Everything is Set

It is hard to believe that everything worked out to make Carrie's trip to New York come to reality. Everything is arranged and all the tickets are in hand. I think I made an error on the dates in a prior post. She will be leaving next Friday, the 22nd and getting back early in the morning on the 24th.

Carrie said she would take lots of pictures so we should have some to post after she gets back.

Success!!!

On Saturday we surprised Carrie with her "Unbirthday" party and gave her this present. I was sure she had know something was up for a few weeks becuase I have not been very good at covering my tracks, but apparently she was totally surprised.

It has been so fun to plan this trip and the excitement of the surprise, but I am glad she now knows about it. I think it is a trip she will remember and really enjoy and it is really fun to see that excitement in her eyes.

I have added Carrie as an author to the site so that if she chooses she can add some posts now and after her trip to complete the blog.

Thanks to everyone. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the surprise, I failed to check the batteries in the camera so it was dead.

Time For the Surprise

So Carrie's birthday is the 26th of December and so I think I am going to surprise her with an "unbirthday" Party on July 26th... this Saturday. I am going to be putting together a booklet with all the information on the trip and including any suggestions I have gotten and such. I would also like to include any messages that her friends may have for her. If you have anything you would like to say to Carrie either for her birthday or ideas and suggestions for New York please add them as comments to this post. I will include them in the booklet. Thanks to everyone that has provided ideas, suggestions, and contributions to this project! I will let you know how the surprise goes.

Can't Have Everything

So I have given up on finding a nice hotel at a great price... or even a good price in New York City. Everything in Downtown seems to be $200 or more a night. With this sad fact I have realized that the YMCA may be the best option. I was very surprised when I looked at it though as it is across from Central Park and she can have a private room that actually looks pretty nice. There is also another place called American Dream that is also available. Has anyone stayed at either of these or know about them? The websites are below.

http://www.ymcanyc.org/index.php?id=1134 (YMCA)

http://www.americandreamhostel.com/index.html

Behind The Emerald Curtain

So Saturday morning Carrie will be going... Behind The Emerald Curtain. This is a 90 minute tour with several cast members. I first heard of this from Carrie last year so I am pretty sure she will enjoy it.

So she will be going to see the play Friday night and the behind the scenes tour Saturday morning. Outside of that I am not planning anything else so that she has time to do whatever else she wants while in New York.

Wicked Upgrade

So I was able to get 6th Row tickets for Wicked on Friday for Carrie. I should be able to sell the first set of tickets and cover the additional cost. I am also going to sell the second ticket as it does not look like anyone is going to be able to meet Carrie in New York.

I have purchased several more tickets which I should be able to sell pretty easily and so I am feeling pretty good about being able to pull this off.

I have pretty much given in on finding her a fun place to stay for the night so it will probably be the YMCA. There is one rigth by Central Park and she can have her own room at a good price and from the pictures it actually looks like a pretty nice place. Ultimately this will be her decision and I am not going to book anything until she knows what's going on, so I will keep looking for a good hotel deal. If anyone hears of one please let me know. I am trying to spend under $100 for the night.

A Wicked Night in New York City

I got 2 tickets for Carrie and a friend, (if anyone can make it) to go and see Wicked Friday August 15th on Broadway. They are Orchestra seats although I would like to get some a little closer to the stage, so I am going to list these for sale at a price that would allow me to purchase better tickets that I have been watching. Either way she will have great seats to see her favorite musical.

I was able to use the broadway.com gift certificate that I got off eBay and so I ended up paying 45% of what the tickets would have cost me had I bought them directly on broadway.com! I am very excited about the deal.

So... who wants to come and see Wicked?

I found an old friend of Carrie's that lives in Manhattan, but unfourtunately she is going to be in California and won't be back until after Carrie is gone. I think she would have really enjoyed being surprised by her friend when she got there.

My Biggest Issue - Hotel

Alright so I am feeling pretty good about providing Carrie with dining and entertainment on her trip. I have been able to find some very good deals and they continue to be available. I am however running into brick walls as I am trying to find a "nice" hotel for her to stay at. I would love to get her a room right at Times Square, or off of central park or something, but I am finding that even the out of the way, nothing fancy hotels are very expensive in New York. I am hoping to provide her with more money to enjoy New York than to enjoy a 4 star hotel becuase I don't think she will spend much time in the room, I think she will be out enjoying the city. Does anyone know of any decent places to stay in New York that might be somewhat affordable?

I also found out that people can transfer Hilton rewards and if anyone wants to donate some Hilton Rewards let me know. This is probably not an option that will work because all the hotels in NYC are rated higher and so it requires 15,000 - 50,000 points to get a room at any of the Hilton's participating hotels, but I figure I will throw it out just in case.

I have found that there are a lot of apartments for short term rent, but I am weary of this becuase you never know who owns the place and has access to it while she is there. It would beat the YMCA hostel that she was thinking of staying at on her budgeted trip.

Let me know if you have any ideas, suggestions, or recommendations.

Broadway.com Gift Certificate

So we are still making progress on putting the trip together. I was able to sell all of my first round of tickets for a profit. It was more of a learning experience and I expect to be more profitable on round 2.

I am very excited though because I was able to secure 2 gift certificates for Broadway.com at 40% off. These can be used to buy show tickets, meal vouchers, or possibly a hotel package.

One thing I think I will use them for is to get her (and anyone that can be there) tickets to Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain. (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=518949 )
This is a chance to see upclose set and costumes and be led on a tour by cast members. If any of you can come let me know so I can get the tickets!

Sold!!!

