Great, I can help you now.

I live in NY and ignore the people saying to avoid it, it's a must for TOURISTS.

Anyway, what are the MAIN things you want to do? food? art? general immersion? buffboyzz?

Just tell me and i'll compile a top 5 for you.

Also, you better not be broke. NY on a small budget is hell.

Never knew you stayed in CA. Any who, I have family in Manhattan if you need a place to stay...

Clubs: go to boxers on 50th street or the C*ck which is in the east village or xl lounge in times sq on 9th ave

Go to the met, times sq, central park, ice skating at Rockefeller center, hang out at the pier, Hell's Kitchen, west village and chelsea

There's nothing wrong with simply checking out Times Square so you can see how it is, it's a pretty cool place to be in with all the lights and ads, but there's not much reason to hang around. Also make sure you don't stop to take pictures with any of the people in costumes or anything, they'll innocently ask you for a picture first and then tell you it was worth five dollars or something, those type of people prey on clueless people all around the city.

Omg YES. When I went in December, I was taking selfies in Times Square and this guy playing Iron Man came up to me and was like, "Hey, want a picture with me?" so I shrugged and took a picture. He then asked for a few more, and I said I had to leave, and he was like, "Gosh, I'm a broke college kid. Could you give me like $10? I did take pictures with you after all."

At least he gave some sort of excuse
One time I was in Union Square with some friends from out of town and this man in regular ass clothing had a cardboard sign with "Free hugs" written in sharpie on it. One of my friends took him up on the offer and then the man suggested they take a picture and then charged him three dollars. I was so devastated for my friend

I mean tha main thing i wanna do is eat and look around. I'm sure we'll be at tha club every night. I don't know where tho

Mess at you telling me this a few days before I coulda saved me some money on a hotel So mad at you right now lol

And how much should i bring? I literally do not plan on shopping for anything cause i don't do that Other than just eating and seeing some attractions and a club here and there, personally i don't plan on doing things too crazy.

I plan on bringing $2500. I'm in hopes i don't spend it all, but i mean we're gonna be there from Thursday and we leave Monday, so....

Straight Bars-gay friendly
Kingston Hall (great drinks and vibe) east village
Pianos (relaxed bar downstairs, club upstairs) east village

Gay Bars
Eastern Block-east village (maybe if youre bar hopping. Wouldn't recommend going there to start)
Boxers-Chelsea or Hell's Kitchen.

Alternative
Barcade
Brooklyn Bowl (bowl and drink)

If you like bar/club hopping the best places to go to are east village and hell's kitchen in my opinion. If you do I would start at Boxers.

Places to eat
Momofuku as already recommended by many people
Smack'd mac and cheese is good drunk food
Adrian's pizza near wall street (if you check out wall street area) is my favorite pizza in NY
Koreatown has some great korean BBQ places. Could also do karaoke
Chinatown is budget friendly

Places to see
Explore Central Park. Rent a bike and really get to see all the great corners of the park.
One World/Trade Center Memorial
Wall Street/NYSE/Charging Bull/Statue of Liberty are all in the same area if you wanna explore that
Highline (go during the day)
Times Square (I would say avoid it, but it is your first time being in NY....check it out, sit on the red stairs and soak up the city, and then get out of there. DO NOT eat anywhere near there)
Bryant Park (they might already have the christmas stores set up)
Check Rockafeller Center to see if the tree is up
Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge Park (in the summer it had really cool art installations, they may or may not still be there).

With the exception of tickets for going on the observatory deck and paying for renting bikes, the rest is all free. Going to the top of the Rock in my opinion gives you a better view of New York than the Empire State Building. In terms of views the top of the rock is the best, but in overall experience One World Observatory is great.

Ive been twice so ill give my 2 cents.

1. Visit Times Square once to see the spectacle and then avoid it at costs. It can get ridiculously crowded and is a tourist trap.

2. Go to the Rockefeller Observatory during the night. It's honestly beautiful

3. Generally speaking, taking a cab is completely unnecessary. The subway can get you almost anywhere.

4. Some will probably disagree but I found walking the brooklyn bridge not all that great. It was pretty long and we ended up getting lost trying to find the subway back to Manhattan

5. The World Trade Centre memorial is actually pretty moving, I would recommend it.

Girl, you have to go to Times Square, don't listen to them, it's your first time in NYC!!
But be aware of the things they've said about it: reeeeeally crowded and food that it's not so nice.

Time square was boring and crowded tbh.

Go straight to the H&M store in Times Square and get slayed by Katy Perry Christmas campaign
Next, take a train and go to Apple Store in the 5th avenue , buy an iPad pro and purchase EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY on iTunes