A Few Top New Year's Eve Options

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Skillet will provide the fare for the New Year's Eve shindig that promises to be one of the best in town. A costume party entitled "As the World Falls Down" will take place in the loft-like, polished industrial space on the fourth floor of Capitol Hill's Oddfellows Hall. Inspired by David Bowie's 1986 movie Labyrinth, there will be performances by Degenerate Art Ensemble, The Seattle School, and The Beta Society, art installations (TARL, Hashemi/Hirata), music by DJs including KEXP's Derek Mazzone, and drag queens dressed as characters from the movie.

There will also be an open bar, with Skillet providing the nibbles, as well as a cheese maze and four absinthe fountains. Masquerade ball attire or Labyrinth-inspired costumes are strongly suggested. A fundraiser for Lifelong Aids Alliance.
Thurs., Dec. 31, 8 p.m.-2 a.m.
Oddfellows Hall, Fourth Floor, 915 Pine St.
$125. Tickets at labyrinthnye.com.

Tom Douglas hosts his own nostalgic gala, with an eye to another decade, and with food and drink following the theme. Douglas's Retro Glam New Year's Eve Party at Palace Ballroom aims to reenact the 1960s New York Stork Club, with jazz tunes by Cheryl Serio and her five-piece band. The menu features cocktails like old fashioneds, martinis, Manhattans, and vodka gimlets, along with appetizers such as rumaki (a mock-Polynesian appetizer thought to be invented by Trader Vic, and usually consisting of water chestnuts and chicken liver wrapped in bacon), pigs in blankets, and cheese balls. Dinner includes shrimp cocktail and Wellington or mushroom Stroganoff, with flaming baked Alaska for dessert.

Warning: your entry fee only includes two drink tickets, but there is a cash bar available. Sixties era outfits are encouraged.
Thurs., Dec. 31, 8 p.m.-1 a.m.
Palace Ballroom, 2100 Fifth Ave., 448-2001, tomdouglas.com
$100. Call for reservations: 448-2001.

If these prices are making you cringe, considering trekking to West Seattle for a sustainable sushi dinner for two. At $60 a couple, Mashiko only has a few dinner spots left at press time. The menu will vary throughout the night, but you can expect one appetizer, six pieces of nigiri, one sushi roll, an oversize bento, and one dessert, all to share. (Drinks are extra.)
Thurs., Dec. 31, 5:30 p.m.-10:15 p.m.
Mashiko, 4725 California Ave. S.W., 935-4339, sushiwhore.com
Call for reservations: 935-4339.

These dinners tend to fill up quickly. Check out our New Year's Eve event listings for more of what's happening, and some alternatives, if the above events are completely booked by the time you try and reserve yourself a space.

Note: there are tickets available for the Oddfellows Hall and Palace Ballroom events, but I was unable to confirm seating at Mashiko at posting time; on Monday they were still taking reservations, for early and late seatings.