New Year’s Eve 2023 In Bowie: Karaoke, Live Music, Dueling Pianos, Kids Balloon Drop

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt will be hosting a New Year's Eve bash starting at 8 p.m. with hors d'oeuvres and desserts, drinks and music performed by Honey Sol. There will be a champagne toast at midnight.

The Fellas in Bowie will host a New Year's Eve party starting at 2 p.m. with music, karaoke, drinks and more. At 7 p.m., patrons are encouraged to dress in formal attire with more music, dancing, party favors and a midnight champagne toast.

The National Harbor will host fireworks and the last tree lighting of the season at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 30. For New Year's Eve, there will be special menus, inclusive events and dueling piano shows. Brass Tap's Roaring '20s NYE Celebration will be start at 9 p.m. with a DJ, food, drinks and a champagne toast.

In nearby Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood, the Thompson Hotel will be hosting a New Year’s Eve Gala. The event runs from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and will offer panoramic rooftop views of the city, plus a live DJ and a complimentary midnight toast.

Noon Yards Eve in Navy Yard will also celebrate with a balloon drop countdown, train rides and a live DJ. Expect complimentary activities for kids of all ages, such as a magic show and crafts. This free and family-friendly event is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Other U.S. cities have adopted iterations of the ball drop — the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho, for example.

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.