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The holidays are in full swing, with Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa taking place this week and next. The best way to celebrate the end of the season — and the beginning of a new year — is with a Brooklyn New Year’s Eve party.
This week, plan your New Year’s Eve and celebrate the holidays with these events.
How will you spend your New Year’s Eve? Let us know by emailing [email protected].
—Mandie-Beth Chau
New Year’s Eve Events:
Royal Palms hosts a Flamingo Formal for New Year’s Eve, inviting guests to dress in pink and white and come prepared to dance.
Celebrate the new year at Dinner Party in Clinton Hill with a pre-fixe, five-course dinner and wine pairing.
Ring in the new year at Loafer’s Cocktail Bar in Carroll Gardens. Tickets are $20 and include a midnight toast.
The Moxy hotel in Williamsburg hosts a New Year’s Eve party with a 3.5-hour open bar and five rooms of DJs and dancing.
Embrace the future at Market Hotel’s future-themed New Year’s Eve party, featuring 10 performances starting at 10 p.m.
Chlomosexual promises a wild New Year’s Eve party at the Sultan Room in Bushwick, complete with go-go dancers, rooftop views and tons of dancing.
Looking for a queer midnight kiss? Friend of a Friend hosts a New Year’s Eve party for the gays at Vacations in Williamsburg from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Upcoming events:
Love and Legends, a new Romantasy bookstore in Prospect Heights, hosts a holiday crafting party on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m.
Extra cheese, ranch, red pepper flakes and … kittens? Pair your pizza with cats at the Kittens and Cats Pizza Party on Saturday, Dec. 20, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Banks Tavern 19 in Greenpoint.
Just because your company doesn’t host a holiday party doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to celebrate! The No Company Holiday Party takes place at Lowlands Bar on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 5 p.m.
Celebrate the winter solstice with a sapphic twist at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in Park Slope on Sunday, Dec. 21, at 6:30 p.m.
Whoopsie Daisie in Crown Heights hosts “A Very Brooklyn Yalda” on Sunday, Dec. 21, at 5 p.m. with tea, wine, poetry, baklava and more.
Dear Friend Books in Bed-Stuy hosts chess night every Monday through the winter, and all board games are welcome.
Roebling Rink returned to DUMBO this year. See what locals have to say about the popular winter attraction.
Photographers capture Marine Park’s wildlife
Photo: Loretta Chin
Winners of the year-long Nature Photography Competition at the Salt Marsh Alliance were honored at the Salt Marsh Nature Center in Marine Park, marking the return of the competition after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were about 55 entries, resulting in three winners and an honorable mention chosen by the competition judge, Steven “Fritz” Weiss, former president of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.
The event was part of the Salt Marsh Nature Center’s 25th anniversary celebrations. Community members gathered for warm refreshments while viewing the striking images of Marine Park.
A roundup of Brooklyn’s cultural offerings this week, from comedy to theater to music to art, and what critics are saying about them. By Evan Rosen. Read the whole column at the Brooklyn Eagle.
Comedy, Improv, Holidays
Young Ethel’s, 506 5th Ave., Park Slope
Thursday, Dec. 18 @ 7 p.m.
A holiday edition of That 80s Improv Challenge will hit the stage this Thursday, pitting three improv teams against one another in a three-round gameshow built around obscure music and holiday clips from the generation that gave us “The Terminator,” Madonna and much more.
Drag, Theatre, Food, Comedy
Branded Saloon, 603 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights
Friday, Dec. 19 @ 8 p.m. and weekly
Created by the team behind Brag Drunch, this free event pairs a full dinner and cocktail menu with a rotating lineup of Brooklyn drag artists, all hosted by the Reigning Ms. Barracuda, Giardia The Parasite. A $25 dinner special — including a drink, entrée and side — is available before the 8 p.m. show.
Music, Theatre, Holidays, Jazz
Shapeshifter Lab, 837 Union St., Prospect Heights
Saturday, Dec. 20 and Sunday, Dec. 21
Returning for its 16th year, The Wild Oat Theatrical Company will once again bring “A Charlie Brown Christmas Live” to Brooklyn to Shapeshifter, reviving the beloved holiday special with a full stage performance accompanied by a live jazz trio playing Vince Guaraldi’s classic score.
Read more in this week’s “What They’re Saying.”
BYC Founder Dianne Berkun supports Red Hook fire victims
Photo courtesy of Dianne Berkun
When the pandemic shut down live performance, Brooklyn Youth Chorus (BYC) Founder and Artistic Director Dianne Berkun found her busy schedule slowed down. In the free nights and weekends that followed, Berkun began to work on another creative project — designing handbags made from vegan leather.
Dianne V handbags was launched, and in 2024, Berkun found a studio in Red Hook to expand her business. She set up shop in a warehouse shared by hundreds of other artists, small businesses and the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, but a fire in September left Berkun and the other artists without studios.
Berkun began planning BYC’s spring 2026 gala. The upcoming gala’s theme is “Brooklyn Stories” and will feature the work of Red Hook artists impacted by the fire and members of BWAC, a nonprofit that operated 25,000 square feet of gallery space in the Red Hook Warehouse.
“By turning the gala venue into a gallery to support BWAC artists, they will hopefully be able to get some attention and maybe sell some work,” Berkun said.
This newsletter is written by Mandie-Beth Chau. Email [email protected] with any questions or comments.