Happy Wednesday, Friends! I’m coming to you from my couch where we’re having another Snow Day here in North Texas. That ice got us good!
If you missed my NYE New York City posts so far,
Today is Day Three which happened to be New Year’s Eve…
Knowing that the day before we a busy one, I scheduled us a slower morning. We had early lunch reservations at The Smith. The vibe in the air was super fun. Lots of people were out and it just felt like a holiday.
After lunch we had time to walk through Madison Square Park. I wanted to share this so you guys see our real life. ha! We met an adorable couple from Texas who took our pic. Bless them for giving us a minute to get it together!
Mission Accomplished! WAHOO!
These two are THE easiest to photograph. 😉
Then we did a little strolling through stores. Ralph’s Coffee was SO BUSY! We popped our head in and decided we weren’t that thirsty. ha!
We walked our way over to Chelsea Market.
Chelsea Market was FULL of people! Other than Times Square, this spot felt THE BUSIEST of anywhere we visited. We enjoyed the heat and walked through to see all the different food options.
It was decked for Christmas and looking extra festive!
We made our way from the market to Chelsea Piers where we were hopping on a festive sunset cruise.
Tab and I have been to New York several times as well as the kids so we were trying to do things that were new to us all plus some Christmas-y things. This was a first and it was a great time! We booked tickets prior and each group had their own table so we had this booth with a plate full of cookies. The waitress came over for drink orders as well. It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon in New York on NYE!
Bowen was here too but he’d reached his photo quota for the day. ha!
The boat was super spacious and decked out!
See??!! SO cute!
The views were incredible!
It was CHILLY out on the water but Lady Liberty was looking great! Worth it!
I couldn’t get over how cute and festive plus relaxing this was!
The sun started to set as we were making our way back. Gorgeous!
How will New Year’s Eve 2026 EVER live up to this?!
After the cruise, we made our way to the subway {pic to show Britt’s first NYC subway experience} to head to dinner….
I had a hard time finding a reservation on New Year’s Eve that wasn’t $300 per plate for a set menu. BUT, I found The Churchill Tavern that has super casual food AND they allowed me to make a reservation. Bonus because it was festive!
This girly was a trooper!
When we sat down the television was playing a football game so my family was in heaven. Warming up, getting food + football on, but all of a sudden the channels changed to an NYC countdown in England. The owner of The Churchill came around passing out champagne AND little did we know, we were about to count down {with England} for the New Year. It was SUPER FESTIVE, fun and so unexpected!!
We had shepherd’s pies, fish & chips, and burgers as we rang in the New Year with all of our friends across the pond. 🙂
Then we battled our way back to our hotel in Times Square. I did some videos on Instagram just because I thought this was interesting. This little trek back to our hotel room was THE only time I got really nervous. Lots of people were bottlenecking into one small area. It was hard to keep up with all six of us and it was scary! But we got through that, showed our hotel room keys and got right back up to our hotel rooms safely.
We turned on the festivities to watch. Our room had views of the stage….
and the kids’ room had views of the ball.
I brought some goodies in my suitcase and really didn’t think anyone would participate but he humored me.
We all showered, got into our pajamas and surrounded the window so we could countdown and watch the ball drop. {Britt took our pic.}
I’ve gotta report…IT WAS MAGICAL! I had no idea people threw the confetti out by hand but we were right above them and could see them doing it. The countdown, the music, and then when everything changed to red, white, & blue to celebrate 250 years of America, it was even extra magical. It’ll be a NYE we all always remember!
Thanks so much for reading today, friends!
XO
The absolute BEST NYE E-V-E-R! Every single detail was perfect!!
We had a good time!!
What a fun way to spend the holidays! Are you glad you stayed in the hotel or do you wish you when down to Times Square?
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Hi Elspeth! Great question…one hundred percent so glad we watched from the room. The people that had good views had been outside waiting ALL DAY to get that spot. They couldn’t leave to go to the bathroom {thinking they wore diapers?} and had to bring snacks for the entire day/night with them. I can’t think of anything I want to see/do enough to stand in the cold all day and not be allowed to go to the bathroom! We’d have just walked up at the end of the night and those people weren’t getting to see much at all. They were WAY back there. We were warm, cozy, all showered after a busy day, and got to see it all from the comfort of our hotel room window. 😉
Curious… How much were the hotel rooms? I have always thought there were booked way in advance and sky high. I would love to watch the ball drop from the comfort of a hotel room.
Hey Jennifer! Great question. I would have thought so too. I asked my husband about the room with the view and it was almost $1000 a night. We used points so that’s an option too!