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February 7, 2012

Want to know how crazy expensive New York City can get? I recently treated two teenagers to a fun, $462 night on the town. And it was glorious to get out of my budgeting head to just throw some money around. It made me feel like a cool mom (for a change).

This was the Jan. 6 itinerary for my daughter Gabi, her friend A.J. and me:

  • 6:45 p.m. — R Lounge for assorted dips, chips and snacks.
  • 8:00 p.m. — “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” with excellent seats.
  • Backstage tour of the actual stage, costumes and orchestra pit.
  • B. Smith’s — Late night dessert after the show.
  • Midnight — Drive home to the ‘burbs before turning into pumpkin.

To remember our splurge, I took tons of photos. At first, the kids worried that the picture-taking made us seem tourist-y. Hey, I told them, so what? The truth is, we are all tourists in life. Besides, the truly cool don’t care about what others think.

Truly cool people also have good friends. And my personal network gets credit for making our excursion wonderful…

I’m so grateful to the gal pal who first took me to R Lounge last year. Then there’s the theater-loving former student who provided a discount code for purchasing the tickets. And thanks to Doug Hinrichs, a percussionist in the “Priscilla” orchestra, who took us back stage. :)

Based on our experience, we have a few recommendations for your own future night on the town:

  • My baby girl found us a garage deal at Icon Parking ($16 flat rate).
  • For info on R Lounge and B. Smith’s eats, check out my Yelp.com reviews. The bottom line for both? Food was decent, locations were terrific and my drinks were bad.

As for breaking out the costs, the individual items weren’t outrageous. It’s just that things add up:

$259.95….. for three theater tickets ($86.65 each)
$100.83…..for onion soup, pretzels, finger food 
   $62.26….for dessert and snacks at at B. Smith’s 
   $16.00….for parking

   $13.00….for bridge tolls

Now, for the photos. Go here for a full-screen view of the collage below. And this link has close-ups of each shot, along with captions.  xo

Taking the teens to their first Broadway show in ages — so worth it.