How do you celebrate New Year's Eve? (No advertising thread)

Dear users, dear authors,
what are you doing on New Year's Eve? Partying? Ignoring it? Cooking something nice? Going out to eat?

Since our household will be smaller this New Year’s Eve—the three older kids are staying with friends—we’ll just have a cozy dinner, set off a few mini fireworks with the little one, and go to bed early.... I, for one, will :-)

New Year’s Eve is pretty low-key for us, too. In the evening, we’ll have a cold platter with my mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.
Then we’ll watch a movie with the kids—Mary Poppins, if I have my way—and at midnight we’ll watch the fireworks over Wiener Neustadt. We can see the whole city from our living room, and it’s always a spectacular show.

We’ll just sit together quietly and wait for the new year to begin.

Like every year, we’re celebrating with our neighbor. Our oldest is at his girlfriend’s, and we’re making raclette and playing games. We’ll also have a few kids’ fireworks for our daughter, but otherwise it’ll be a quiet, cozy evening.

We play Monopoly every year—when else do you have time for it? Before that, we enjoy a cozy raclette dinner, and at midnight we watch the fireworks. Since we can see the entire Rhine Valley from our attic, it’s a beautiful spectacle. And of course, “Dinner for One” is a must!

@lucygurumi: Monopoly is a good idea. I’ll bring it along and suggest it.

We’ve invited ourselves over to some friends. We’ll be having raclette, and otherwise it’ll be a cozy evening. 

This time, we’re heading to Sylt for New Year’s Eve with our dog, and we’re planning lots of activity on the beach and even more relaxation after all the stress this year.
On January 11, 2017, we’ll head back home, hopefully with plenty of creative ideas.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve are two days a year when I clear off my little craft table in front of the TV, lay a tablecloth on it, and fill it with all sorts of treats. On these days, I also eat dinner a little later while the TV is on, and the meal stretches out over the entire evening (for this I cook and bake something delicious that I’m in the mood for). If there’s nothing on TV, I watch DVDs—specifically, digitized old Soviet musical films that I enjoy watching every now and then—usually around Christmas or New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve has one more little tradition—at midnight, I pour myself a glass of sparkling wine, open the windows, and watch the fireworks from my safe hiding spot. My way of celebrating probably sounds a bit strange to many people, but I like celebrating this way and am always happy when it works out and no one insists on “enjoying” my company :-D.

Hi Inna,

that sounds really cozy :-) We’ll be looking out the window to watch the fireworks, too.

Hi Sabine,
yeah, that can be really cozy, but I can also dance and sing by myself if there’s good music playing somewhere :-D. The forest starts right behind my house, so I have to lean out the window a little to see a lot of fireworks, but that’s okay. I hate being outside at that time of night.

We haven't planned anything yet—as always, we'll decide at the last minute whether to celebrate with friends or at home with the family. But it's been great every year so far.

 Just like Inna, that’s how I’ve been spending New Year’s Eve ever since my husband passed away.
At midnight, I raise a toast to my husband in the large photo, and then I give my son and daughter-in-law a quick call. That usually works out well, no matter where the two of them happen to be celebrating. Then I look out the bedroom window onto the street for a bit; I can see several kilometers away and watch the beautiful lights in the sky. There’s a small grove of trees in front of the living room, so it’s very quiet on that side.
Overall, our street is pretty quiet. And in our building, out of the 8 rental units, usually only 3 are occupied on New Year’s Eve. Since all three households have pets, things stay quiet here.
I’ll probably go to sleep around 1 a.m.
Since I have to get by on very little money, I don’t spend any money on fireworks.
I’d rather buy some yarn instead.

@Inna
Our New Year’s Eve isn’t all that different.
We watch the “usual” shows like “Dinner for One” or “Ein Herz und eine Seele,” or a few good movies.
At midnight, we toast—though without alcohol, since we’re an alcohol-free zone—and then we watch the fireworks in the neighborhood.
We live on the 7th floor and have a great view.
This year it’ll feel a little different, since one of us isn’t physically with us anymore...

@Michaela, that’s funny—I live on the 7th floor, too :-).
Actually, I don’t drink alcohol anymore either, but I’ve had a little bottle of sparkling wine left over from last New Year’s Eve, and I need to get rid of it somehow—you can’t just throw food away like that :-D.

I hope to go back to Prague—there’s a lot going on there. I really enjoyed it last year. Cafés and restaurants are open—even the kitchens! Small supermarkets in the city center are open too—which is great for people who need to save money. Many shops are open—last year, we bought gummy bears a quarter of an hour before midnight. Christmas markets are open—just food and drinks, but still.... The fireworks are sooo beautiful to watch from Charles Bridge...
Here in Bavaria, New Year’s Eve is a bit boring for me. I like celebrating with lots of people out on the street!

P.S.: Sorry for any mistakes—I usually have my patterns checked, but unfortunately I can’t do that for every forum post.

We don’t really celebrate New Year’s Eve at all. For one thing, my dog is terrified of all the fireworks, and my daughter isn’t a fan of it either; and for another, so much has happened this year that we’re not really in the mood for either Christmas or New Year’s Eve.

We’ll also have a nice game night and let the year wind down quietly.