# The demise of New Year's Eve as a holiday **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596 "2014-12-31T06:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/61 "2014-12-31T23:33:20Z")
My folks always went to a New Years eve party - mid to late 60’s. We lived in a well-to-do suburb near NYC, and it was real-life Don Draper stuff. Usually funny :eek: stories the next few days about who drove home on the sidewalk or ran over a sprinkler in somebody’s lawn. Cops would just send them on their way, as they did for me and my friends when they caught us with pot. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/62 "2014-12-31T23:46:27Z")
I like parties and holiday celebrations in General, but I am the equivalent of the Grinch for NYE. I had a terrible experience, possibly having a drink drugged, at a big public party when I was a HS senior, and I really can’t deal with big NY celebrations now. Nice meal and glass of champagne, sing Auld Lang Syne, and I’m good. Glad I’m not the only one, I am frequently made to feel like a big NoFunZer due to my dislike of NYE. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/63 "2015-01-01T00:17:05Z")
Well, for me the big difference is that back then I was single and now I’m married. The main reason I went to New Year’s parties was to try to meet girls. I don’t need to meet girls anymore, so there’s no need to party. I can go to sleep at a decent hour. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/64 "2015-01-01T00:54:52Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I don’t need to meet girls anymore, so there’s no need to party. I’m in a committed relationship. I enjoy meeting girls (tho I call them women). Knowing I’m not out to take things further than conversation is exhilarating. I like women. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/65 "2015-01-01T01:11:40Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > New Year’s is a pretty dumb holiday, to be honest. “Oh, look! It’s midnight! The Earth has completed (roughly) one orbit since we last arbitrarily celebrated and…we haven’t all died, I guess, so that’s pretty cool!” No dumber than a birthday or any other annual event with a set date (rather than a floating one like easter). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/66 "2015-01-01T02:40:09Z")
For close to five years, I worked in an office overlooking where the ball dropped on Times Square and we were allowed to party in the office on NYE. I’ve never felt an inclination to go there. 13 years of living in NYC (or Hoboken where I can see the buildings in Times Square from my apartment) and I’ve never felt a need to hang out in Times Square on NYE. That said, I do like to party and I feel I need to do something on NYE. Shit, my parents are in their 60s and live in suburban Connecticut and they do something every New Years. Ideally, I like house/apartment parties so I’m not out with the “amateurs”. Second best would be a restaurant with friends or even just my wife (we had plans with friends for tonight but the wife and baby are sick). Worst case scenario is some overpriced bar packed full of drunks. > [@Oredigger77](#): > > I think there is a window of like 22-35 where it’s a big deal, you can afford to party and your friends are still into it and then it tapers off as 1-2 am becomes really late and totally not worth it. 22-35 I felt like a loser if I wasn’t out until 3 am Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Maybe even Weds. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/67 "2015-01-01T03:16:13Z")
The little town I live in doesn’t have a town square. It’s a triangle in the heart of the village where the 3 big streets come together. For 20 some years through the 80’s and 90’s they had a ball drop. I lived closest so from when I was 17 into my late 20’s I always had a party. At 11:30 we’d pile into a few cars (like 8 people to a hatchback) see the ball drop share a few swigs of champaigne steal a kiss from your friends hot boy/girlfriend and pile on back to my house. Then the town stopped it due to potential liabilities. Then we grew up with houses and babies. A few years of cheese and crackers and a few glasses of wine and home at 12:30. Really funny that now the generation of kids have grown up, us adults are getting together again. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/68 "2015-01-01T03:33:30Z")
I used to go to First Night activities, which no longer exist in a lot of places. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/69 "2015-01-01T03:43:04Z")
I’m posting this from the Las Vegas Strip at 7:30pm local. It snowed here today (flurried & didn’t stick), it’s barely 40F, cooling off again, and the wind is howling down from the North. The Strip is blocked off to all cars starting at 7pm. The whole town is a madhouse, and has been since I got here at 10am. I used to live here; I know the difference between a quiet day and a busy day in Sin City. Today is a Busy Day. There’s a good 600,000 people here with me just to disprove the OP’s idea that nobody does NYE any more. Many have been lubricated since the morning. Many are in their 50s and 60s. I’ve seen several old ladies in power scooters with silly hats swilling from yards of fluorescent booze-like substance. And lots and lots of chilly 20-somethings in short dresses & tall shoes/boots. Since I’m here for work, I’m going to bed in a few minutes. Sadly alone & booze-free, but work is work. I got up at 3:30am Eastern and it’s now 10:30pm Eastern. And tomorrow’s another workday, although thankfully not until late morning. So I’ve got time for 10 hours sleep, plus leisurely breakfast. Most of the guests at this hotel are planning a much more vigorous evening than I am. Party Hearty me buckos!! Nevada’s tax base needs you! ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/70 "2015-01-01T08:35:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > MADD happened. > > Who can party on New Years Eve anymore and get home safely? Even 2 lousy drinks and you’re going to jail. Rolling roadblocks and breathalyzers. No thanks. I’m staying home. I wouldn’t get out on the roads stone cold sober on New Years Eve. The cops are just itching to pull somebody over for anything. YEAH. Damn MADD and cops! How dare they not want people driving drunk just to help prevent needless deaths. What buzzkills. :dubious: I usually go somewhere NYE, but it’s more low-key than a party. Usually it’s 5-10 (maybe 15) people who are friends with everyone else (or with most and are good acquaintances with the rest) gathering at someone’s house or apartment with some drinks and snacks, maybe a movie on and then we nerd out and play some games (tonight it was mostly Cards Against Humanity). ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/71 "2015-01-01T08:50:09Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When I was a kid, back in the 50s, New Year’s Eve was a real holiday. Someone was always having a party, and you were considered to be antisocial if you stayed home or didn’t stay up 'til midnight. Even my parents, normally not so social, always had a New Year’s party to go to. > > Today, things have really cooled down. People will go out for dinner or a movie, then go home and chill. No big parties, no big celebrations . . . Times Square notwithstanding. > > Am I wrong about this? that’s what we did. Dinner at Bahama Breeze, then watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We were alerted to midnight’s arrival by a flurry of booms coming from a neighbor’s yard. My husband did manage to coax New Years sex from me, so there’s that. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596/72 "2015-01-02T20:01:39Z")
I think the celebrations are about the same as they were when I grew up. Some people stay in; some people party til dawn; some people have a small party; others go to bed. If I was to rank the holidays, NYE would fall really low on the list for many reasons, but one reason is my hatred of forced frivolity. I’m really surprised that there isn’t a better alternative to the Dick’s Rocking Eve type of shows on network t.v. I’d prefer watching a great band play a whole concert vs. having a song here or there interspersed with Jenny McCarthy interviewing drunk revelers. And I know I’m getting older when I’m really preoccupied with how much urine must be sloshing around in Times Square by the time they drop the ball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-demise-of-new-years-eve-as-a-holiday/708596.md?page=3)