My wife and I (from Dublin Ireland) are visiting NY for the first time on Dec 16th for 4 days - we have booked the NY Helmsley hotel - interested in gifts for children (16 to 10), best shops (moderately priced) and good food/entertainment - any suggested must-dos ?

It will be near Christmas time so definitely walk fifth avenue and check out the store windows. Also Rockefeller Center. It's a festive time of year. If you go to the Museum of Natural History, you might find some nice gifts there for the children.

All the major museums have some very nice gift shops, and there's usually a section geared for children. It the kids like sports, go to a Modell's or Sport Authority and pick up a sports jersey. Inexpensive T-shorts can be purchased almost anywhere. There are also all kinds of interesting, very inexpensive knick-knacks sold all over in chinatown and little italy. If they are girls, they may like something from Bloomingdales with the 'bloomies' logo (T-shirts, tote bag etc.).

ALso worth seeing is Moma (the newly renovated one will be open by then), and the Met. A troll or carriage ride through central park is always pleasant. ALso walking around the village/soho area, where you can find a huge variety of reasonable restaurants to choose from.

oops, i meant a STROLL not Troll.

If you want specific NYC gifts I believe Macy's has a special dep't for this on the ground floor. Also, you may want to check out Macy's just for fun - its the biggest department store in the world (GUM claims to be bigger but it realy isn;t a store - just a ton of separate booths all with the same stuff.)

hard to know what to reco without knowing you. And there are a ton of recos if you do a search for above.

My must not misses would include the Statue of Liberty (you can get a great view for free from the Staten Island Ferry) and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum - a testimonial to all those strong enough to leave their homes for the new world - and a vivid demonstration of how diverse NYC (and often the rest of the US) really is.

For moderate restaurants I reco getting outside of the tourist areas - food is often better and always less expensive. Try the upper west side, the village, SOHO etc for options. If you go to menupages.com you can search by location and cusine - and get real menus with exact prices. Many of the best less expansive restaurants are ethnic - esp chinese, indian, thai etc.

Hope this helps.

Ask more speicif quereis if you need further info.

Yikes, Macy's during the week before Christmas can be very scary place. A wonderful source for quality NYC gifts is the Museum of the City of New York, on Fifth Ave up by about 103rd st.

There's also a NYC store down in the city hall area.

If the kids like board games, there is a NYC version of monopoly, and probably some chess sets with a NYC theme. I'm sure you could find those at Toys R Us (the big store is at times sq, but there's another at Union Sq, and maybe another uptown).

Many thanks for comments so far - would anyone like to give me their top 5 attractions of any type in NY - also, can anyone recommend any good clubs for some jazz/piano playing or where to check out concerts taking place in NY during Dec 16 to Dec 19 - Thanks again

Top 5 attractions (at Xmas time)

1)Rockefeller Center, the tree there, the ice rink etc. Consider a tour inside too.

2)Xmas windows at Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's, Lord & Taylor

3)A view from high up. The lines for the Empire State will be bad I think. I'd opt for something like the bar at the View rest. at the Marriott Marquis hotel.

4)The Metropolitan Museum highlights and Xmas tree

5)Take some sort of boat ride either the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty or the Nywatertaxi.com

For jazz go to

http://bigapplejazz.com/nycjazzclubs.html

There's a brand new place for Jazz at Lincoln Center at the new Time Warner building. For midtown clubs look at Birdland among others.

newyorkmetro.com is NY Magazine's website and should have decent info under nightlife.

Menupages.com is a good place to look for restaurants.

Hi

My wife and I went to NYC for the first time in July 2004 and we had a great time in the city for 6-7 days. I have posted a trip report with pictures on my personal homepage gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful information there. Have a great trip

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Top Five NY:
-A Broadway show, something big and splashy with lots of dancing with a post-show dinner at Joe Allen's (just for the omeletes and star watching).

-The Metropolitan Museum of Art, especially the Christmas Tree and Angels (great shopping for anyone in their gift shop).

-shopping Chinatown street market on a Sunday morning (10 and 16 year olds would love the "knock-off" Kate Spade purses or Rolex watches).

-a cozy dinner of lamb with cherry sauce at Vince and Eddies on the Upper West Side - typically NY neighborhood restaurant.

-a Sunday evening chamber music concert at BargeMusic (www.bargemusic.org) on the East River to watch the lights of Manhattan emerge from the sunset - dinner next door at River Cafe.

-(5A: addition during the holidays) The Rockettes Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall - a true spectical and a must see venue

Hello,
In addition to all other comments posted here, I'd like to add that if you just walk on 34th ST, starting at Fifth Ave. (where the Empire State Bldg. is) towards the west side (6th & 7th Aves), you'll find tons and tons of different shops which are moderately priced. There's even a new Victoria's Secret store which boasts to be the largest in the world!
Next to Macy's which is also on 34th St. is another shopping plaza worth checking out. Also good for visiting with kids is the Madame Tusseauds Wax museum on 42nd St. and the Sony plaza Arcade on 56th St. & Madison. Also a nice carriage ride along Central Park might be something fun for the family.
And please do not forget to also visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is just as awsome as the Museum of Natural History. And do visit the Planetarium at the Rose Center which has pretty interesting shows.
Engjoy the trip!

Many thanks for all the inputs - our itinerary for pre christmas visit is almost complete but would like help with a few more things br /> - Any suggestions on good deals for travelling to/from JFK incl limos/nice cars to 42 nd St
- How busy is Carmines 44th st likely to be on weekend pre christmas - dont accept bookings for two
- Would anyone recommend River Cafe
or Rainbow Grill or Marriot Marquis ?

Carmine's is likely to be very busy. Regardless, if you're coming all the way from Dublin, you certainly can--and should--do a lot better than Carmine's!
If you're asking about the view from the Rainbow Grill, River Cafe and Marriott Marquis, the River Cafe wins hands down! And, the food is quite good and quite expensive.

Ditto that River Cafe is above others in price and way above the others in both views and food.

I have to mention the Strand Bookstore - 3 packed floors of books - most about half off original price. I can easily spend over an hour in here.

My 11 y.o. son's favorite store in NYC is the NBA Store on 5th Ave.

Don't know if you ever got your limo info. Carmel and Tel Aviv are 2 companies widely used with prices similar to cab fare. They have websites that also have discount coupons.

carmellimo.com
telavivlimo.com

If you are in the Battery Park area to get to the Staten Island Ferry, you can also walk down to the World Trade Center area. Also near there is NYC's memorial to the Irish Famine that is interesting. Century 21 is also near the WTC - haven't been but all reports are that it is a great place for bargains on high end goods.

Just FYI: Carmel screwed up my car reservation last week in NYC. We used someone else instead, I think it was telaviv. They came back to the hotel to pick us up as well. $45 each trip.

Mclaurie's recommendations above are the best for must-dos. The Niketown store is pretty cool too if your children are boys.

Carmine's is okay, but that's it. Go somewhere else if you really want great food. Go out to eat early for less of a wait. And if you really want good Italian food, go to Little Italy.

The View (Marriott Marquis) is gorgeous but very, very fancy. Dinner is so-so, dessert is divine. I would choose one of the others for a more complete experience.

Staten Island Ferry is a great view of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Also relaxing, as you get to sit on a boat ride for an hour (round trip).

Have a fun time!