End Games

Five festive ways to ring in 2018

THE ’70S NIGHTCLUB

Studio 54 New Year’s Eve, Gladstone Hotel Who needs 2018 when you can travel back to the 1970s? This December 31, the Gladstone recreates the glamour, excess and nonstop disco of Studio 54. You won’t run into Andy Warhol or Bianca Jagger, but you will get dinner, drinks, dancing, live music and as much throwback New York extravagance as a modern Toronto venue can hold.

THE MOONLIT DASH

MyNextRace Midnite Run, Liberty Village If your New Year’s resolution is to get in shape, why not get started as soon as the ball drops? This fivekilometre run starts at the stroke of midnight, and finishes with a wild afterparty complete with fireworks, champagne, and enough food and booze to offset all the exercise.

THE ROCK-AND-ROLL RAGER

Infinity Ball, Enercare Centre Toronto’s new boozy year-end bacchanal turns the Enercare Centre into the city’s biggest dance floor. Cover kings Dwayne Gretzky provide the soundtrack, churning out hits from Bowie to Beyoncé, while art collective Young Offenders will deck the venue in interactive installations and local chefs will cook up a feast worthy of being 2017’s last supper.

THE CHIC DINNER PARTY

#ROMNYE, Royal Ontario Museum The ROM gives its already elegant NYE bash a decidedly glam flavour this year with its glitzy Christian Dior exhibition. When guest aren’t eyeing designer dresses, they can nosh on a three-course dinner or hit the dance floor—the musical lineup includes soul collective St. Royals, indie rockers Running Violet and DJ Skratch Bastid.

THE COMEDY SMACKDOWN

Your Hood’s a Joke, Panasonic Theatre The holidays have enough goodwill toward men. Kick off 2018 with this show’s bah-humbug bitterness. In rap battle–style showdowns, comics face off on behalf of their country (Italy vs. Egypt), neighbourhood (west end vs. east) or alma mater (U of T vs. York).