Best experience gifts for New Yorkers 2023 (who don't want any more shit)

In a city where having a breadbox-sized room in windowless, illegal apartment with a shower in the "kitchen" is the norm, the last thing we want is more shit to make space for. A lot of us, including myself, moved to NYC because everything is right outside your teeny tiny (perhaps seasonally cockroach-infested) apartment: gourmet and international grocery stores (my favorite), indie barcades near killer late-night Mexican food trucks, and world-class theater productions (for me it's puppet shows: I loved The Immortal Jellyfish Girl).

We don't need or want anymore trinkets, knick-knacks, or baubles junking up valuable real-estate. It's just more shit to box up when we have to move. The best gifts keep the recipient in mind and are thoughtful. If you know, you know. Here are 10 ideas for non-material experience gifts for New Yorkers that you can purchase for your very own city dweller (or for yourself!).

$ --> $50 and under
$$ --> $100 and under
$$$ --> $150 and under
$$$$ --> over $150 (in some cases WAY over)

Pulsd vouchers | $-$$

Pulsd is in. Groupon is old news. Pulsd works with NYC merchants to sell thousands of interesting experiences in and around NYC, usually for hefty discount. Who doesn't want to save money and have unique experiences in NYC?

I bought a Pulsd voucher for Raaka Chocolate's bean-to-bar class for $59. The class retails on Raaka's site for $109. That's $50 saved. The class itself was the best culinary class I have ever taken, and I wrote about the experienec a couple months ago. It was SO worth the $59 and would have been worth the full $109.

There's BIG value in some Pulsd vouchers. Here are a couple I've come across in the last couple months that caught my eye as great experience gifts:

• $39 Bottomless Brunch For Two at Sek'und Sun in Astoria, Queens
• $109 James Beard Foundation Young Patron Membership
• $115 For A One Year Membership To Private Supper Club, Tasting Collective ($165 Value) (I'm a member and don't find too much value in it, which I wrote about a couple months ago after attending a member's dinner at Bar Tulix, but someone else might)

If the recipient drinks alcohol, they have some great open bar deals, especially for holidays. $59 for 4 hour open bar NYE party at The High Note (Union Square)? $39 for a 3 hour open bar holiday market soirée at Elsie's Rooftop (Midtown West)?

A word of caution though: before you purchase your Pulsd experience and gift it to your New Yorker, read reviews about the place (especially the spa deals). Make sure you pay attention to expiration dates, fine print, and don't forget to tip at restaurants!

Interactive, immersive event tickets | $

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I decided not to cover these too much because I see them in plenty of best experience gifts in NYC lists and on Instagram already, but just in case you don't know about them here's a couple interactive events that have been getting a whole lot of publicity and marketing money thrown at them.

• Museum of Ice Cream
• Game of 1000 Boxes (not gonna lie, I do actually want to do this)
• Hall des Lumières immersive art shows
• Sleep No More, final shows late February (because of this prices have increased)
• Sloomoo Insitute slime experience and shop
• Museum of Illusions New York

I have a little beef with Fever though: I went to the Candlelight: Featuring Vivaldi's Four Seasons and More at Church of Heavenly Rest for $40 per person for Zone C seating with my partner in early September 2022 and was less than impressed. The view was obstructed and the musicians were just okay. A lot of their events seem gimmicky to me, but I'm willing to give Fever another try for the Game of 1000 Boxes, which would make a very fun experience gift for a New Yorker who likes to play games.

The city from the eyes of a third-time-in-NYC tourist | $-$$

There's so much to do and see in NYC I'm certain I'll never get through all of it in my lifetime, but I can make a dent with carefully chosen tours, sometimes even tours catering to tourists. For me, there's something really exciting and refreshing about getting on the Big Bus for me on a normal Saturday morning. I'm not claiming a Big Bus ticket is a good experience gift for New Yorkers, but I am saying that there are tours out there that might fit the bill for an experience gift no matter how long you've lived in NYC.

New York Adventure Club has history-heavy in-person tours and food in-person tours, sometimes after-hours or in unexpected locations. They're community-driven and focus on storytelling. Upcoming events include curling basics and training and a pastel painting workshop at the AKC Museum of the Dog.

