When it comes to celebrating the birth of a new year, there aren’t many cities that can surpass the capital of Georgia. Atlanta is known for stunning events for audiences of all ages, ranging from dynamic costume bashes to glamorous club nights, enchanting parties for children, and romantic retreats for adults.
The extraordinary things to do in Atlanta for New Year’s Eve mean there’s something for pretty much everyone, whether this is your first New Year's Eve or your 70th.
Family-Friendly Festivities
Although adult-oriented revelries comprise a lot of the New Year's Eve party schedule in Atlanta, there's more to the picture. Magical times for the little ones are also on the agenda, taking place at unique venues in the city known for their focus on play. Check out these family fun activities in Atlanta.
1. Noon Year’s Eve at the Roof at Ponce City Market
For families who prefer not to stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, one of Atlanta’s best rooftop destinations offers a wonderful alternative.
With an all-ages celebration that starts in the morning and counts down to noon, Noon Year’s Eve at the Roof features a full suite of kid-friendly capers. This includes roving entertainers, arts and crafts stations, fabulous face-painting, and delicious snacks.
Best of all, there are opportunities aplenty for children to play on the Roof’s Coney Island-style Skyline Park boardwalk. Or they can go ice-skating on the Rooftop Terrace rink. It’s the kind of mystical event that will create lifelong memories for the little ones.
Meanwhile, parties who want a traditional New Year’s can book a dinner with flavorful wine pairings at the Roof’s restaurant, 9 Mile Station.
2. New Year’s Bubble Bash at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta
One of the most reliable crowd-pleasers at any sort of children’s event is bubbles. There’s something about chasing them, seeing the iridescent colors floating through the air, and feeling them pop that’s just fun, satisfying, and relaxing for anyone — especially for kids.
Bubbles in all their forms, and especially in the famously irresistible form of bubble wrap, are the focus of the New Year’s Bubble Bash at the Children’s Museum of Atlanta.
With a backdrop of DJ music, the Bash is all about hands-on fun for little ones and their parents. They can create their own bubble solutions and blow to their hearts’ content, use bubbles and paint to make their own masterpieces of “firework” art, and ring in the New Year with a traditional symphony of bubble wrap popping.
It’s a recipe for joyful memories — a perfect way to relieve stress and for kids and their parents to appreciate and enjoy each others’ company headed into the coming year. It’s no wonder that this is rated one of the best family-friendly Atlanta New Year’s occasions.
3. Peach Fest
All across America, there are towns and cities that have their own rendition of the Times Square countdown to midnight and ball drop in New York. There's the Tangerine Drop in Brooksville, the Big Orange Drop in Miami, a Liberty Bell Drop in Allentown, a Sardine Drop in Eastport, Main. The list goes on.
One of the most ambitious descendants of the New York tradition can be found in Atlanta, where an annual Peach Drop commemorates the birth of a new year.
Surrounding that event is Peach Fest, Atlanta’s definitive New Year’s Eve party. This event is all about vibes and bumping beats. Tasty food, party favors, beverages, midnight fireworks, and the clock ticking down to the famous midnight Peach Drop are all staples.
Held at the historic site of Underground Atlanta, a thriving hub of arts and culture, entertainment, and nightlife, this annual party is one of the best introductions to the vibrant diversity of Georgia’s capital that any visitor could hope for.
Party Goers's Paradise
With some events, it's all about letting your hair down, glamming it up, and enjoying life. When party-goers on New Year's Eve in Atlanta go looking to dance their way into the coming year, they'll seek out scintillating events like these.
If you’re looking for a party with a spookier vibe at a different time of year, discover some Halloween events in Atlanta.
4. NYE in the ATL
A long-time fixture of the Atlanta New Year’s Eve landscape is NYE in the ATL. This is an epic-scale annual event targeted at urban professionals. Early risers can kick off the day with a delicious brunch at NYE Sunday Lunch Vibes.
In the early evening, things get underway with a flirtatious mixer event. This is followed by a series of comedy performances produced by Maurice Sims and the ATL House of Comedy. This NYE party’s mainstay is the incredible set of party rooms offered by its venue, the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia.
From one room to another, party-goers can groove to contemporary rap hits and classic hip-hop. A champagne toast, balloon drop, and midnight breakfast buffet are all part of the experience. Parties determined to make the most of the party can reserve VIP tables with open bars.
Hotel room packages for two are available for couples who’d like to make this into a romantic getaway. As Atlanta New Year’s Eve blowouts go, NYE in the ATL definitely ranks among the most dynamic, dramatic and all-around impressive options.
Dare to Be Dazzled!
Adventure awaits in Atlanta with high-energy Cirque du Soleil shows. Dive into a world of acrobatics and wonder.
5. Hollywood Nights: Live! at the Battery Atlanta
The Battery Atlanta is a year-round hotel, entertainment and shopping space attached to Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. One of the centerpieces of this vast center of Atlanta’s popular culture is the thriving bar called Live! at the Battery Atlanta, a bustling center of celebration that hosts special events all year around, well beyond game days.
During the bulk of the holiday season, this powerhouse of Atlanta sports and nightlife is host to the Tinsel Tavern pop-up bar phenomenon. Come New Year’s Eve, this all gives way to unabashed glamor with Hollywood Nights.
