Where To Celebrate New Year's Eve 2022 In, Near Wheaton

WHEATON, IL — It's almost time to say goodbye to 2022 and ring in 2023 in style. If you're still looking for something to do on New Year's Eve, you'll be relieved to know there are plenty of events and parties planned at restaurants and other venues throughout the city.

The Wheaton Public Library will host Noon Year's Eve Medieval Times on Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. Kids are encouraged to dress up as medieval characters for this family-friendly event, which features games, arts and crafts and a countdown to noon.

Here is a look at some other New Year's Eve events happening in and around Wheaton:

• New Year's Eve Dinner at Glen Prairie Restaurant
• Enchanted Castle New Year's Eve Family Party in Lombard
• Terrapin Flyer and Mr. Blotto at Brauer House in Lombard

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is, of course, the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Various cities have adopted their own iterations of the event — the Peach Drop in Atlanta, the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

The end of one year and beginning of another is often celebrated with the singing of “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish folk song whose title roughly translates to “days gone by,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica and History.com.

The history of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who would make promises to return borrowed objects and pay outstanding debts at the beginning of the new year, in mid-March when they planted their crops.

According to legend, if they kept their word, pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. If they broke the promise, they would fall out of God’s favor, according to a history of New Year’s resolutions compiled by North Hampton Community College New Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Many secular New Year’s resolutions focus on imagining new, improved versions of ourselves. The failure rate of New Year’s resolutions is about 80 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report. There are myriad reasons, but a big one is they’re made out of remorse for gaining weight, for example, and aren’t accompanied by a shift in attitude and a plan to meet the stress and discomfort of changing a habit or condition.