New Year's Eve 2022 Parties, Events Around Bethesda

BETHESDA, MD — The new year is just around the corner. In the Bethesda area, there's an array of events for people looking to ring in 2023.

In downtown Bethesda, Caddies Bar and Grill will be celebrating New Year's Eve. No tickets will be required and there will be no cover charge. The pop rock band Rev6 will be performing from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Caddies will have its full menu available and a midnight complimentary champagne toast will kick off 2023.

Here is a look at some additional events happening in the Bethesda area and New Year's Eve television programming:

• Owen's Tavern & Garden: All inclusive New Year's Eve Party, 11820 Trade Street, North Bethesda.
• New Year's Eve Ball at Rendezvous: Grand Dinner Buffet by Royal Tandoor, cash bar, DJ, 12104 B Wilkins Ave, North Bethesda.
• Spanish Diner: Visit Spanish Diner for a special New Year's Eve menu featuring all the best Spanish classics. Check out the full New Year's Eve menu here. 7271 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda.
• CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live: Hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper from New York City's Times Square at 8 p.m. on CNN.
• Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party: Hosts Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton, 10:30 p.m. on NBC.
• Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest: Ryan Seacrest with co-hosts Liza Koshy, Jessie James Decker, Ciara, D-Nice, Billy Porter at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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.