Thank God, 2020 is finally coming to an end! Shelby Hutchinson suggests ways to celebrate COVID style.

I think it goes without saying 2020 has been the year from hell for everyone worldwide, and a change in yearly calendars will not make all of our problems magically go away. However, we can still use New Year’s Eve to garner hope for 2021 and to reflect on the events which happened this year.

Despite COVID restrictions newly put in place due to the recent Sydney cluster, Newcastle and the Hunter are very much alive with celebrations to send off 2020.

Various pubs and clubs will be holding events featuring live music, cheap drinks and good times. The Lass O’Gowrie will be holding a line-up of DJ’s in their beer garden from 6 pm; you can purchase tickets here. The Newcastle Hotel has a line-up of DJ’s as well as karaoke and $6 vodka slushies for a sunset to sunrise new year’s party. The Hamilton Station Hotel will also have live music playing from local talents Sleepeaser, Mango Avenue, Not Good Not Bad, and Acacia Blue.

If you’d like to take a more relaxed approach to the New Year celebrations, you can watch the sun go down on the final day of 2020 on a Moonshadow dolphin cruise in Nelson Bay, Port Stephens. Or take a stroll through the Hunter Valley Gardens and their Christmas Lights spectacular and fireworks display.

Many of these venues are holding ticketed events, or at least they will have limited seating, so if you’d like to avoid the line-ups, or if you’d simply like to avoid being in close contact to people (which is recommended), you can hold your own NYE celebrations at home, as long as they abide by the COVID restrictions. Have a few drinks, blast some music and spend time surrounded by all the people who made 2020 a little bit better.

Better yet, if you’d rather avoid leaving the house entirely, you can hold a NYE party over Zoom, Skype, or discord and have a party from the comfort of your own home. Play some online games, have a laugh, and watch the time tick over on your monitors together.

Of course, for many, this NYE will not seem like the time for celebration. And that’s okay. You can use this day to take time for yourself or spend time with family and friends if you can, take a moment of reflection, and just hope next year will be better.

No matter how you decide to spend NYE you should be proud of yourself for getting through everything 2020 has thrown at you, and, whatever 2021 has in store you can be confident you’ll get through it just the same.

From all of us here at Yak, Happy New Year!

Feature Image: Madelyn Gardiner, Yak Media Designer