Northern Ireland prepares to welcome in the new year: From watch night services, céilís, beach dips and family walks
Northern Ireland is preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve with a host of activities and events - almost all of it involving yet more food and drink.
Belfast City Council is holding a New Year's Eve céilí from 2pm to 4pm at 2 Royal Avenue with some ceílí dancing and live musical performances - including expert tuition. As so often with such council events, however, it is so popular it is already fully booked!
Along the north coast, in Portrush The Safehouse is holding a New Year’s Eve Soirée with live music, warm hospitality, and “the timeless charm” of the historic café bar.
There are also plenty of church 'watch night' events to choose from - most of which look as though they may challenge your waistline once more after the Christmas festivities.
The Anchor Church on Frosses Road, Ballymena, is holding a New Year's Eve “Pudding and Praise Party” from 8:30pm for "an unforgettable night” of worship and “loads of family fun".
At St Donard's Church on the Bloomfield Road in Belfast, they will mark the end of 2025 and the start of the New Year with a Watchnight Service in the Parish Centre at 11.30pm – everyone is welcome.
St Philip and St James, Holywood Parish Church are meeting at 10.30pm for refreshments, with a service at 11.30pm which includes a "covenant renewal” time of prayer before entering 2026.
And the New Row Presbyterian Church in Coleraine is hosting other churches from across the area for a shared New Year’s Eve Service.
It says that as one year ends and another begins they would "love to invite you to pause, reflect, and look forward together".
Meanwhile, on the Shankill Road peace line in Belfast, New Life City Church is holding a “Pizza and Praise Night”, citing Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”.
They are inviting people to join them for a “relaxed and joy-filled evening” as they gather to celebrate the year gone by and welcome 2026 “with faith, food, and fellowship”.
They urge: “Let’s bring in the new year together, with full hearts and full bellies”.
In south Armagh, the Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Church at Darkley is also inviting people to join them for New Years Eve as they bring in the New Year.
They are inviting people to join them for “an evening of celebration, thanksgiving and fellowship" starting at 9:30pm.
But if all the Christmas and New Year Celebrations have all been too much excess on the body and mind, why not consider a New Years Sea Sauna with ‘HotBox’ on Benone Strand in Limavady.
Based in a mobile sauna, organisers suggest that anyone using their facilities for the day will find “that the rain eases you, the wind relaxes you and the cold of the water exhilarates you”.
In a similar vein, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland is inviting the brave and the bold to join them for a New Year’s Day at Crawfordsburn Beach for their annual New Year’s Dip – raiding funds for their Family Support cancer services. Gather at 11:45am, with the event starting at 12:00pm.
If anyone feels the need to walk instead, Ballywalter Parish Church on the Ards Peninsula is holding a Family New Year Beach Walk on Saturday 3 January at 10am. A "welcoming breakfast" awaits in the Parochial Hall afterwards.
Organisers urge: "Bring someone along or come by yourself — there’ll be friendly faces ready to greet you."