Above & Below / Home is where the heart is, especially on New Year’s Eve. Be glad for plaid with plans to kick off the New Year in Naperville. Celebrate safely and look toward comforts, joys and challenges that aim to unite our community throughout 2026. Cheers!
Now… Just what are your plans for New Year’s Eve?
Though all the festive homes look different after the most recent snow, here’s another PN pick among many choices in our city’s grand illumination of activities, by day and by night.
Whether New Year’s Eve begins in the morning with enthusiastic children at the DuPage Children’s Museum or starts with an early evening drive around town to see the bright holiday lights, revelers can link up with options to fit any pocketbook or whet any appetite.
Discover options that include a night on the town or simply munching on snacks in front of a good movie on TV.
Consider movies that have been reviewed throughout 2025 by Tarek Fayoumi, featured monthly in print and online here for Positively Naperville. Fayoumi’s passion as a film critic has been an enlightening addition to this publication via “Movies with Tarek.”
And this afternoon a good friend in New York sent kind words about the Neil Diamond tribute movie, “Song Sung Blue,” now playing at a theater near you. “Best movie of the year,” Jim Wallis said.
Or choose classics such as “An Affair to Remember,” “Radio Days,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “South Pacific,” “Waiting to Exhale,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and/or “While You Were Sleeping” before switching the channel to watch the ball drop in Times Square a few seconds before midnight.
Spread the kindness and respect!
If going out, be sure to make reservations to avoid disappointment. And remember to tip servers (who share tips with bussers and food runners), bartenders and valets – 20 percent is customary. Appreciate that other individuals are working so you can have a good time.
One more thing… Whenever booking advance reservations at more than one venue (restaurants, theaters, bowling alleys, etc.), kindly cancel the ones you decide not to use in plenty of time for someone else to benefit.
Safety patrols now in progress thru Jan. 5, 2026 / Plan ahead
Celebrate safely with family, friends & neighbors
Celebrate Safely! Area and state police departments will be adding extra patrols this weekend, New Year’s Eve and through January 2, 2026. Don’t forget to plan ahead for all your transportation needs whenever you celebrate. Remember, taxis and limos will be at a premium on New Year’s Eve.
Whatever you decide, enjoy the last day of the year with a vow to try to enjoy a safe, healthful, respectful, productive and prosperous 2026.
Happy New Year’s Eve from 8AM to Midnight!
8AM – NYE
According to the weather forecasts, in Naperville the weather will feature “cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Winds light and variable. Chance of flurries here and there. Temperatures teens to 30 degrees. The warmest day of the weekend is expected to be Sun., Jan. 4.”
Dress accordingly! Stroll the Naperville Riverwalk on New Year’s Eve and every day! Visit neighborhood parks, too. Enjoy the benefits of brisk walks or discovery of the amazing structure of bare trees in the great outdoors.
Park at the Main Street Parking Lot along Jackson Avenue for an early morning Riverwalk stroll. Then follow the winding brick path along the DuPage River as it meanders through Sindt Woods all the way to the Jefferson Avenue Bridge and back again.
And smile, smile, smile. Keep in mind that 17 to 26 muscles are required for every smile! The smile is considered across cultures as a universal sign of friendliness. Exercise with smiles as you greet passersby while strolling all along the winding brick path and local sidewalks. What’s more, add some belly laughs to those smiles with the knowledge that you’re using more muscles at one time than during any other activity.
9AM – NYE
The DuPage Children’s Museum hosts its 23rd annual Fun Family NYE with confetti, bubbles or quiet time!
Saturday, December 31, 2026 | 9AM– Noon Click here for TICKET availability!
Fun Family NYE is an important fundraiser for the Museum. It is the place for families to ring in the New Year. This annual year-end celebration, now in its 23rd year, has become a holiday tradition for families to celebrate together at DuPage Children’s Museum. Join families and friends for the countdown and come discover plenty of choices and lots that’s new. Note! DuPage Children’s Museum is open 9AM to 5PM on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1.
Noon – NYE
Be ready to strike!
Celebrate at Lucky Strike Bowling (formerly Bowlero) with a strike or two or three! | Noon – 1AM
Space is limited and lanes are filling up fast! Book your holiday party now at Lucky Strike. Find Lucky Strike Naperville, a local destination for world-class bowling, laser tag, arcade games, billiards and more, including a sports bar. Grab a lane, set a high score in the arcade, …at 1515 Aurora Ave. Give them a call for reservation availability at (630) 355-7622.
Happy 100th Birthday to John Prescott!
Lifelong Naperville resident John Prescott is a former Commander and life member of the Naperville VFW Post 3873. John is an Army Veteran who served the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Grateful for his service, his friends and family send him hearty good wishes! Congratulations, John Prescott!
