Where to Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2024 in Chicago

Many of these events have early bird rates and tiered packages that sell out quickly, so be sure to act quickly for the best possible deal. All descriptions reflect what’s included in the general admission plan.

By Dave Lifton (@daveeatschicago)

Navy Pier’s famous fireworks display will begin at midnight, but there’s plenty going on throughout the pier before it starts. The Aon Grand Ballroom at its eastern end will welcome 3,000 guests to welcome in 2025 with a combination of live music and DJs, culminating with a 70-foot balloon-drop. Offshore, the world’s largest rooftop bar, has a DJ, passed appetizers, and an open bar with a champagne toast at midnight.

Also on the pier, Sable’s Great Lakes Ballroom will become an indoor viewing lounge with a cash bar. Small-to-medium groups can find a variety of packages at Harry Caray’s Tavern. Or you can see the fireworks while on Lake Michigan with City Cruises’ Signature or Premier Dinner Cruises.

Located inside the InterContinental Magnificent Mile, Casa Chi’s New Year’s Eve party is an extension of its Japanese-Latin American fusion concept, with dozens of agave-based spirits and traditional sakes. Switch to Veuve Clicquot at midnight, and you can also enter for a chance to win a bottle of Concoro Cristolino añejo tequila worth $179.

Ring in the new year at one of the most picturesque spots in town. The LondonHouse’s famed rooftop lounge and Etoile terrace promise DJs and a special musical guest to go with its open bar, hors d’oeuvres, and champagne—all with the Chicago skyline as a backdrop. Across the river, I|O at the Godfrey Hotel has tables, booths, and igloos for groups of up to 25 people, all of which include a different amount in bottle service credits.

Travel back to the Roaring Twenties at Gatsby’s Prohibition New Year’s Eve Party at the West Loop’s Morgan MFG events space. Enjoy unlimited champagne and cocktails all night, desserts and chocolate, and DJs on both floors.

Wicker Park’s James Beard Award-winning mixology bar, The Violet Hour, is offering a two-hour experience that includes three cocktails made with spirits in its vault. Food pairings are available for an additional charge. 

Old Town Pour House’s New Year’s Eve party has music all night, a photo booth, and appetizers such as its Southern brisket crostini and chicken & waffles with hot honey maple syrup. There’s a cash bar, including bottles of champagne served with a sparkler available for $20.25.

Chicago’s most famous hotel, the Palmer House Hilton, has partnered with 103.5 Kiss FM on a bash for 1,500 people spread out across three spaces, with an appetizer buffet, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. The hotel also has discounted rooms available.

The Metropolitan has little variation from the others—plenty of food, drink, and music with champagne at midnight. But it also has something that no other place can deliver: The views found on the 66^th floor of the Willis Tower.

Reservations aren’t accepted at the lobby bar of the Pendry Hotel, but there will be live music and a champagne toast at midnight. The hotel’s French restaurant, Venteux, has half-price bottles of champagne to pair with gourmet dishes like Wagyu chateaubriand and a caviar flight.

More food-focused experiences can be had at Prime & Provisions, where a three-course-plus-dessert steakhouse tasting menu awaits. Siena Tavern’s feast is five courses, with a champagne cart for a midnight toast. The Willis Tower’s Kindling provides its own kind of fireworks display, with four courses that show off the live fire open kitchen. All have wine pairings available for an additional charge, and Kindling adds a cocktail pairing.

Wine and cocktails are included in the four-course meal at Sifr, an upscale Middle Eastern restaurant in River North, which has early and late seatings, with the late (which costs more) concluding with midnight champagne.

One of Chicago’s most acclaimed neighborhood restaurants, Daisies in Logan Square, has a three-course-plus-passed-appetizers meal that shows off its locally sourced cuisine. Vegetarian substitutions are available for all applicable dishes.

The Dearborn isn’t going the prix fixe route, but it has a luxuriously decadent menu planned for the evening. Diners can enjoy such dishes as A5 Kobe beef in a cognac cream sauce or turbot with shrimp and lobster dumplings in a shitake-mussel broth, with a dessert made with berries, meringue, and champagne.

Lastly, for those with children wanting to celebrate earlier in the day, Skokie’s Bar Siena has scheduled a family-friendly event to start at 11:00 a.m. Feast on a lunch buffet while the kids enjoy crafts and face-painting, all leading up to complimentary sparkling wine for the adults and a balloon-drop at noon.

Or you can simply avoid the need to dress up and have a laid-back (and cheaper) New Year’s Eve at one of Chicago’s many beloved dive bars.