Last updated on October 22nd, 2021 at 09:41 pm
We couldn’t wait to find fun things to do in NYC. After being postponed, re-booked, postponed again and re-booked again, we finally made our trip to NYC to take a bite of the Big Apple. The timing of this trip was originally planned around our tickets to see Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in “The Music Man” on Broadway, but it was moved (for the third time) to February 2022. So we decided to go ahead and visit now (and we might be back in February).
If you’ve been following us for a little while, then you know we love to talk about fashion, beauty and family. We also love to talk about business but since this was a vacation, we’re going to set that aside for now.
So, what did we do, buy and eat? We’re going to share it all. But instead of one really long blog post, we’re going to break it up into three different posts. In this chapter, we’re going to share the fun things to do in NYC!
Lip Lab by Bite
We’re lipstick lovers, and could spend hours swatching different lipsticks to find the perfect one. So what’s more fun than creating your own custom lipstick?
We’ve been fans of Bite Beauty for years, and when we saw the Lip Lab we knew we had to try it!
At your appointment, you’ll tell your color expert what type of lipstick you want to create. Your perfect nude? A cherry red? A bright purple? Anything is possible!
You’ll also decide on what finish you want – matte, satin, luminous or sheer.
I (Jen) said I was looking for a nude/pink color, and peach tones don’t look great on me.
The color expert will pick out different pigments and mix them together, and give you a disposable wand with the color on it to try out. After you try on the color, you’ll tell your color expert what you’d like to change, and you’ll repeat the process until you love your shade!
Then you’ll get to pick what flavor to add to your lipstick! You have the choice between mint, vanilla, lime and mango.
And don’t forget to pick out the perfect name for your shade too!
Your color expert will blend together a larger batch of pigment and flavor, and pour into a lipstick mold. After a quick chill, you have a finished lipstick!
Location: 174 Prince Street. Click HERE to go to their website.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – In America: A Lexicon of Fashion Exhibition
After watching the Met Gala in September, we were excited to find out that we would be in town for Part I of the Costume Institute’s In America exhibition: In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.
The exhibit celebrated American designers from the 1940’s to the present.
Each designer contributed an outfit for the exhibit and their story was also told in the caption. We’re including images of some of our favorites. The exhibit goes through September 5, 2022. Part 2 will open on May 5, 2022 and also go through September 5, 2022. If you’ll be in town during this timeframe, we highly recommend this.
Location: 1000 5th Avenue. Click HERE to go to their website.
We also spent some time looking at art in the museum and were able to see some famous painting such as Monet’s “Bridge Over a Pond of Lilies” and VanGogh’s “Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat”.
Central Park
The Met is at the northern edge of Central Park. So heading down 5th Avenue from the Met back to Midtown is a great walk.
We didn’t have enough time to explore the park as much as we wanted to, but we did take a quick stroll and take a few minutes to listen to live music. It was a perfect Sunday morning!
Family Legacy Experiences and Shopping
There were other shopping/experiences that were more close to our heart. They are “touristy”, but they also have meaning to us.
The Disney Store in Times Square
Disney is a very important part of our family history as you have probably seen in our past blog posts. So naturally we had to visit the Disney store in Times Square – for NY themed Disney items that we can bring on our family trip next February.
If you are heading to Disney sooner than you are NYC, then check out Jen’s Disney planning posts.
FAO Schwarz/30 Rockefeller Plaza
If you’ve watched the movie “Big”, then you’re familiar with FAO Schwartz, especially the giant keyboard that Tom Hanks stepped on to make music. But the store has a meaning a little closer to home.
It is now housed in 30 Rock, but it used to be on the main floor of the General Motors building. The first time Dianne visited the store back in the 1970’s, her parents bought her a large stuffed Snoopy – which she still has to this day!
Of course, while you are there, you have to visit the entire plaza, including the Prometheus statue, and depending on the time of year, the Christmas tree and the ice skating rink.
They were in the process of setting up the rink – it opens in less than two weeks!
Location: 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Click HERE to go to to FAO Schwarz website and HERE for the 30 Rock website.
The Yankees Clubhouse Store
We’ve mentioned that our family is originally from New York, but not sure we’ve mentioned that we are also Yankees fans – starting with our parents/grandparents in the 1950’s. (They were also Brooklyn Dodgers fans too).
But we love New York and baseball so we had to shop there. Jen’s dad/Dianne’s brother is a huge Yankees fan so we were able to get him some good stuff.
Dianne and Brittany (Jen’s sister/Dianne’s niece) are more Yankees fans. Jen and her mom are more Detroit Tigers fans. So while they didn’t buy anything, both Brit and Dianne found these awesome DKNY Yankees shirts – the perfect combination of team spirit and fashion!
Location: Multiple locations in the city
The Harry Potter New York Store/Experience
While we love Disney, we also love Universal Studios and Harry Potter World (and just Harry Potter in general). So we were excited to be able to visit this brand new store.
This is one that you need to plan for – you actually have to make reservations to get in and it’s pretty tough. We weren’t able to get reservations, but they do allow walk-ins at the end of the day. So, we did get in that way. Unfortunately, getting in at the end of the day meant that we weren’t able to get into the Virtual Reality experience.
Anything you could possibly want Harry Potter related, they have! They have a wand shop, notebooks, pens, sweatshirts, you name it. They even have a Butterbeer bar!
Location: 935 Broadway. Click HERE to go to their website.
Of course there are so many other fun things to do in NYC, but with only three full days, these are what we narrowed them down to. Did we miss some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below so our readers can have even more options!