Memberships | $$

Memberships, specifically museum memberships, have been a mainstay experience gifts in NYC for forever. There's something for everyone: aesthetes (y'all already know all the art museums in NYC), cinephiles (memberships at Metrograph, Film at Lincoln Center, Film Forum, and IFC Center) and NYC history buffs (membership at the Tenement Museum or Museum of the City of New York), library lovers (membership at New York Society Library or The Center for Fiction), ex-dancers (memberships for Alvin Ailey or the American Ballet Theater), nature-lovers (New York Botanical Gardens) and everything in between.

There's an abandoned station under City Hall (pictured above) that only members of the New York Transportation Museum have the ability to buy tour tickets for. The tickets sell out fast and available only a couple times a year. A tour of the station would make a wonderful experience gift in NYC.

Not all of the memberships I chose to shoutout above include free tickets or entrance in their memberships, so be sure to double-check membership benefits.

Sofar Sounds | $

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I went to Sofar Sounds in San Diego and had a great time listening to sad girl music. If you don't like the sad girl sound, concerts vary in genre. Low-key concerts are the perfect experience gifts in NYC.

The space and tools to do the things they enjoy | $$$-$$$$

In NYC, we're poor in living space. A lot of have quadruple duty spaces within rooms. We might not have the space we want to pick up different hobbies that we might enjoy. Because of this, the space and tools to pursue bigger hobbies makes wonderful experience gifts for New Yorkers.

Astoria Woodworker's Collective offers two memberships, one for their tool library and another for studio space to woodwork to your heart's content.

MakerSpace NYC offers different membership levels and classes on basic use and safety, 3D printing, and mig welding. NYC Resistor also offers classes for makers.

Know someone building an app, product, or starting a business? Gift them a couple passes for co-working spaces. A day pass at The Farm SOHO is $30).

Wish they had a quiet place to work on a novel or short stories? Membership to writing spaces at The Writing Room or the Writer's Studio in The Center for Fiction.

Podcast recording, art studio, and music recording space make wonderful experience gifts for New Yorkers who want to work on their hobbies unconfined by small apartment spaces.

Lessons and classes | $$-$$$$

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Lessons and classes make great experience gifts and there's plenty to choose from in NYC.

NYC has circus schools, like CircusHaus, The Muse Production, and Trapeze School New York, where you can learn the art of flying trapeze and trampoline.

Gift the recipient Spanish lessons at Instituto Cervantes, Italian at Idlewild, French at the FIAF French Institute Alliance Française.

The Brooklyn Brainery offers fun classes also.

Have always wanted to learn how to play guitar or piano? Voice lessons? Organ? Find the recipient lessons, email people, and do the research and give the gift of an experience.

A day trip with Sourced Adventures | $$-$$$

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When summer hits especially, and the city is hotter than Satan's asscrack, I really want to leave. I would love to escape to the Poconos for Source Adventures' whitewater rafting trip next summer. I would be forever grateful and in tears if someone gifted me the ability to leave NYC in the summer just for a day.

If you're carless or don't have your driver's license, Sourced Adventures offers apple picking trips in the fall; strawberry picking trips, snow tubing in the winter, and other day trips near NYC. They're pricey, but everything is taken care of making these a thoughtful and very well-planned experience gift for New Yorkers.

Camp No Councilors | $$$$ 😱

If the recipient is someone who loves being silly and misses summer camp days, a 3-day stay at Camp No Councilors would make the perfect experience gift for your New Yorker. The camp is a 2-hour car ride from NYC, but they do sell shuttle tickets.

Warning: It certainly looks alcohol-heavy, an open bar is included in your ticket, and alcohol appears to be available almost 24/7. Camp No Councilors has a no-alcohol wellness and recharge themed camp called Camp Recharge, but it doesn't look like it's operating since I don't see dates (but I hope they bring it back because a girl can only drink so much alcohol before sickness!)

At $900 for end of May 2024 though, in my opinion the price makes this an the-whole-family-and-friends-chip-in kinda experience gift, or a buy-it-for-yourself experience gift. I just couldn't pass up including it.