Ring in 2023: New Year’s events and dining options

Seattle Center featured New Year’s events are listed below, followed by a link to dining options, and a calendar of New Year’s events around the Puget Sound region.

Seattle Center featured New Year’s events

Seattle Center “luminata” outdoor lighting

Thanksgiving thru mid-February. Stop by Seattle Center after dark and delight in the wonderland of light for this annual tradition of decking out the Seattle Center campus with twinkling lights in the trees and other specialty light features across the grounds. At 6pm each day, watch a special Winterfest themed light show on the grounds and at International Fountain. Now through middle of February. Free event. More info: Illuminate Winterfest (seattlecenter.com)

Children’s Museum NYE Pajama Party

December 31 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. Children’s New Year’s Eve Pajama Party. Countdown the new year at noon, join a dance party, make a time capsule, and enjoy other special activities. Included with admission. More info: New Year’s Eve Pajama Party 10am-3pm – Seattle Children’s Museum (seattlechildrensmuseum.org)

Space Needle New Year’s Eve Fireworks (in-person or online)

December 31 at 11:30PM. As the clock strikes midnight to ring in 2023, the beloved New Year’s celebration will feature brand-new drone light formations in the Seattle skies to add more expression and color to one of the world’s largest structurally-launched firework displays. The captivating drone formations — with 200 drones designed to integrate with the fireworks and light displays being launched and projected off of the Space Needle — will fly between 200 and 600 feet above ground, directly north of the Space Needle. Everyone celebrating T-Mobile New Year’s at the Needle around the world is encouraged to share their photos and videos on social media using hashtag #TMobileNYE

In-person: The coordinated drone effects will be best seen from the Seattle Center campus grounds (back open for viewing!) with festivities beginning at 8pm. Please note: There are no public events atop the Space Needle for New Year’s Eve (the tower is open to the public from 9:30AM to 9:30PM on December 31).
Online/TV: The spectacle will be broadcast locally on KING 5 starting at 11:35pm PST and streamed online exclusively at king5.com.
Audio: Tune into iHeart radio station HITS 106.1 to listen along to the show’s audio simulcast. The night will kick off with two musically-choreographed light shows taking place at 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM in anticipation of midnight.

New Year dining options

Find a restaurant on OpenTable offering dine-in and takeout option for New Year’s Eve Restaurant Reservations

New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day events

The events listed below include free and cheap things to do on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. If there is nothing listed here, we haven’t yet begun to update the calendar for this year. We usually begin updating sometime in the fall as organizers announce upcoming events.