No other city on earth is more like a movie than New York, so what could be more Christmas in New York than recreating Elf and Home Alone 2 for the holiday season? Tough task as that sounds, Brian Thacker and his daughter Jasmine were more than up for it this December. Grab the popcorn, snuggle up and enjoy!
Nothing is more like a movie than Christmas in New York
As I joyfully bunny-hopped across the pedestrian crossing in front of Macys on 5th Avenue, my 21-year-old daughter Jasmine rolled her eyes as she filmed me from the pavement.
I’m re-creating a scene from the family favorite Christmas movie Elf. Jasmine and I have watched this film every Christmas Eve since she was 10, and we’ve always talked about doing Christmas in New York to indulge in all things Buddy the Elf: with a bit of Kevin McCallister thrown in for good measure.
So after an arduous journey travelling through the seven levels of the candy cane forest and the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops, our Christmas wish finally came true.
Buddy the Elf! What’s your favourite colour?
When Buddy arrived in New York from the North Pole, he went straight to the Empire State Building to meet his dad Walter for the first time.
We walk through the same famous art deco marble lobby and are surprised to see the lobby’s window displays adorned with Elf collectibles for sale. We’d coincidentally timed our trip for the 20th anniversary of the launch of the movie.
However, we skip buying some Elf syrup or a Son of a Nutcracker makeup kit and instead shoot up to the 86th floor Observation Deck to meet Buddy himself or a life-size cardboard cut-out of him at least. So of course we join the line to take an Elf-selfie with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop.
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal
Home Alone 2 is another favourite Christmas movie of mine and Jasmine’s, so we couldn’t go to New York without dropping into The Plaza Hotel.
If I’d had my dad’s credit card we would have stayed at the hotel, but we do get to experience Kevin’s whipped-cream laden ice cream sundae for lunch! It’s part of the Home Alone 2: Fun In New York overnight package, which includes a 4-hour limo tour to visit the filming locations from the movie – while eating a cheese pizza, of course – as well as an ice cream sundae delivered to your suite.
The sundae is 16 scoops of vanilla and chocolate ice cream with whipped cream; maraschino cherries; M&M’s; brownie bits; chocolate; caramel, and raspberry sauce. Any guest can order it from room service any time for $300.
When the room service steward wheels the lavishly loaded trolley into the grand suite, Jasmine looks exactly like Kevin from the movie poster with her mouth agape. And even after we finish two large bowls each, we didn’t so much as put a dent in the frozen confectionary mountain.