Are you convinced the glamorous go gallivanting to a gala on the last night of the year? Do you flinch in response to the question, “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” Will you raise a toast with Dick Clark on East Coast time instead of waiting up until midnight here?
Well, it’s time to decide whether you will wave farewell to this grand old year with a whimper or a bang.
To help you make your decision, we took a Significantly Superficial Survey among your neighbors and local officials in the northwest suburbs to find out what “everybody’s” doing on New Year’s Eve. The top choice? Nothing special.
Bars and clubs do big business on Dec. 31. But this scene has its year-end limitations. If you’re single and anticipating the annual flip of the calendar, you may welcome the new year at your favorite watering hole. Trouble is, so will hundreds of others.
Ask Joe Sommer, 28, a computer salesman from Palatine, how this night differs from last Saturday night. “Well,” he says, “it’ll cost about $75 a person instead of the usual $15. But you’ll get a swig of (cheap) champagne and a fistful of confetti to toss.” He’s not sure where he will spend New Year’s Eve, but he will probably be at a local bar.
It won’t be long before Sommer and the rest of his generation end up staying home and celebrating with their own kids. Family night turns out to be the Unofficial No. 1 Choice among our Superficial Survey participants.
Some families host their own game night, complete with noisemakers and favorite snacks. Kris and Rich Porter of Cary used to sneak around the house setting the clocks ahead by four hours so the kids, now 4 to 10 years old, thought it was midnight at 8 p.m. “Now, as they are getting older, the kids are getting suspicious,,” Chris says. “We still yawn in the middle of Chutes and Ladders and mumble about how late it is. At 8 o’clock, we whoop and holler, and by 8:30 the kids are in bed.”
Another Cary couple, Deb and Tony DiSandro, haul their three kids and their air mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows to an annual house-party-sleepover they enjoy with old friends.
“We have a potluck dinner and do games like Scattergories,” Deb DiSandro says. “We referee the older kids and watch the little ones run around in circles until 10 p.m., when we all celebrate the New Year with little poppers and sparkling cider. After the kids head off to a room where they’re supposed to go to sleep, the adults stay up and talk at least until midnight.”
Mel and Nancy Meister of Hoffman Estates are on the same wavelength. But they expand the crowd to include cousins of all ages along with moms and dads, aunts and uncles and good-sport grandmas and grandpas. “It’ll be the traditional eating of the herring and wienies,” Nancy Meister says.
For now, instead of partying with her family, Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins will enjoy a quiet dinner with her husband, John, and a visit to Palatine’s Beale Street Blues Cafe for a little night music.
“My babies have babies now,” she says. “But when my kids were young, we’d rent a room in a big hotel with family and close friends. We’d swim and celebrate, then everyone would crash on the floor.
“I don’t know how many more New Year’s Eves I have left,” she says, laughing. “If I live to be 100, it’s less than 50 and counting down, so I plan to enjoy every one of them. When our kids’ kids are older, we’ll go back to the hotel celebration.”
Arlene Mulder, mayor of Arlington Heights, says, “On New Year’s Eve, you want to be close to the people you’re close to.” So, over the years, she and husband Al have celebrated with “friends who are like family to us. We’ve done potlucks, progressive parties, multicourse elaborate dinners in our homes, sometimes even a private room at a restaurant.”
If you feel like New Year’s Eve sneaked up on you, you have company. “It seems like we just got done doing the 4th of July,” Hoffman Estates Mayor Mike O’Malley says. “I’m too old to do much celebrating. Not to say that I’m an old man . . . but my kids spend a lot more time celebrating than I do.” He and his wife, Maribeth, will go to dinner at a northwest suburban restaurant.
In our survey, we imagined we might find at least a few members of the black-tie crowd. And surely Tom Rivera of Roselle, president of the Greater Woodfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, would be among them. Sometimes that’s true, but not always, he says.
This year he and his wife, Kathy, will get all gussied up and enjoy the country club dance they’ll attend with friends near their vacation home in Galena. But the two years before this, “We set the alarm for midnight to wake up for a champagne toast before we rolled over again,” Rivera says.
Mario and Cheryl Tricoci of Long Grove own a national chain of beauty salons and spas. “But we’re not very exciting people,” she says.
In the past, the Tricocis have had house parties so the kids and their friends had a reason to stay home on New Year’s Eve.
“Now that our family is growing,” she continues, “it’s harder to get everybody together. But this year (our adult sons) and their friends will meet us at our house in Vail. We’ll dress formally and go to the country club for dinner and dancing with friends. Nothing special.”
“Nothing special” must be a relative term.
Maybe you already know what you’re doing at midnight on Dec. 31. Or maybe not.