UPDATE! Photos and videos of the 100th Birthday Tribute Parade in honor of John Prescott held at 12:30PM on New Year’s Eve can be viewed at: jameshochphotography.smugmug.com/Military/VFW-Events/John-Prescotts-100th-Birthday-Drive-By-2025. All images featured are by James Hoch Photography. Thanks, Jim. Cheers all around!
All Afternoon until 6PM in downtown Naperville
New Year’s Eve Bargain Hunt, Shop & Dine with DNA Gift Cards
And whenever you’re headed downtown, take your handy Downtown Naperville Gift Cards, too.
Use your DNA Gift Card any time at any downtown location.
Celebrate New Year’s Eve Day in downtown Naperville. Enjoy the final day of 2025 shopping, dining and celebrating downtown with many happy returns all along Main Street, Jefferson Avenue, Washington Street, Jackson Avenue and Van Buren Avenue.
Discover all that’s new including Naperville’s Music Box (next to the Apple store in Main Place on Jefferson Avenue) as well as shops and restaurants around the corner. Venture over the Main Street Bridge and find more located along Water Street.
Click here for some of the highlights…
- Great end-of-year shopping specials with bargains galore
- NYE parties along Water Street and Washington Street
- Celebrate memories such as the good times during the New Year’s Eve countdown at the base of the Carillon at Rotary Hill along the Riverwalk. Remember back in 2010 when downtown Naperville welcomed teens to assist in its bell-ringing celebration?
3PM and so on
Live music at Quigley’s begins at 3PM with Countdown at 6PM
Celebrate New Year’s Eve Dublin time at Quigley’s, 3-8PM! Families and friends are invited for the annual New Year’s Eve Celebration and Countdown Dublin Time at 6PM at Quigley’s Irish Pub at 43 E. Jefferson Avenue. in downtown Naperville. This family-friendly tradition at Naperville’s authentic Irish pub is filled with good cheer, delicious food, live music by Cirrus Falcon (3-7PM) and satisfaction for folks who enjoy celebrating without staying up until midnight CST to welcome in the New Year.
Note also that Quigley’s Irish Pub will close at 8PM on New Year’s Eve. It’s best to come early if you plan to find a table as this event with live music attracts groups of revelers of all ages.
And remember West Suburban Irish Quiz Night begins another trivia contest throughout Quigley’s beginning at 7PM the first Tuesday in January, Jan. 6.
One more thing…Quigley’s Irish Pub will be closed on New Year’s Day.
Some times on Open Table already are reserved at Meson Sabika
Celebrate New Year’s Eve at the Mansion! Join Meson Sabika on New Year’s Eve for a 4-course dinner. Limited seating times still available for New Year’s Eve. To make reservations call (630) 983-3000 x 2 or visit www.mesonsabika.com.
Walk around the blocks of downtown Naperville to find your favorite eateries
SixtyFour – A Reserve Room, 123 Water Street, invites guests to make reservations this New Year’s Eve for a tasting extravaganza! To reserve your seats, email info@sixtyfourwinebar.com.
***Click here to link to Downtown Naperville dining, coffee shops and treats!
Venture to CityGate Centre for NYE by day or evening
Che Figata at Hotel Arista, 2139 CityGate Lane located next to Hotel Arista in CityGate Centre, will help revelers ring in 2026. For reservations, call (630) 579-3210.
CityGate Grille, located in the Calamos Investments Building at I-88 and Rt. 59 at Ferry Road, invites you to kick back and enjoy an evening of friends, fun and live music. For reservations, call (630) 718-1010 or visit www.citygategrille.com.
Top Golf bays will be open NYE / Not a ticketed event
Top Golf, 3211 Odyssey Court (near CityGate Centre), will host a golden night of fun. Reserve an all-inclusive bay package for your group that includes party favors and unlimited Topgolf from 9PM to close on New Year’s Eve. Phone: (630) 596-1000 or visit topgolf.com/us/naperville/promo/new-years-eve/
Dine Naperville N.E.W.S.!
For more variety throughout the community from I-88 to 111th at Route 59 and many destinations in between, check out Dine Naperville where you’ll find the city’s long list of more than 400 eateries. Mark your 2026 calendar for Naperville Restaurant Week, Jan. 23 through Feb. 8.
Consider a NYE Getaway at one of Naperville 18 hotels
Ring in the New Year during an overnight “staycation” at one of Naperville’s 18 hotels. Naperville boasts a wide array of over-night accommodations including luxurious full-service, comfortable select-service, roomy suites, extended- stay facilities as well as a cozy historic bed and breakfast.
