theatre for special occasions any time of the year.

More Broadway Gift Cards:

Telecharge Gift Certificates – these are just like the Ticketmaster Gift Cards for Broadway Shows. Telecharge is the ticketing agent for at least 11 Broadway Theaters in NYC.

Classic Harbor Boat Cruise Gift Cards

NYC Boat Cruises are one of my favorite things to do in NYC, with both my lifelong NYC friends and when visitors come to town. There are no better views of our skyline than from the water, and we have dozens of styles of cruises all year round for every budget and age group. Getting someone a Classic Harbor Cruise Gift Card is sure to be a hit, whether they are local, moving here or visiting.

Classic Harbor, one of my favorite cruise lines, offers three classic yachts — the Schooner Adirondack and the Schooner America 2.0 (sailboats), and the Luxury Yacht Manhattan or Manhattan II (motorized yacht) on an amazing variety of cruises.

Read our reviews: Classic Harbor Line or cross off your gift list with Classic Harbor Cruise Gift Cards, offered in any dollar amount, and cruises start from just $36 per person.

NYC Experience Gifts

There are several ways to gift super cool NYC experiences. You can treat them to a VIP or Express Entry to any of our major attractions, museums and tours.

Even the most jaded of life long New Yorkers would enjoy this MET Museum Private Guided Tour with Skip-the-Line Ticket or Shakespeare in the Park tickets, while adults and kids both love the Museum Sleepovers in NYC.

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Gift your recipient a New York Sightseeing Pass

You can offer your giftee a number of days in NYC of unlimited attractions (100+ from which to choose) or you can choose a Flex Pass, with say, 3 or 10 attractions/tours (choose the number) and they can decide which ones they want to visit while in NYC.

Go directly to the New York Sightseeing Pass Website to check out the details of the pass or read more about all our NYC Attractions Passes.

NYC Foodie Gifts

OpenTable gift card – OpenTable is an online restaurant reservation system that sells gift cards to specific restaurants. The card is not for OpenTable, but rather, they are a central place that links you to most NYC restaurants where you can then purchase a gift card to a specific restaurant. If you are unsure what restaurant to choose, you can be safe with a card that works at multiple venues.
Some to check out include the Tao Group (Beauty and Essex, PhD Lounge, Tao Restaurants, Marquee Club, LAVO), BR Guest (Blue Fin, Dos Caminos, Strip House)
Other Restaurants – 100s of NYC restaurants offer gift cards on their sites. If you know what restaurants they love, go for it.
Eataly Classes – Whether a hands-on cooking class, a communal dinner, or a wine tasting, Eataly events include delicious dishes, ever-flowing drinks, and – of course – stories about the culinary world.
AirBnB Foodie Experiences – Urban Farming, Turkish Coffee, sushi making, cocktail classes from top bartenders? Yep, it’s all there.
NYC Food Tours – with 100s of NYC food tours from which to choose, the hard part will be not getting hungry while browsing. Pizza tours, chocolate making, cupcake tours, Serengeti Tea Tasting in Harlem, ethnic foods by neighborhood. Some of the top places to gift someone a selection of food tours, while allowing them to choose which ones, are the NYC Sightseeing Passes and Viator NYC Food Tours.

Awesome Gifts for Any Lover of NYC

From the practical to totally ridiculous (a NYC Scented Candle that smells like "spring days in Central Park, fine department stores, and concrete"?????).

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More New York City Gift Ideas

Uber and UberEats Gift Cards – go ahead and treat your special someone to either free rides or free meal delivery. One card works for both rides and meals! Perfect for people moving to NYC, college students, tourists or someone who can’t get around well (long term medical care). I’ve given this card to friends who needed treatment (chemotherapy and a broken ankle) and both LOVED being treated to private cars and meals without feeling guilty for skipping the subway and grocery shopping!