15 Things to Do on New Year’s Eve in Seattle

New Year’s Eve Eve @ Neumos

A pre-party to get the party started 🎉

📅 Saturday, December 30th
⏰ Doors 9 pm
🎟 $10+
📍 Neumos: 925 E Pike St, Seattle

The week between Christmas and the New Year is a sort of liminal space. Nobody wants to work, friends are out of town or otherwise engaged, and the city feels a bit dead. But it’s also the best time to get a jumpstart on New Year’s Eve celebrations.

At Neumos, a day before the day before the New Year—so, Saturday, December 30th—the party and DJ collectives Hrvst House, The Party Line, and Sway + Swoon have joined forces for their second annual New Year’s Eve Eve party.

Hosted by Makeda and Sierra of the Black in the City podcast, think of this soirée as a chance to take your NYE outfit for a test run and warm up your knees for all the butt you’ll be throwing when the clock strikes midnight the next day. And butt you will throw! Behind the decks this evening are Sway + Swoon DJs Stas Thee Boss, JusMoni, and Yaddy, whose hype selections will have you sweating away every single thing that bothered you in 2023.

Get out of the week’s sludge and onto the dance floor. 

🖊 JAS KEIMIG

Seahawks vs. Steelers @ Lumen Field

The last game of 2023 🏈

📅 Sunday, December 31st
⏰ Kickoff 1:05 pm
📍 Lumen Field: 800 Occidental Ave S, Seattle

It’s New Year’s Eve. You’ve done all the preparations. There’s a bucket full of Gatorade ready to go. You put on shoulder pads, knee pads, and cleats, stick a mouthguard in, strap on a helmet, then exit the locker room to the sounds of 78,000 people making LOUD NOISES. What the hell kind of NYE party is this? And why is it so early? Because it’s football Sunday, ya dweebs, and the Seahawks are about to get a taste of Pittsburgh steel!

This match against the Steelers will be their last home game of the regular season, so we’ll likely know where the Hawks stand ahead of time. As I write this in late November, the San Francisco 49ers sit atop the NFC West division, while Seattle must settle for a wild card spot. No shame in that, and no shame in going to this game, even if it ends up being a looser “see you next year” experience.

So come out to Lumen Field at 1:05 pm and, as local comedian Emmett Montgomery would say, enjoy the hot dogs and collective screaming. The game should be over by 4:30 pm, meaning you still have plenty of time to get into another outfit and have a hell of an evening as you ring in 2024. Or go into the night in your throwback jersey; I’m not here to judge your fashion style.

🖊 MARCUS GORMAN

Filthy New Year’s Jam @ The Showbox 

Ayron Jones headlines 🎸

📅 Sunday, December 31st
⏰ Doors 8 pm | Show 9 pm
🎟 $30
📍 The Showbox: 1426 1st Ave, Seattle

The word “filthy” has multiple meanings—nasty, obscene, grimy, or even wealthy, as in FILTHY RICH. On New Year’s Eve, The Showbox and Seattle’s Ayron Jones, with Asterhouse and King Youngblood’s (KYB) help, will bring their own expression of the word by throwing what they call a “Filthy New Year’s Jam” at Showbox at the Market.

Jones will close out the year after a tour promoting his new album, Chronicles Of The Kid. In the ten years since his first studio album Dream was released, he’s opened for the likes of B.B. King, Guns N’ Roses, Janelle Monae, and The Rolling Stones, proving that Seattle’s Black rock legacy is alive. Jones mingles genres in his music, crediting rock, rhythm, and blues roots. (His new song “Blood in the Water” starts with his voice belting a ballad like an ’80s rock star, see below.) Opening for Jones is another local Black rocker, Cameron Lavi-Jones of King Youngblood, a band that brings a kind of grit that swallows you whole.

🖊 PATHERESA WELLS

New Year’s Eve A Go-Go @ Belltown Yacht Club and Screwdriver Bar

These boots are made for dancing 👢

📅 Sunday, December 31st
⏰ Doors 9 pm
🎟 $25
📍 Belltown Yacht Club: 2320 1st Ave, Alleyway Entrance, Seattle

For the uninitiated, Seattle has a healthy scene of dancers, musicians, and DJs obsessed with R&B and soul music from the ’60s and ’70s. Meaning there are tons of parties where dressing in your grandma’s go-go boots, wearing thick eyeliner, and boogie-ing down to some 45s is not only welcomed, but heavily encouraged. And for this New Year’s Eve, three Seattle parties dedicated to just that have teamed up for a spectacular end of the year celebration. 

