Just got invited to be on a giant balloon holding team for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. So, I need an inexpensive hotel or B & B in NYC for 11/22 and 11/23--might even consider a hostel if it's clean and safe. Any recommendations for the DT area? We have to be there at 6 am on THX Day! Thanks!

DT? Downtown? The parade begins on the Upper West Side.

My mistake--I should then consider most any place in the Manhattan area?
Mea culpa. Thanks.

I'd be especially surprised if you could find anything cheap for Thanksgiving and the following day, which are the two of the most expensive days of the year to rent a hotel room in NYC. Your best bet at this point would be to do a quick search on Expedia to Hotels.com to see if something shows up there. The Gershwin Hotel has hostel rooms, and there are some actual hostels in NYC, though I am not familiar with them. The one on the Upper West Side would probably be the most convenient for you ... I think it's around 104th Street. Several YMCAs in Manhattan also have basic rooms.

On the upper west side you might consider the Newton - VERY basic - but apparently clean - and cheap.

Or you could have a look at the hostel at 103rd and Amsterdam - the many european students I meet staying there seem satisfied. (I believe a bed with locker in a shared room is about $35/$40.)

The parade starts at the park next to the Museum of Natural History - 81st and Central Park West. If you go there the night before you can see the ballons being blowns up - a VERY popular activity.

I've stayed at the HI/AYH facility at 103rd/Amsterdam (2 blocks E of the 103rd/Broadway stop on #1/9 Train) and it was clean and safe. You might need to cosider a hotel "up the river" and take a Metro North train in the morning; I'll bet even the hostels are booked by now.
http://www.hinewyork.org/