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We’ve created a holiday gift guide with presents for the intrepid New Yorker that should arrive just in time—from books on the hidden histories of NYC to honorary donations and virtual gift cards for incredible experiences. Check out what’s on our wishlist for 2025!
This post contains affiliate links, which means Untapped New York earns a commission. There is no extra cost to you, and the commissions earned help support our mission of independent journalism!
🖼️ For the Art Lover:
**Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New Y…
Become a paid member to listen to this article
We’ve created a holiday gift guide with presents for the intrepid New Yorker that should arrive just in time—from books on the hidden histories of NYC to honorary donations and virtual gift cards for incredible experiences. Check out what’s on our wishlist for 2025!
This post contains affiliate links, which means Untapped New York earns a commission. There is no extra cost to you, and the commissions earned help support our mission of independent journalism!
🖼️ For the Art Lover:
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York
Museum Membership
Show support for a local museum by gifting a membership or making a donation in your gift recipient’s honor. Museum memberships often come with fun perks such as free admission, access to special events, and gift shop discounts. Many smaller New York City institutions can especially use support.
Here are a few museum and non-profit partners we’ve worked with this year to give you some inspiration: Village Preservation, Hendrick Lott House, the New York Sign Museum, Poe’s Cottage (Bronx County Historical Society), Fraunces Tavern Museum, and the China Institute Gallery.
Jasper Udink ten Cate, Beans, Photo via Powerhouse Arts
Art Made in a Former Brooklyn Power Plant
Powerhouse Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts facility housed inside a formerly abandoned power station that once provided energy to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit. It contains multiple studios and workshops where local artists can create anything from custom prints to ceramic sculptures—and you can buy them! When you purchase a work of art from the PHA Store, your gift recipient will get a one-of-a-kind piece, and you will help support a local artist and the PHA mission.
Let your giftee get lost in the story of Rose Valland, a real-life World War II resistance hero whose espionage helped recover looted works of priceless art by the likes of Picasso, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Braque, Degas, Modigliani, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Picked as a Best Book of 2025 by the New York Public Library, Library Journal, and Hyperallergic! Give an autographed copy signed by the author, Michelle Young:
🏙️ For the Urban Explorer:
Untapped New York Membership
Give the adventurous New Yorker in your life a passport to the city’s secrets with an Untapped New York membership! This gift of an annual membership will bring new experiences all year long. Members at the Insider tier have access to:
✔️ An ad-free website ✔️ Free Untapped New York walking tours ✔️ Exclusive members-only in-person tours from partners across NYC ✔️ A digital archive of 300+ on-demand videos ✔️ Special discounts from our partners
Check out all of our upcoming member experiences and discounts here!
🌮 For the Foodie:
Images Courtesy of the Artist, John Donohue
A Print of Their Favorite NYC Restaurant
Former New Yorker magazine editor turned self-taught artist John Donohue made it a mission to draw all the restaurants in New York City, over 24,000 of them! Since 2017, he has been creating signed, limited-edition prints of his drawings on museum-quality paper with archival inks. Some of the iconic sites included in his All the Restaurants series are favorites like Pete’s Tavern, Katz’s Deli, and P.J. Clarke’s.
A Private Food Tour of Manhattan
Sample foods from Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side on a private guided walking tour, just for your group, led by a local Manhattan resident! You’ll learn about tenement life at the turn of the 20th century and stop by the synagogues, banks, old movie theaters, churches, and more buildings that were part of the immigrant experience.
A Pizza-Making Class
Photos Courtesy of Pizza School NYC
This hands-on pizza-making class on Grand Street is designed for beginners and practicing pizza-makers alike. All cooks will make their own personal pizzas, from scratch! Learn the secrets of crafting the most delicious sauce, discover how to throw dough like a pro, mix and match your favorite toppings, and find out how to bake it all to perfection. Then you get to eat your freshly made pizzas and take home the leftovers!
You can book a private class, purchase a ticket to a public class, or grab a gift card from Pizza School NYC.
🌇 For the Architecture Enthusiast:
Art Deco Icons of NYC Walking Tour
New York City has some of the best Art Deco architecture in the world! Even if your giftee is an Art Deco expert, they’ll likely learn something new on this tour. Untapped New York’s local guides will explore our city’s Art Deco masterpieces and overlooked Art Deco buildings from their recognizable crowns to the overlooked hidden gems at street-level...and below!
Not sure when your giftee is free? Grab a virtual gift card, which can be used on any Untapped New York walking tour, any time!
Photo Courtesy of Classic Harbor Line
A Narrated Architecture Cruise Around Manhattan
Let your giftee enjoy the sights of Manhattan from the comfort of a 1920s-inspired luxury yacht on a guided river cruise with narration from a member of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) NYC chapter. The boat will completely circumnavigate the island of Manhattan while the guide shares insights into the monuments, architecture, parks, and infrastructure passed along the way. A complimentary glass of beer, wine, Champagne, or soda is included!