BOOTS!, Emerald City Soul Club (ECSC), and WIG OUT are taking over both Screwdriver Bar and Belltown Yacht Club (BYC) for their New Year’s Eve A Go-Go! party on December 31st. Throughout the night, eight DJs from across BOOTS!, ECSC, and WIG OUT will be on deck spinning some classic, soulful tunes in both Screwdriver and BYC that’ll make you wanna groove all the way into 2024. And, of course, the BOOTS! go-go crew will be on the scene, hopping and shimmying. 

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At midnight, festivities will pause for a champagne toast and some confetti before everyone gets back to getting down until the wee hours of the morning. Do some stretches the night before and come dressed in your shiniest attire—2024 beckons!

🖊 JAS KEIMIG

21+ NYE Late Night Cruise @ Argosy Cruises 

Bangs above boats 💥

📅 Sunday, December 31st
⏰ 10 pm – 12:30 am
🎟 $110+
📍 Pier 55: 1101 Alaskan Wy, Seattle

Cosplaying as a tourist in your own town is one of the strangest things—but it’s often a fun way to create new memories. Besides visiting local landmarks like the Space Needle, the Fremont Troll, and Pike Place Market, touring Seattle by boat is one of the best ways to take it all in. Since you can’t ride the amphibious vehicles operated by Ride the Ducks anymore, might I suggest you set your sights on seeing Seattle like a spectator aboard a ship from Argosy Cruises this New Year’s Eve.  

Argosy Cruises will send two ships out for 21+ New Year’s Eve bashes this NYE. Both sail the harbor for two-and-a-half hours, with a DJ to get you on the dance floor and a bar for liquid libations. (I suggest starting with a mezcal espresso martini.) Finish the night with views of the fireworks show above everyone’s favorite interpretation of “The Feminine One.” Heads-up: There are two diff boats, so if you have a friend group going, make sure to buy tickets to the same ship!

🖊 PATHERESA WELLS

A Pinball New Year’s Eve Party @ Time Warp

Bring your quarters 🎮

📅 Sunday, December 31st
⏰ Doors 9 pm
🎟 $15
📍 Time Warp: 1420 10th Ave, Seattle

One of the best places to open on Capitol Hill in the past year or so is Time Warp, a cyberpunk-themed arcade bar tucked away on 10th right in the heart of Pike/Pine. Since they’ve swung open their doors, the concept has expanded with yummy noodle bar options (Hello Kitty ramen with nori is it), an upstairs space, and—of course—a rotating collection of vintage and contemporary pinball and arcade games. 

On this New Year’s Eve, Time Warp is welcoming Seattleites to ring in 2024 with them at their Warped: 2023 NYE Party. DJ Magic Sean, with special guests Orbitron and B-boy Fidget, will be behind the decks spinning some ’80s and ’90s electro and hip hop tunes. There will also be a champagne toast at midnight. I always like to spend NYE doing things in the spirit of how I’d like to spend the next 365 days. And a whole year of sipping tiny glasses of plum wine, kicking butt at pinball, and slurping down some noodles sounds pretty good.

🖊 JAS KEIMIG

BONUS! NEW YEAR’S DAY!
NHL Winter Classic @ T-Mobile Park

Outdoor hockey in Sodo 🏒

📅 Monday, January 1st
⏰ 12 pm
📍 T-Mobile Park: 1250 1st Ave S, Seattle

I grew up in a part of the United States where, if you ever saw snow, it likely meant the apocalypse was imminent, The Day After Tomorrow-style. Ergo, outdoor hockey is a mythical thing to me, something I only heard about through legend and Canadian television and animated holiday specials. But no, it’s apparently a real thing? Whodathunk?

And in the National Hockey League there is the annual Winter Classic, where two teams play outdoors to a crowd of thousands at a specially selected city on New Year’s Day. And guess who gets to be the specially selected city this season? (Hint: You’re reading on a Seattle Times site.) Yes, ’tis us! After showing the world how incredible T-Mobile Park is this past summer with the 2023 MLB All-Star Game, our gorgeous stadium is back in the news and on national TV as the Winter Classic location as the Seattle Kraken face off against…oh shoot, the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Knights, founded in 2017, have about as great of a first six seasons as an expansion team can have, going to the Stanley Cup finals in their debut season, winning the whole thing outright in 2023, and only missing the playoffs once. The good news is that the Winter Classic is an opportunity to catch some puck-slapping, glass-slamming goodness in the fresh air, reunite with the Mariners beer stand employees you haven’t seen since the summer, and sport the Kraken’s gorgeous new Winter Classic jerseys.

🖊 MARCUS GORMAN