New Year's Eve 2023 In Bethesda: Blues & Jazz Supper Club, More Events

BETHESDA, MD — Where do you plan to ring in 2024? From extravagant galas to live music to cozy cocktail parties, there’s something for everyone in the Bethesda area this New Year’s Eve.

We've rounded up some event options around Bethesda and New Year's Eve television programming. We will update this guide up to New Year's Eve.

Here is a look at events happening in around Bethesda:

• New Year's Eve with E.U. and Sugar Bear at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club on Sunday, Dec. 31, at 10 p.m. The club is located at 7719 Wisconsin Ave., in Bethesda. Purchase tickets.
• A Grateful Dead New Year's Eve: This mind-blowing, in-person event will be packed with psychedelic music. Jess Lake Cookie Bake is the opener, starting 7 p.m. Start your celebration a day early from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., on Saturday, Dec. 30 at Bethesda Boards, 7900 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda. On the Bus, a Grateful Dead tribute band plays two sets from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• Sports & Social Bethesda: Food and drink items, champagnes bottles, table specials, and game watch specials for the college football playoffs. Games to be followed by DJ music and dancing until 2023. 11800 Grand Park Avenue, North Bethesda.
• New Year's Eve Ball at Rendezvous: Grand Dinner Buffet by Royal Tandoor, cash bar, DJ, 12104 B Wilkins Avenue, 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.
• 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.

Here is a look at some additional events happening in Montgomery County:

• Maryland Holiday Light Festival: LuminoCity! is a luminescent adventure through three differently themed rooms. It's open Monday, Jan. 1, from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Montgomery County Fair on Perry Parkway in Gaithersburg. Purchase tickets
• Happy Noon Year's Eve: Get in touch with nature on Sunday, Dec. 31 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m, at Meadowside Nature Center, which is located at 5100 Meadowside Lane in Rockville. Bring your favorite drink to toast the new year. A small snack will be provided.
• The Ultimate Mimosa New Year's Eve Party: Enjoy a complimentary champagne fountain, Caribbean vibes and music by DJ Sprang and DJ Jason Frass, on Sunday, Dec. 31, from 9:30 p.m. to Jan. 1, 4 a.m., at Crossroads Two Restaurant & Lounge, 11300 Fern St., Wheaton-Glenmont.
• Masquerade Brunch, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 31, at Citizens & Culture, at 8113 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring. You can feast, dance and celebrate the arrival of 2024 and still have time to carouse until midnight. Purchase tickets.

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.

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.