☕ For the Coffee Addict:
A Coffee Tasting Tour of Greenwich Village
Your giftee will get their caffeine fix with this experience! They will visit the home of New York City’s very first espresso machine (brought over from Italy), discover the surprising connection between coffee and the birth of the Stock Exchange, learn about the off-off-Broadway scene, and more. All the while, they’ll be sipping on a cappuccino, a drip coffee, and an espresso, and munching on some chocolate-covered espresso beans!
Make this experience fit your schedule! Book a private tour for your group:
Product Images Courtesy of Fishs Eddy
NYC Skyline Mug
The 212 Skyline collection is an original pattern created for Fishs Eddy, a quirky dish store that’s been around for 40 years! These stoneware mugs feature a ring of NYC landmarks from the Flatiron Building to the Brooklyn Bridge. They come in three different shapes and sizes: a demitasse espresso cup, a diner mug, and a jumbo mug to fill with your giftee’s favorite caffeinated beverage.
🛍️ For the Shopaholic:
Photos via
The Locavore Guide to Shopping NYC 2026
Owner of the Locavore Variety Store, Caroline Weaver has scoured the city to find the "most niche, most interesting, most uniquely New York shops" and compiled them in this extensive local shopping guide. Covering all five boroughs, this handy book features 789 retail shops and more fun features such as greenmarket tips, horoscopes, coupons, and expert shopping guides.
📚 For the Curious Bookworm:
An Unusual Guide Book
This series of unique guidebooks, written by Untapped New York’s founder Michelle Young, along with co-authors T.M. Rives and Hannah Frishberg, reveals the hidden gems and secret bars of NYC. Discover where you can find spy holes, pieces of the Berlin Wall, a robot church, and more fascinating sights. When you order from Untapped New York, you can get an autographed copy or create a bundle!
*Order by December 17th to make sure your book arrives on time!
Put Their Name in an NYPL Book
You can honor a loved one on your list and help support the New York Public Library by purchasing a book nameplate. When you make a donation of $35 or more (usually $50 or more, so act fast!), your gift recipient’s name will be printed along with a personalized message and put inside a book circulating in The New York Public Library. They’ll be part of New York history, and your last-minute holiday gift will be very thoughtful!
👻 For a Dabbler in the Supernatural:
Paranormal Investigation Tour in Brooklyn
This unforgettable evening of spooky tales, New York City history, and yummy snacks takes place inside one of Brooklyn’s oldest homes, a Marine Park farmhouse that dates all the way back to the 1700s! After enjoying some wine, cheese, soft drinks, and other snacks, you’ll grab some ghost hunting gear and explore various rooms of the house while learning about the family members who lived there and the interactions staff members have had...with their ghosts. Everyone gets to take home their own paranormal investigation tool to continue the search!
🚆 For the Transit Nerd:
Art Made Out of MetroCards
The MetroCard is soon to be a relic of New York City’s past. What better way to commemorate the card than having it immortalized in a work of art? Local artist Thomas McKean turns MetroCards into artistic collages, and he recently dropped a collection for the holidays! Many items are already sold out, so don’t wait to swipe one.
NYC Subway Traintrackr
Photo Courtesy of Train Trackr
Transit nerds will love this hi-tech NYC-themed gift. Traintrackr uses live data received over WiFi to show the movement of MTA subway cars. The New York City subway map and train movements are displayed on a printed circuit board dotted with 599 red, green, blue, orange, yellow, white, and purple LEDs. The board shows all 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, M, N, Q, R, W, Z and shuttle lines! Traintrackr has made PCB maps of transit systems all over the world, from the Boston MBTA to the London Underground.
Underground Subway Tour in Brooklyn or Manhattan
Send your giftee right into the heart of New York City’s subway system on a thrilling underground tour! Whether they want to explore the subway system in Manhattan or Brooklyn, they’ll uncover abandoned stations, hidden works of art, and incredible stories from the subway’s early history.
🏠 For the Homebody:
Concrete Jungle Candle by Aerangis
This Concrete Jungle candle by Aerangis captures the pleasant scent of Midtown on a wet fall day. “My first visceral impression of New York City came stepping out of a subway station somewhere in midtown Manhattan one wet fall morning. I was mesmerized by the metallic colors and endless layers of granite, glass, and metal facades on the countless structures towering over me.,” recalls Alicia Tsai, who founded Aerangis after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology’s cosmetics and fragrance program and working alongside some of New York’s top fragrance leaders. This candle was inspired by her olfactory memories and features notes of cedarwood, hyacinth, and bergamot.
A Piece of New York City Real Estate
New York real estate is beyond pricey, but we’ve found an alternative option! You can purchase a piece of New York City property from the Queens Museum...though it will be very tiny. Through the Museum’s Adopt-a-Building program, when you make a donation you receive a deed to your place of choice on the world’s largest architectural scale model. Find your gift recipient’s favorite building, a sentimental spot, or where they used to live. This makes for one of the most unique last-minute gifts you can find!
🏙️ Not Sure Which Experience They’ll Love?
Grab a Gift Card for Untapped New York Walking Tours
This is a perfect last-minute gift that can be sent directly to the recipient digitally. Giftees can use the gift card for any future tour date of any future tour.
On expert-led tours guided by licensed New York City guides, guests will discover relics of the city’s past and uncover sites most New Yorkers overlook! You can see all of our upcoming tours here.