Find swimming pools at Chicago Marriott, Courtyard, Embassy Suites, Fairfield Inn East, Fairfield Inn West and Hampton Inn.
Hotel Arista is just steps from Top Golf and fine restaurants in CityGate Centre.
Hotel Indigo, located along the Riverwalk in downtown Naperville, is a short jaunt from many picturesque activities in the heart of the City.
For a list of all hotels to check availability for Dec. 31, 2025, click www.visitnaperville.com.
Some things to do stand the test of time…
NYE take-out to party at home!
Catering, too! If New Year’s Eve is a time to stay at home with family and friends, relaxing with jigsaw puzzles and board games to the whimsy and revelry on television as the ball drops in New York’s Times Square, remember that most restaurants offer take-out.
And for all your party-at-home supplies, find festive noisemakers, hats and other New Year’s Eve novelties at Oswald’s Pharmacy, right around the bend from Casey’s.
Enjoying New Year’s Eve in the comfort of your home can be a time to create a fun and games night. Play cards. Order a pizza to be delivered. Pop popcorn. Work jigsaw puzzles. Watch movies. Sort old photos. Create scrapbooks. Count your blessings.
Some folks have suggested taking down the Christmas tree and connecting every ornament with a fond memory.
With little desire to stay up late, another reader said she always organizes her closet and chest of drawers on New Year’s Eve with the aim to celebrate with a toast upon completion at 10PM and bedtime soon after.
OR take a Riverwalk stroll… Consider creating a message for a commemorative brick for the plaza around Exchange Club Memories Fountain in Fredenhagen Park or the Riverwalk from the Washington Street Bridge to the Hillside Road Bridge… After a 3-year hiatus for repairs, Exchange Club Memories Fountain will be flowing for peaceful reflection again this spring.
Since 1997, the commemorative brick/stone program has been to benefit the Naperville Riverwalk Foundation. The program continues to offer the opportunity to purchase a variety of legacy gifts to honor a family or friends, remember a loved one or recognize a milestone.
Commemorative bricks ordered now will be placed in the spring of 2026. Funds raised benefit the 30-year commitment of the Riverwalk Foundation to promote, educate and enhance while serving as a conduit for financial gifts. Watch for the latest renderings of the Riverwalk 2031 Master Plan to be available in January 2026.
Cheers to community spirit that began when Captain Joe Naper and his family arrived along the banks of the DuPage River in 1831!
11:15PM – NYE
Midnight NYE
At midnight, more than 100 million Americans are expected to have their eyes on the iconic ball drop in Times Square via screens on televisions, computers and other electronic devices. Worldwide, guestimates report that 1 billion individuals will watch the popular tourist attraction that welcomes approximately 1 million visitors to Times Square in New York City.
Happy New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2026!
Do you know couples that became engaged at Christmas or New Year’s?
Wedding Showcase is planned for Jan. 17, 2026 / For details, click here.
Naper Settlement will host its annual Wedding Showcase from 10AM to 3PM on Sat., Jan. 17, where many wedding planners, consultants, venues and special services will be on display for brides and grooms as well as their parents to begin planning. Check out many local vendors that offer spaces for weddings, receptions, rehearsal dinners and bridal showers. Admission to the Wedding Showcase is free of charge.
2026 Restaurant Week / January 23 – February 8
Naperville 2026 Restaurant Week is slated for Jan. 23 through Feb. 8, 2026.
After NYE, plan to celebrate Naperville community spirit throughout 2026
Celebrate the end of the year with the whole family, then make plans to begin the New Year with great shopping and dining and entertainment throughout 2026. Whether resident or visitor, plan to check this website regularly to keep track of special events and many ways to participate in Naperville where there are more than 400 restaurants to please every appetite, spread all over town.
The city’s central business district is just steps from the Riverwalk, Naper Settlement, DuPage Children’s Museum as well as entertainment venues and art galleries at North Central College. Think dinner and the show!
And if you received gift cards as presents, remember to use them now before you forget!
Thanks for reading.
Thanks, too, for shopping, dining and entertaining locally whenever possible. Your independent business community appreciates your support and a thriving local economy benefits all local residents, likely your family, friends and neighbors.
For a listing of more than 400 local eateries, sure to whet any appetite, visit www.dinenaperville.com. Local matters.
Find ‘What We Need’ during treks along the Riverwalk…
Cheers!
And it’s A-OK to curl up with a good book on New Year’s Eve. Many folks tell us they hit the hay way before midnight with a positive attitude that “tomorrow is another day.”
Then there are 364 more days to experience before the next New Year’s Eve. Make every day count while appreciating the good things, big or small. Happy New Year!
