We are 2 couples each with a child (girls - ages 7 and 8) .. we are wanting to go for a nice dinner on New Years to make a night of it - nothing really high end of course, and we thought that Times Square would be too much standing around for them, but still want to celebrate and know we are in New York ..
Any suggestions from anyone who has done this, or locals with good ideas?
Filling days otherwise won't be a problem, but we are stumped for NYE ..
We will be staying in Midtown/East - 52nd/Madison
Thanks for any/all suggestions
NYC4NYE

Actually, there are places blocks north of Times Square on 7th Avenue where there's a straight-on view of the ball dropping and it doesn't get crowded early. It's very late for young children, but one of those things you just have to do once, if you can manage it.

thanks .. do you have any names of places? Even if we got to watch out over the crowds for a few hours, that might suit them/us fine ..

try XING. it's on 52nd Street and 9th Ave.

I went there for NYE 2 years ago and it was perfect. Close to Times Square but not so close that it's packed with people.

Xing closed a year ago.

Without knowing your budget range or food preferences it's hard to recommend places, but here goes: You might try Trattoria dell'Arte, which has good enough food, is located right across from Carnegie Hall (7th Ave and 57th St.) and will be above the cut off zone for Times Sq. It's a fun place for kids. It might also be fun to walk around midtown a bit around 9 or 10PM - it will be crowded and lively. You can either walk around midtown or even head over to Central Park for the fireworks, or just head back east to your hotel. You might also like Beacon, or Redeye Grill or Molyvos. All these places are fairly child-friendly, there are things for kids to eat or the restarurant will make adjustments for kids.

Most NYC restaurants charge an arm and a leg for the second seating (around 9:00 PM) - but quite a few will offer their a la carte menus for earlier seatings - just call the places and ask. Some will ask for a credit card to hold the reservation and you must cancel within a time frame to avoid being charged a no-show.

You can check out menus at www.menupages.com or reviews at www.nymag.com

If you don't mind a bit of advice, when my daughter was that age I always put my cell phone number in her shoe. Even though the girls may know your numbers, if they somehow get lost they may get nervous and forget it.