An event created to make party-goers feel like Hollywood stars on the red carpet, Live! at the Battery bills it as the biggest and best New Year’s party in Atlanta. Experience sensational live music, memorable photo-ops, and a midnight champagne toast.
Marvelous Masquerades
We're all about mystery, intrigue, and playfulness. Costume parties bring an extra element to these Atlanta New Year's Eve celebrations. These marvelous masquerades let party-goers take on new faces and step into a space of enchanted entertainment.
6. NYE Carnaval Masquerade Ball
The Omni Hotel Atlanta at Centennial Park is staging a celebration of vibrant cultural diversity and powerful musical and culinary traditions from Latin America and around the globe. The New Year’s Eve Carnaval Masquerade Ball provides many party vibes rolled into a single evening.
Live Latin rhythms are set to dominate the Carnaval Grand Ballroom. Global beats and chart-toppers provide a soundtrack for the Top Draft Sports Lounge and its outdoor terrace.
This event offers an incredible atmosphere and a view of Centennial Olympic Park that’s second to none. It features South American food stations, beats from the city’s top DJs, and an open bar with a selection of signature cocktails, wine, and beer. Driven by the irrepressible energy of Carnaval, this promises to be one of the most energetic New Year’s Eve events in Atlanta.
7. Gatsby’s Penthouse
The Roaring Twenties provides the theme for one of the most anticipated New Year’s Eve parties in Atlanta. The upscale, exclusive Gatsby’s Penthouse celebration is designed to recall the fashionable days of speakeasies and bathtub gin, freedom-loving flappers, and the classically-tailored men who loved them.
Granted, the soundtrack for the modern party is hip-hop and EDM rather than jazz. However, the spirit of free-wheeling fun is the same, spread out through multiple rooms of the luxurious Ventana’s rooftop venue.
With spectacular views of Midtown and Downtown Atlanta as a backdrop, party-goers at Gatsby’s Penthouse will enjoy fully-stocked, prepaid open bars, a range of surprises throughout the night, and 360-degree skyline photo ops on an honest-to-goodness helipad atop Ventana’s.
The organizers have also promised an unforgettable midnight countdown celebration.
8. NYE Masquerade Ball
One of the events that truly brings the spirit of groundbreaking artistry to New Year’s Eve in Atlanta is a collaboration among daring acrobatic aerialists, unforgettable drag and burlesque performers, and a vivacious variety of artists.
The second event of its kind on the New Year’s event calendar, the Masquerade Ball is a joint presentation by the Celestial Cabaret, The Fandom Nerdlesque and Batsy Sinclair, all of them truly unique voices in the alternative performing circuit in the American Southeast. When this kind of talent comes together to produce an event, it’s impossible not to be excited.
Taking place at the Red Light Cafe, the Masquerade Ball features a full night of performances, costume contests, photo stations, moonlight champagne pours, and premium cocktails. Music by DJ LXC, complimentary champagne, giveaways, and salacious surprises served up by the Wheel of Chance come together to create an out-of-this-world atmosphere. This definitely has the potential to be one of the very best of this year’s crop of Atlanta New Year’s events.
Dazzling Date Nights
Some of Atlanta's New Year's Eve parties are ideal destinations for couples looking for a romantic rendezvous. One of the best ways to enjoy a perfect date night is to share the experience of a live performance with your partner.
9. NYE with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
One of the great purveyors of classical music in North America, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has been showcasing a creative and innovative approach to music for nearly eight decades. It has 27 Grammy Award-winning to its credit. The ASO’s annual New Year’s Eve concert is an event for classical music lovers and admirers of dazzling artistic excellence in general.
This year’s program includes perennial favorite compositions from Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Rossini, Strauss and Offenbach. Audience members can follow up this sublime display of the symphonic arts with an after-party. Enjoy a light-bite buffet, coffee, dessert, and a sparkling midnight toast to the New Year.
10. Who Raised YOU - NYE Comedy Celebration with T.K. Kirkland
One of the most instantly identifiable comedians working today, T.K. Kirkland is a veteran of more than three decades in the entertainment industry and has done everything from producing and managing to writing, acting, and hosting his own podcast. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in film and television, but he’s best known for his salty, down-to-earth, underground comedic stylings.
With a raw and real voice, Kirkland speaks to the truths of life and relationships no matter how awkward, uncomfortable, and absurdly funny they might be.
It makes sense that Kirkland should anchor his own New Year’s Eve event in Atlanta. His show, Who Raised YOU, will delight an audience at Atlanta’s Original Uptown Comedy Corner, followed by a midnight champagne toast. If you want your New Year’s to feature a concentrated dose of high-octane comedy and all-around entertainment, this is the ticket for you.
Don’t Miss Out on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta!
If you’re in Atlanta on New Year’s Eve, the events we’ve surveyed are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of everything from family-friendly fun for the kids to sophisticated cultural offerings, delicious dinners, and raucous revels. No matter what you’re in the mood for, the chances are good that there’s going to be an Atlanta New Year’s event that’s right for you.
We absolutely respect Atlanta’s gift for getting its collective groove on, and we recommend checking out New Year’s events that catch your eye. Either before or after New Year's Eve, check out one of our Atlanta shows, and take a spellbinding journey into wonder.