How to Do NYC with Kids

Tell all ya friends and neighbors!

If you’re going to a bigger city, this how to guide will prep you for taking on a big place with little kids!

I want to come right out of the gate and let you know that this post is not what to do with kids in NYC.

There are literally THOUSANDS of things to do, depending on your budget from totally free to hundreds and hundreds of doll hairs.

This post is more to talk about how to do New York City with kids – what to prepare for, how to prepare in general and things we have learned from visiting alone several times and without kids.

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Research your borough

The closer you are to the hustle and bustle of the city, it’s likely you’re going to pay more if you have a larger family that needs to spread out.

It’s incredibly difficult to find a place with more than 1 bedroom in the city that’s not an astronomical price.

Our Airbnb was in Brooklyn and it was 3 bedrooms which was perfect for us, since my sister stayed with us.

We were about a 30-40 minute subway ride to the city, but because the kids LOVE the subway, it never felt like that long.

Enlist help if you can

My sister lived in NYC for almost 10 years and while she doesn’t have kids, she was CRUCIAL in helping us navigate around, knowing which subways to get on and being an extra set of helping hands with kids.

If possible, I can’t recommend this enough. It took so much stress out of our trip because we weren’t constantly trying to look at maps while making sure kids were running wild.

Double Stroller for Kids 4 and Under

Collins rode in this about 95% of the time and Josiah rode in it about 60%.

He has tons of energy, but he also hates walking so he got in this a lot with Colli girl.

Single Width Double Stroller

More specifically than a double stroller, you will want a front and back double stroller, not side by side.

You could technically do side by side but because you’re having to fit through turnstiles and up and down subway stairs and walking on narrow streets, that extra width is going to be hard to manage.

We were able to borrow this Mockingbird double stroller from a friend since all we have is our Wonderfold Wagon (that I love so much).

Rent Baby Gear

We could have easily brought a Pack and Play but we would have had to pay to check it and we didn’t want to.

Instead, we rented this travel crib from BabyQuip which is a company that you can rent alllll kinds of baby gear from.

I’m talking like small things like kids placemats all the way up to those realllll expensive Snoo bassinets and everything in between.

We are staying off property in Orlando for our next Disney trip to celebrate the girls’ birthdays and since we are flying, we will need to use them again.

Seriously, the City NEVER Sleeps

PRO TIP

When looking for your Airbnb, look at every single window on the listing and once you get the place booked, use the address to see the street view

You’re going to need sound machines and blackout curtains to block out light and noise, regardless of your location.

I really loved our location in Brooklyn and felt super safe, but we were right above a Jamaican jerk restaurant and they bumped music NONSTOP. And then of course you have your sirens and motorcycles that are going all through the night too.

We knew that we were right on a street, right above a restaurant and I could tell that our place 100% didn’t have blackout curtains.

So I bought these stick on blackout curtains from Amazon that stick right on the wall.

I actually stuck painter’s tape on the wall under the sticky pad that it comes with so that it didn’t mess up the wall.

Let Them Take Pictures

If they’re old and/or responsible enough, you can get them their own little digital camera like this one that Charlotte got for her birthday last year.

She’s brought it with us to Legoland, Disney World and now it’s made its adventure to NYC!

She felt so super special getting to take pictures out of the windows on the Uber or subway or when we were at a certain location.

Be Prepared for ANY Weather

We went to NYC in early April and even though it was mid to high 70s here in SC where we live, the weather was cold and rainy.

Make sure to pack jackets with hoods and blankets in case you have the coldest children in America like we do.

Be Prepared to do ALL The Touristy Things

Grand Central.

Times Square.

Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty (FOR FREE!)

When your kids learn about NYC in school or on TV, they always see the touristy things so that’s what they’ll want to do.

Unless your son is Josiah who was just super convinced we’d see Kevin from “The Kevin Show” (aka Home Alone).

There was so much more we could have done that was touristy, but again, because my sister was there, we mixed in a lot of fun things that aren’t super high on the kitsch list.

Practice Saying Yes

This may be a once in a lifetime trip. Act accordingly.

If nothing else, it’s the only time you’ll go with your kids that are this age and with these particular interests.

This one, who loves garbage trucks so much that he had an entire garbage truck themed birthday party, was in hog heaven with all the bags of trash on the streets.

So of course when he asked to get photos in front of bags of trash, we said yes.

Let Stroller Bound Babes Walk As Much As Possible

Now, granted, many places are just too busy or too rough for your feral baby to run free (even with a toddler restraint device).

But New York is extremely kid friendly as a whole.

When we popped into the West Village, these streets were very calm and very much child friendly so we let her walk the streets holding her baby and get some of her energy out.

Pace Yourself

Kids have lots of energy, but if they’re just walking about to and fro, they’re not interested.

Make time for leisurely walks, make time to stop and take the pictures, make even the journey to your destination part of the fun too.

Here we were on our way to eat and go to a carousel, but this is a super popular spot to take photos (there were 50+ people doing it) so we stopped, let the kids sit down for a sec, and took the picture.

Take Advantage Of Parks

Parks in New York are 1, everywhere and 2, REALLY cool!

Because most people walk or take a subway in NYC, many of the parks we visited had TONS of toys at the playground that were available to play with in addition to the playground equipment itself.

Y’all when he found this trash truck, he said “This is the best day EVER!”

Forget the rest of the fun New York Things we had done already this day, ha. A boy and his (garbage) truck.

Do adult things too

This was the first time we had been to NYC with kids and Jordan got us tickets to MJ on Broadway and it was SO FUN.

This is another reason why if you’re trying to do New York with kids, having an extra helper (family member, friend) is amazing because you can let them stay with the kids for a night while you go and do adult things.

The next night was my turn to go out with sis and she (still) has a Soho House membership so she took me up to the top and we were able to feel incredibly fancy as we snuck our phones out here to take this photo.

If you’re an unfamiliar peasant like I was, the Soho house doesn’t allow you to use your phone inside.

So we went outside and took these like the rebels we are.

Snacks and Entertainment for Subway Rides

After the newness and excitement of the subway wears off, they may start getting whiny on the subway.

We had snacks, their drinks and lip treatment apparently to keep them occupied.

There’s not much cell reception on a subway either so if you’re hoping they will just watch YouTube, that ain’t it.

Books, stickers, fidget spinners, all of that may be helpful on a subway.

Oh. And hand sanitizer. SO. MUCH. hand sanitizer.

Travel Car Seats

The travel car seats were a LIFE (and space) SAVER.

I had never seen this Ride Safer harness, but it allowed us to get a smaller Uber because we weren’t lugging around giant car seats.

It’s not super cheap, but it’s cheaper than a convertible car seat and will absolutely pay for itself if you travel with kids!

Charlotte’s booster seat is inflatable! And super easy to inflate as well. It was perfect, especially since the only times we needed this was to and from the airport.

But really – if you have a chance to take your kids to New York City, do it!

We really did have a great time and since we are close to the Charlotte airport, we found super cheap flights which we were so happy about!

We went for 4 days and while we didn’t get to do everything, we got to do and experience SO MUCH and we get to bring up memories from the trip often!

New York City with kids is totally doable, and YOU should try it!

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