New Years Events 2013: Best New Year's Eve Parties and Events

Impact

With the end of a year comes some of the craziest events you can imagine – from New York to Miami to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, people are going to be partying like Andrew W.K. at, well, any party.

If you can get to Times Square, festivities start at 6:00 PM and go until 12:15 AM. Performers will include Train, Neon Trees, Carlie Rae Jepson, Taylor Swift, and Psy of Gangnam style. Sorry folks, no booze allowed – and there will be no licensed food or beverage vendors onsite. The NYPD will confiscate your drinks, and while enforcement is likely to be somewhat lax, you’ll run the risk of a $25 fine or if you’re really unlucky, arrest for public drunkenness. Those with smarts or money should suck it up and wait in line for any of the hundreds of restaurants or bars in and around Times Square, reservations in advance practically mandatory.

Those coming from south of Times Square can enter at 37th St and 7th Ave or Broadway, or 38th St at 8th or 6th Ave. Coming from north of 43rd St, access is granted through 49th, 52nd, 58th and 59th at 6th and 8th Ave, 54th and 6th Ave, 55th and 8th Ave, 57th and 7th Ave or Broadway.

On the 65th floor at Rockefeller Center, the Rainbow Room used to offer one of the city’s best New Year’s Eve parties in Midtown before shutting down last year. Good – and equally fancy – alternatives include the sure-to-be-ridiculous Dream Downtown New Years hosted by rapper NAS, a four-hour Affairs Afloat yacht cruise on the Hudson River, five hours of open bar at TAO, and a virtually unlimited number of club shows and warehouse raves. Check out some other alternatives, such as Sanctuary Hotel’s Haven Rooftop and the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise here.

If you’re stuck in Florida, you can always retreat to Miami Beach’s $100,000 party at the Opium Club. For that price tag, you get 50 guest passes, 50 bottles of bubbly, 10 handles of vodka and tequila each, 5 bottles of Hennessy, and the honor of being able to tell friends you had to leave a $20,000 tip.

In Los Angeles, Avalon is hosting a massive event with Markus Schulz, or if you want to spring for something pricier, you can get a Hollywood VIP New Year’s Eve 2013 ticket which will get you in the VIP entrance at 4 to 8 nightclubs.

Going out is pricey, so you might want to stay at home. Hosting a party and don’t know what to cook? CNN brings us a list of the top ten New Year’s Eve foods from across the globe, including such delicacies as the South’s Hoppin’ John (pork-flavored field or black-eyed peas and rice, served with collards and cornbread), Mexican tamales (corn dough stuffed with meat, cheese, or other tasty treats served in a corn husk), the Netherland’s Oliebollen (fried oil balls), and Polish pickled herring (exactly what it sounds like).