I have made my first sale of tickets to fund Carrie's trip. On top of selling the tickets for a profit they came with 2 dining vouchers which are good for a full meal including a three course meal, a drink, taxes and tip. The vouchers are good at the following resturants most of which I have never heard of but they sound like they could be good. has anyone tried or heard of any of these resturants? Any recommendations? Carrie can choose any of them but I will include any comments with the vouchers for her to review.

• Planet Hollywood (yes, I have heard of this one.. :) )
• Broadway Joe Steakhouse
• Center Stage Cafe
• Federico's Italina Bistro
• La Prima Donna Italian Ristorante
• Maria Pia Cucina Italiana

The Real Excitement in Planning this Surprise

So I figured I would let you guys (if anyone is actually looking at this) in on the exciting part of this surprise and that is how to pay for it without Carrie knowing. Carrie is very familiar with out budget and if there was room in it for this trip she would be planning it for herself. I decided this was only a small obstacle.

Last year I was able to buy and sell tickets online for Wicked and in the process make enough money to buy us two tickets to see Wicked while it was in Boston. It was not very hard to figure out what deals I should buy and what they should sell for so I decided to do it again. I am planning on brokering tickets online and using the profits to fully fund the trip! I don't think that Carrie will notice this as most of the transactions will happen in a separate Paypal account. It's a little risky but that is what makes it so fun. Actually I am not worried about losing money only about how much profit I can make, but if I plan this trip for August it should not be a problem. Who knows, if it goes well I may continue this as a hobby all the time.

I currently have 2 tickets to Wicked on July 1st and 8 Tickets to Legally Blonde for June 27th listed on Stubhub and craigslist. I will let you know if I am able to sell them.

Scratch the VIP Legally Blonde Idea

So over the weekend I mentioned that I had heard that Legally Blonde will be starting a national tour in September (which is true) to Carrie. Her response was not what I was expecting, she said it was not a show she was very interested in... so it's back to the drawing board.

Elle's Lounge

So I found a pretty cool option for Carrie to go see Legally Blonde in style. She loved the movie and Nicole thought she would really like the musical so I am hoping to make this work out. It is called Elle's Lounge VIP Experience. You can click the title of this post for details or read the summary below.

Let me know what you think about this. I think it would be especially fun if she ends up going alone becuase she would have some others to hang out with. It sounds cool for her from my perspective but if anyone feels differently let me know. Thanks!

A whole new experience!
Legally Blonde The Musical is proud to launch the Elle's Lounge VIP Experience, the ultimate fan event at the theater!

When you book the Elle’s Lounge VIP Experience, you get :
VIP orchestra seats.
An Exclusive Elle’s Lounge tote bag filled with fun goodies!
A signed souvenir program.
A complementary beverage during intermission.
Talk-back following the show with members of the cast.
An Elle’s Lounge Hostess to guide you through your experience.
The entire experience documented by our Elle’s Lounge Photographer. The pictures will be available to view & purchase thru Shutterfly on the Elleslounge.com website.
And of course, the main event - The Show!

The Idea

Hi,
We are trying to put together a surprise for Carrie. Her birthday is December 26th it is always overshadowed by Christmas and so I am trying to plan a “birthday” surprise for her this summer. With our moves, and being a full time mom of three kids she has been under a lot of stress and never gets a chance to get away and so I am trying to surprise her with a chance to get away.

She has been talking about taking a trip down to New York City on her own to spend the day. She does not feel that she can spend any money on herself in our current situation and so she is considering taking a bus down and back in the same day or staying at the YMCA. I am pretty sure she would enjoy a much less restricted trip and so I am trying to surprise her with tickets to a couple shows, a hotel for the night and some spending money to enjoy the trip. She has also commented on how fun it would be to meet a friend there.

The reasons I am letting you know about this are
First, I am a dummy when it comes to New York and Broadway shows and I am hoping that y’all might be able to provide some suggestions for shows and/or activities Carrie might enjoy. (I know she loves Wicked and Les Mis, but she has seen them both) I have not been able to find a way to approach the subject without her wondering as she is not intending to see any shows or do anything while she is there.

If any of you have any contact with her or know what she would like down there, ideas would be appreciated. Also if you know where to find good tickets, etc. that would also be great.
Second, and I know this is a long shot because everyone is so far away, I wanted to see if anyone wanted to surprise her in New York for the weekend. (I don’t expect this to work out but I thought I would throw it out)
Third, if any of you want to go in on a gift or contribute to the trip for her let me know and I will let you know where you can send things so that she does not see them beforehand.
Fourth, if you have any additional ideas I would love to hear them. She has also been trying to plan a trip out to CA which would be fun to get everyone together and surprise her with a trip out and a chance to see most of you, but I don’t think I can swing that one, but if anyone knows of discounted airfare from Boston to CA that would be a definite possibility.
Fifth, if you are in contact with any other of Carrie’s friends if you could pass the information along.

Feel free to call or email me if you have any questions. If you are going to call, please call between 7am – 6pm Eastern Monday – Friday.

Thanks! I hope everyone is doing great.

Online Headquarters

So here it is. Thanks to Heidi for the great idea to create a blog to coordinate the suprise for Carrie's birthday. Feel free to tell others about the blog but please be careful as Carrie likes to read blogs and we don't want to give away the suprise.

If you are interested in being a blogger on the site, send me an email and if I know who you are I will add you to the list. I just ask that you hide it on your profile so that Carrie does not see it.

This should be fun and hopefully we can put together a great suprise for her.

I will post the ideas I have had soon and I hope everyone will provide lots of feedback to improve the plan.