Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2023 Around Mokena

MOKENA, IL — A festive New Year’s Eve party at a Mokena event space is among the celebratory events in the region where residents can celebrate the coming of a New Year.

Tuscany Banquets and Events, which is located at 9425 W. 191st Street, will host the upcoming event for revelers looking to ring in the New Year in style. The celebration begins at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 and includes a four-course dinner, open bar, dancing, and other fun events that will conclude with a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are $150 and is only open to residents 21 years or older.

Here is a look at some additional events happening around the Mokena area:

• New Year’s Eve Party, 7:30 p.m., North & Maple Kitchen and Bar, Tinley Park
• Children’s New Year’s Celebration, 11 A.M., Centennial Park, Orland Park
• New Year’s Eve Fun Deal, 12 p.m., Haunted Trails, Joliet and Burbank
• New Year’s Eve Comedy Night starring WGN’s Mike Toomey, 9 p.m., The Embers, Lockport
• New Year’s Eve Comedy Show and Live Band, Kasey’s Banquet Hall and Restaurant, Lansing
• New Year’s Eve Party, 11 AM, B3 Yoga and Wellness Center, Crest Hill
• New Year’s Eve Bash, 8 p.m., Roxy Lockport featuring Sonny and the Swing Rolls
• New Year's Eve Party, 8:30 p.m., 115 Bourbon Street, Merrionette Park

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Other U.S. cities have adopted iterations of the ball drop — the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho, for example.

Illinois’ twist on the ball drop is the annual New Year's Eve fireworks extravaganza that is held along the Chicago Riverwalk and that can be viewed from several vantage points along the river. The event also features holiday-themed displays as part of the city’s Art On the Mart program, which leads up to the fireworks, which are put on at the same time as the display over Navy Pier.

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.