Our Significantly Superficial Survey shows that whatever you do, whether it’s partying with your kids or getting a good night’s sleep or heading off to the country club, “everybody” thinks they’re doing “nothing special.”
SOME OTHER OPTIONS
Still can’t figure out what to do on New Year’s Eve? Consider these local alternatives:
– Infants to grandparents are welcome at the Elk Grove Park District’s Family New Year’s Eve Party. There will be dinner and dancing with a deejay playing golden oldies, contests and a midnight countdown — at 9:30 p.m. This fun party sells out every year, so call about availability. Cost: $8, $13 non-residents. Call 847-437-8780.
– Singles in their mid-20s to mid-40s may kick up their heels at Willow Creek Community Church’s celebration in South Barrington. Dance to Big Band music and rock. Hors d’oeuvres, desserts and non-alcoholic beverages are included in the $20 admission. Call 847-765-0100, ext. 774.
– If you’re over 55, make new friends and greet the old during a celebration for seniors hosted by the Wheeling Park District from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling. Feast on hors d’oeuvres, and dance to music by the Jack Caldwell Combo. Cost: $6, $9 non-residents. Call 847-465-3333.
– Bring your young lords and ladies to Medieval Times in Schaumburg for an all-ages show at 6 p.m. It includes a four-course medieval feast and a two-hour jousting tournament. Cost: $38.50, $25.35 for ages 12 and under. The 9 p.m. show for adults adds hors d’oeuvres, dancing, a light show and a continental breakfast. Limited seating is available. Cost: $54.95 before Tuesday and $59.95 after. Call 847-843-3900.
– Teens can party safely and stay up all night with other teens from co-sponsoring park districts, including South Barrington and Bensenville, as well as the Lombard Park District and YMCA. The first Sleepless at the Castle New Year’s Eve Bash at Enchanted Castle in Lombard is from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Once there, take advantage of bumper cars, miniature golf and laser tag. Enjoy pizza, pop, disc jockeys and karaoke. Last-minute signups welcome if space is available. Cost: $30. Call 630-627-1281.
– More all-nighters for teens are available at area roller rinks. Most are adult supervised, require permission slips from parents and, once you’ve arrived, demand your presence until 6 a.m. All-night skating, food, dance, games, racing and snacks are included. Cost: $20-$25. Two area locations are Coachlight Roller Skating Center in Roselle (630-893-0298) and Mainstreet USA Roller Skating Center in Streamwood (630-289-8000). Or contact your local rink.
– Seasoned do-si-doers, or those square dancers able to kick up their heels at the Plus Level, are welcome at dances in Mt. Prospect and Elgin. For information, call the Metropolitan Chicago Association of Square Dancers at 847-437-5270.
– Bowlers, roll on over and light up your life. For Showtime bowling, which includes a deejay, light and sound show, karaoke, hors d’oeuvres and, of course, bowling, call the Woodfield Lanes in Schaumburg. Cost: about $25 plus drinks. Call 847-843-2300. Or grab five friends and head ove/r to the Arlington Heights Lanes in Arlington Heights, where you will thrill to cosmic bowling. For the novice, this means things glow in the dark, fog rolls around your knees, and lights bounce around to surround-sound music. Cost: $100 to rent a lane from 9 p.m. to midnight. For the price of admission, you’ll snack, clack your party favors and enjoy pizza and a champagne toast. Call 847-255-6373.
– Maybe being athletic is fun any night of the year, but on New Year’s Eve, you will get a deal at Ultimate Sports Inc. in Palatine. Fly high on a trampoline or play Wallyball, Arrow Ball, Hi Ball and floor hockey. It’s open all evening, and snacks and soft drinks are available. Special New Year’s rate is $10 for two hours per person. Group rates for 10 or more. Call 847-577-2255.
– Electronics-types 13 years and older catch a great deal on virtual reality, computer and video games during an Internet scavenger hunt at Cybernet Adventures in Schaumburg. Cost: $25, which includes snacks, dancing and $35 worth of time on the games. Call 847-843-7909.
– How about game night with friends, family or both? Charades, Trivial Pursuit. Offer prizes, such as the loser has to take down the winner’s Christmas decorations. Get the kids to create a special New Year’s Eve performance. Or host a Karaoke Night. See Rental in the yellow pages, or pay $45 for a 24-hour period from Arlington Rental in Mt. Prospect at 847-394-8213. Contact your imagination for other good ideas.
– Go ice skating or sledding. Cost: Risking personal injury. Contact your local weather forecaster for conditions . . . or look out the window.
So no more whining or excuses. If somebody asks, “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” and you say “Nothing,” it won’t be for lack of a good idea.
