Seasonal & Holidays
New Year’s Eve 2022 In Scotch Plains: Dinner Specials, Orchestra Concert
Patch rounded up all the events happening on New Year's around Scotch Plains this year — from special dinner menus to musical performances.
![Check out the New Year's activities happening in your area below.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/25400487/20221221/041228/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-1836506470___21161155534.jpg)
SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ — If you're spending New Year's Eve in Scotch Plains this year, there are plenty of events happening around town.
A Noon Year's Eve celebration will be held at Rose Petal Parties in Scotch Plains, featuring brunch food, princess characters and more, and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra is performing a Broadway special in nearby Westfield.
Here is a look at some additional events happening around Scotch Plains:
Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
- Vine & Oak Tavern offers a New Year's Eve menu
- Fettle + Fare restaurant offers a New Year's Eve menu
- New Year's crafts for kids at Westfield Memorial Library
In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is, of course, the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square. Various cities have adopted their own iterations of the event — the Peach Drop in Atlanta, the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.
The end of one year and beginning of another is often celebrated with the singing of “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish folk song whose title roughly translates to “days gone by,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica and History.com.
Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The history of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who would make promises to return borrowed objects and pay outstanding debts at the beginning of the new year, in mid-March when they planted their crops.
According to legend, if they kept their word, pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. If they broke the promise, they would fall out of God’s favor, according to a history of New Year’s resolutions compiled by North Hampton Community College New Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Many secular New Year’s resolutions focus on imagining new, improved versions of ourselves. The failure rate of New Year’s resolutions is about 80 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report. There are myriad reasons, but a big one is they’re made out of remorse for gaining weight, for example, and aren’t accompanied by a shift in attitude and a plan to meet the stress and discomfort of changing a habit or condition.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.