Plane ticket prices are shooting up, and, sadly, college students with hometowns all the way across the country (or even across the globe!) are forced to stay on campus during the long-awaited Thanksgiving break. But there’s no need to spend the holiday feeling lonely, even with the lack of a traditional Thanksgiving meal with your family gathered around you at the dinner table. New York City has plenty of offerings to experience on Thanksgiving Day!
- Make a Friendgiving meal with your friends!
This could be a Thanksgiving potluck where each member of the friend group cooks (or buys, depending on their culinary abilities) a meal for dinner. You get to spend time with friends that you love and appreciate while perhaps eating home-made food—it doesn’t get more perfect than this. The homesickness you might feel about being apart from your family will hopefully evaporate with the joy and laughter of being around beloved friends.
- Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
This is absolutely non-negotiable… As a native Texan, I personally have never experienced the Macy’s Parade first-hand—but this year, I 100% will be attending! The parade kicks off at 8:30 am, and it’s a tradition dear to many New Yorkers who go see the parade in person annually, with a myriad of balloons, performances, floats, and live music. This year, Charli D’Amelio will apparently be there, and so will plenty of other famous figures such as Idina Menzel, Dan + Shay, and Jimmy Fallon.
- Eat Thanksgiving at a fancy restaurant!
Don’t want to cook? You don’t have to! Who said you have to eat Thanksgiving dinner at home? You can be grateful for the things in your life, happily chowing down on some delicious gourmet food. Some restaurants offer a “prix-fixe” menu of several courses served to you at one fixed price. One such restaurant is Keg & Lantern, offering a full-course meal with a soup, entree, dessert, and drink for $49. Other options include Eataly, for $49 for a two-course menu, and Leland Eating and Drinking House with a heftier price of $85. And of course, there are plenty of other options all around NYC!
- Volunteer
One valuable way to spend your time on Thanksgiving is by giving back to your community, and you can do this by volunteering your time at a local soup kitchen or organization in NYC, of which there are aplenty! Some examples include Gobble Gobble Give, a nonprofit specifically for delivering meals to families on Thanksgiving Day, and Goddard Riverside, where volunteers help stuff and carve turkeys and serve Thanksgiving meals for the homeless. This way you can spread your love, gratitude, and holiday spirit by giving back directly to the city around you!
There are so many fulfilling ways to spend your time on Thanksgiving, even when you’re apart from your family and spending the holiday season on your college campus. New York City has unlimited things for you to do, and I hope this article helps in your journey to experience a hopefully festive Thanksgiving Day! Happy Holidays from a loving Her Campus staff writer!