4 Ways to Re-invent New Year’s Eve During a Pandemic

Instead of heading out for a night on the town or ringing in New Year’s Eve with a long guest list, 2021 will see many of us settling in for an evening on the couch. The CDC recommends keeping holiday celebrations to only groups of people that belong to the same household, or going virtual all together. And there’s good reason: contact tracing in New York has found that 70% of new COVID cases come from small gatherings and households. For some, staying in is the preference, but either way, this is the year to shake things up a bit.

Share your Wish with the World

Submit your New Year’s wish to the Times Square Alliance’s virtual wishing wall or through social media using #ConfettiWish. Hundreds of thousands of these wishes, hopes and dreams will be printed on colorful confetti that will fall over Times Square as the clock strikes midnight.

Experience NYE All Day Long

Don’t limit yourself to just the countdown to midnight! With virtual celebrations turning into the norm in 2020, you can take in New Year’s Eve celebrations as they happen in other time zones. Here is a good place to start:

• New Zealand -- Fireworks display shooting from Auckland’s Sky Tower at 5 a.m. CT, Dec. 30.
• Seoul, South Korea – 2021 New Year’s Eve Live concert with BTS, GFRIEND and other K-pop bands at 6:30 a.m. CT, Dec. 31
• Rio de Janeiro – A midnight light show along Copacabana beach at 9 p.m. CT, Dec. 31.

Try Reflections, Not Resolutions

The memes have been plentiful, knocking 2020 for all the havoc it’s wreaked. This year, instead of making New Year’s resolutions, try writing down or talking with friends about some of the ways you feel you’ve grown this year, whether it’s learning to bake, becoming more involved in activism, or surviving a layoff or other personal loss.

Turn your Travel Dreams into an At-Home Experience

Take a nod from other countries’ New Year’s Eve traditions and incorporate them into your night. Get your grapes and potatoes ready!

• Spain -- With 12 seconds left before midnight, it’s considered good luck for the upcoming year to eat 12 green grapes.

• Japan – It’s tradition to eatsoba noodles just before midnight to symbolize a fresh start and letting go of the past. Soba translates to “year-crossing” and the long noodle length represents crossing from one year to the next.

• Columbia – Each person places three potatoes under their bed on the last night of the year. One is peeled, one unpeeled and one half peeled. At midnight, they pull out one potato to reveal what the new year will bring. Unpeeled indicates abundance, peeled means they will have financial hardships, and half peeled represents something in between.

• Philippines – Coin-shaped fruits represent prosperity and wealth, so most New Year’s celebrations includes 12 round-shaped fruits like apples, melons or oranges, each representing a month of the new year.