Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2022 In Barnstable

BARNSTABLE, MA — For folks in New England, New Year’s Day plans likely pertain to enjoying the company of loved ones and watching the Patriots after a night out. But what about those day-before plans?

In addition to any dinner parties and gatherings amongst friends, there are plenty of options around Barnstable to check out.

First Light Provincetown
Why not turn New Year’s Eve into a multi-day celebration? First Light features events starting on Dec. 29, but there are multiple New Year’s Eve events taking place on New Year’s Eve and Day, including a fireworks cocktail party at Tin Pan Alley on Commercial Street.

First Night Chatham
The New Year’s Eve event in Chatham features live music and other attractions throughout the day and all across the town. A noise parade and fireworks at Veterans Field will cap off the night, starting at 6 p.m.

New Year’s Eve Bash
The Pelham House Resort will host a New Year’s Eve party starting at 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets are $200 and include food access to both Sea Level Ballroom and Rooftop festivities, midnight champagne toast, live entertainment and more.

First Night Celebration
For anyone traveling to the Patriots game on Sunday, why not go a day early? Patriot Place will host a family-friendly New Year’s Eve First Night Celebration featuring fireworks, ice sculptures, live entertainment, giveaways and more from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31.

First Night Boston
The area’s biggest New Year’s Eve celebration is back in 2023 complete with fireworks, performances and a countdown to midnight.

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.