Are they mad! $50+ for a New Year’s Eve club in New York City! And the drink of the evening will be…a glass of tap water please. It seems to me that NYE can be blown way out of proportion year on year. I like a good knees-up as much as any person. But sometimes, entering the new year in the red just doesn’t appeal. But it’s not easy finding cheap things to do in NYC for NYE.
One idea is to host your own party, but then you’ll spend New Year’s Day cleaning muck off the carpet. Instead, have a look at our list of New Year’s Eve events and weigh up NYE at Times Square, concerts and some decent bars, kind enough to throw open their doors for free.
Need last-minute NYE accommodation? You better be sitting down for this because you won’t find many New York City hostels charging less than $100 for a shared room and most require a minimum 2-4 night stay. Eek! Can you dare devils handle staying out all night?
For first-timers, perhaps this is a must-see; hours of standing in the cold, squashed between 800,000 people. But heck, when that balls drops at the clang of midnight, the glittering blanket is rather magical. If you’ve popped to the Times Square Visitor Center on 7th Avenue and written on the New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall, no doubt your wish, dream or goal will be one of the thousand pieces of confetti floating through the air.
You’ll have to make your own entertainment for a few hours – although you can also watch Bethany Philips and Geoffrey Dubie tie the know on the big screen). There’s certainly no ‘save this spot for me will you?’ if you need the loo so keep your legs crossed. And another drag is they are pretty strict on their “no alcohol” policy, and no backpack will make it pass their beady eyes!
NYE Transport: It will be busy, but the subway is serviced by lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9. The ACE, BDFV, G, JMZ, L and the NQRW also make regular stops at Times Square.
Now here’s something party animals won’t have considered. This is an opportunity to sit back and immerse yourself in the acoustics at St Bartholomew’s Church. The Mid-Manhattan Performing Arts Foundation will be hosting a free NYE concert. At the midnight climax they are due to perform Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The concert begins at 11pm but we suggest getting there early for a good seat. Alternatively, the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine will also be holding its annual New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace from 7pm. It’s also a free NYE event but on a first-come-first-serve basis. Otherwise, you’ll need to fork out $60 for a reserved seat. The traditional passing of candle flames means that over 1,000 candles will be splendidly illuminating the church inside.
St Bartholomew’s Church: 325 Park Ave at 51st St
St John the Divine: 1047 Amsterdam Avenue
Berry Park
Complete with its own disco-ball drop, Berry Park in Williamsburg is one of those life-saving venues that isn’t charging entry on NYE in NYC. You don’t have to spend hours in the cold waiting for the firework displays either. Just pop up to the heated roof terrace at midnight and see the explosions.
4 Berry St at North 14th St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Tel: 718-782-2829
9pm-4am
Brooklyn Social
The DJ is booked and you just need to think up a cocktail to see in the new year. Bartenders can whip up your poison to a soundtrack of funk, jazz and rock & roll. There’s now a patio area for the chimneys among you. The owner has kept much of the original Sicilian social club vibe, but added a welcome sign on the door ‘non-members welcome’, which means, you’re in! It’s not just the drinks that are reasonable, they’ve really taken on board the festive spirit of goodwill to all men because it’s free entry on NYE too!
335 Smith St between Carroll and President Sts, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
Tel: 718-858-7758
Opening times: 6pm-4am
What you really want for a good NYE firework display in New York City is a view. A nice panorama from the water will do. But you can forget those mind-numbingly expensive cruises. Hop on the free Staten Island ferry for colourful views of Jersey, Liberty Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan. Yes, that’s right, free. Unless of course you throw a beer in.
In this cold, people must be nuts to attempt a 4-mile run! But you’ll certainly be kick-starting your new year’s resolution to get fit. There’s a great atmosphere at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park with DJs providing music from 10pm. If you want to participate, you’ll need to register by 27th December and be ready, blood pumping from the 72nd Traverse at Bethesda Terrace, with a firework display top see you off.
ARR1VA1
Those S.O.M guys (who recently hosted the fantastic Halloween Freak Show with a blazing sound system and all manner or carnal lusty performances!) have just the ticket for NYE too. Details are still to be finalised but we’ve heard rumours of an abandoned space – buried deep beneath the Earth’s surface waiting to erupt from under our feet and wreck havoc on first East Williamsburg an then, the planet – ok, we got carried away at the end. But they’ve got an Eastern Acoustic 3-way sound system (what ever that is, but hey, it’s 3-way). Expect noises from Nu Disco to nasty hell-raising Tech House.
Advanced Limited Tickets: $10 or $20 on the door.
Opening times: 10pm-10am
Get up to date info here
Happy House
Go LCD Soundsystem bring you out in goosepimples? Are you salivating at the thought of The Ting Tings? And is your guilty pleasure Grace Jones and a makeshift hairbrush microphone in front of the mirror? Well Happy House can do you some La Roux that’s right up your road for New Year’s Eve. There’s Mister Disco on the deck upstairs and Engines At Sea will be underfoot. Hey, you can even post a few suggestions on their Facebook wall with what you fancy hearing when the big ball drops!
Price: $15
Opening times:8pm
Union Hall is located in Park Slope, Brooklyn, right off the corner of 5th Avenue at 702 Union Street.
Buy NYE tickets here
Accommodation in New York City gets swiped up pretty quick and like most places over New Year’s Eve, prices soar. If you need last-minute accommodation for NYE, try looking for New York City hostels which usually offer both shared or private rooms.
Thanks to idovermani and Frankensteinnn for the images off Flickr!
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