Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2022 In Fairfax City

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City residents have a number of options on how to celebrate New Year's Eve, some are even family-friendly.

The Children's Science Center Lab is hosting the kid-friendly New Year's Eve Around the World, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 11948 Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax. The lab invites families to ring in 2023 in with kid-engineered noisemakers, DIY hats, celebration slime, and a ball drop. There will be three-timed entries, so register ASAP to ensure a spot.

Starting at 5 p.m., on Dec. 31, Tandoori Fairfax is hosting a New Year's Eve 2023 Live Music & Dance Party, at 10312 Willard Way in Fairfax. The event will include live music with DMV Acoustics, singer Binti Kumar Gurun , Kapai Thanju Shrestha and other local artists.

Honor Brewing Kitchen, which is located at 11250 James Swart Circle in Fairfax City, will be celebrating New Year's Eve with food, drinks, and music provided by My Chemical Bromance. There will be a photo booth, ice luge, champagne toast at midnight and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $35/person pre-sale or $45 at the door.

Caboose Commons in the Mosaic District is hosting its own NYE Party, with live musing on Dec. 31, from 9 p.m to Jan. 1, 12:30 a.m., at 2918 Eskridge Road in Fairfax. Tickets are $20 per person and include reserved space on one of the brewpub's mezzanines starting at 9 p.m. and a champagne toast at midnight.

Fairfax County Park Authority and the Fairfax County Park Foundation are sponsoring the First Hike Fairfax Photo Contest. Participants are invited to hike one of the park authority's trails during New Year's Weekend, Saturday, Dec. 31-Sunday, Jan. 1, snap a photo, and submit it to the First Hike website before midnight on Sunday, Jan. 1. Hikers who submit a photo are eligible to win one of the prizes being offered for "People's Choice" or "Best in Show," among others. The photo submission link will be posted here at 5 a.m., on Dec. 31.

Here is a look at some additional events happening near Fairfax City:

• New Year's Eve Party 2023: Dec. 31, 9 p.m. - Jan. 1, 1 a.m., at The Winery at Bull Run, 15950 Lee Highway, Centreville, VA 20120
• A New Year's Eve Maggiano's Murder Mystery Dinner Event: Dec. 31, 6:30 p.m., at Maggiano's Little Italy - Tysons, 2001 International Drive, Tysons.
• Makers Union NYE Cabaret Party: Dec. 31, 9:30 p.m.-Jan. 1, 2 a.m., at Makers Union, 1811 Library St. Reston, VA 20190
• Ninth Annual Grandiose New Year's Party: Dec. 31, 9 p.m.-Jan. 1, 2 a.m., at Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 22102
• Sixth Annual Wilson Winter Wonderland New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 9 p.m.-Jan. 1, 2 a.m., at Wilson Hardware 2915 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22201
• Masquerave - an Underground New Years Eve: Dec. 31, 8 p.m.-Jan. 1, 2 a.m., at The Underground at Clarendon Ballroom 3185 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA
• New Years Eve Cocktail Party: Dec. 31, 8 p.m., at The Light Horse, 715 King St., Alexandria, VA 22314
• Hip Hop 50 New Year's Eve Celebration: Dec. 31, 8 p.m.-Jan. 1, 2 a.m., at The St. James Sports, Wellness and Entertainment Complex, 6805 Industrial Road Springfield, VA 22151
• Pamplona Prohibition New Year's Eve: Dec. 31, 8 p.m.-Jan. 1, 2 a.m., a Pamplona 3100 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington, VA 22201

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.