Your weekend plans begin here, with a couple of dozen FREE and cheap things to do this mid-January weekend, including your final chance to see holiday decorations,
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Everything on NYC on the Cheap is family friendly, and nearly everything is FREE.
Let’s hope the weather cooperates with outdoor events, but if it doesn’t, here are some rainy day activities in NYC, besides re-arranging your sock drawer.
Know Before You Go
Be sure to check the street closures advisory so you are not stuck in traffic.
Official NYC Bridge & Street Closures weekly advisory
Official NYC FREE parking calendar 2020
Things to do on Saturday
Say Goodbye to your Christmas Tree
Drop off your holiday tree at any one of a couple of dozen locations and watch giant chippers turn it to mulch to insulate and protect NYC trees over the winter and beyond.
You can also take home your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree community garden.
Mulchfest is the annual event sponsored by the NYC Dept. of Parks, in all five boroughs.
Be sure to remove all decorations – lights, ornaments, tinsel – so the chippers chip only the tree itself
Drop off your tree at any Mulchfest location on the final Chipping Saturday of this holiday season, Saturday, January 11th.
Say Goodbye to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
An estimated 125 million people visit the world’s most famous tree each year. Since most of them already have seen it, now is your chance – your last chance – to enjoy the sparkle and the magic.
It’s been a NYC traditon since 1933, when Rockefeller Center was still under construction.
This season’s 77-foot Norway Spruce remains on display until January 17, 2020, when it is recycled into logs to be used by Habitat for Humanity to build new homes for the needy..
Each tree is cut into more than r100 boards and is stamped with a special logo that lets the owners know where the wood came from.
Things to do Sunday
No Pants Subway Ride
The 19th Annual No Pants Subway Ride features folks riding around with their underwear on display.
Participating riders wear everything appropriate for winter weather – hats, gloves, jackets – but no pants.
Your choice to avoid it or Instagram it.
If you want to participate, or avoid the thongs and throngs, check the No Pants Subway Ride website.
Best Museum Exhibits for Kids
Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter
This popular display is back at the American Museum of Natural History for its 22nd season with more than 500 butterflies fluttering among colorful tropical flowers and lush green vegetation.
The butterflies are from farms in Florida, Costa Rica, Kenya, Thailand, Malaysia, Ecuador, and Australia.
Beyond being just beautiful, butterflies are important harbingers of environmental change, and the exhibit includes an educational component about the roles butterflies play in ecosystems and the importance of protecting them.
- At AMNH through May 2020
- FREE with museum admission
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