The Anti-New Year’s Itinerary
New Year’s Eve often comes loaded with the pressure of having an epic night—though more often than not, going out is synonymous with over-boozed crowds and gross overpricing, making the whole thing more tedious than magical. So much so, that it’s almost cooler to skip the shenanigans altogether. The itinerary below is all about embracing the decadence of NYE while validating the decision to stay in—because champagne tastes just as good on the couch as it does in a club.
On-Demand Massage
While everyone else is out scrambling for a blowout, book yourself an at-home afternoon massage instead: These apps make it blissfully simple.
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Soothe
Soothe’s promise is professional, relaxing massages within an hour, and they operate in most major cities—they will either come to your home or hotel room. The app allows you to select Swedish, deep-tissue, or sports massage, and you get to book and pay entirely through the app (they always take care of tip), making the entire process refreshingly straightforward.
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Zeel
Zeel hires the city’s best freelance massage therapists and sends them directly to your home during their down time. The range of options is big (they offer everything from deep tissue to prenatal), but the price point is not: $99 per massage, and only $84 for those with a monthly membership. If a few out-of-town guests are still hanging around, book a few back-to-back sessions so everyone can get in on the action.
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Namaste
Namaste, a self-titled “wellness concierge,” will send massage therapists, personal trainers, yoga teachers, and the like to your home or hotel room through one quick email or text—even for same day, last-minute appointments or corporate retreats. They’ve spent more than a decade looking for the best practitioners around, a Rolodex rigor that means you won’t be disappointed. Prices are commensurate with what you’d pay in a nice spa ($150-$250/hr). They currently serve New York, The Hamptons, Palm Beach, Aspen, Connecticut, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—plus all the corresponding ‘burbs.
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Massage Now (SF or NYC)
Massage Now works the same way as Beauty Booked, capitalizing on massage openings that go unclaimed day-of. The service is exclusive to massages, meaning they have a wider range of massage options than those offering a full range of treatments. The rapidly expanding app is already available in San Francisco and New York, with more cities to come soon. Conveniently, you pay through the app, so there’s no worrying about gratuity.
Easy—But Indulgent—Dinners
Tradition dictates decadence, and these recipes offer it in spades, with barely any cooking involved.
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Smoked Salmon Blinis
It’s not difficult to make blini from scratch, but on a night when you’re treating yourself, we think the cooking should be left to an absolute minimum. Plus, the blini available in grocery stores these days are downright delicious. Serve these as an appetizer for guests or make a bunch and eat them for dinner in front of a good holiday movie.
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Truffle Grilled Cheese
The perfect indulgence for an anti-New Year’s Eve dinner, this grilled cheese pairs perfectly with a glass of champagne and a good movie. If a fresh truffle isn’t in the budget or you can’t find one, these grilled cheese sandwiches are still divine with a little white truffle oil instead.
Movies That Never Disappoint
The only way to guarantee a movie-perfect New Year’s Eve is with, well…a movie.
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When Harry Met Sally
A holiday isn’t a necessary excuse to re-watch Nora Ephron’s brilliantly clever romantic comedy, but it’s the sentiment of two soulmates being right under each others’ noses all along—and finally coming together on New Year’s Eve—that really resonates on this particular night. Also, the on-screen chemistry between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal is the stuff of cinematic legend.
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Radio Days
This semi-biographical Woody Allen classic pulls at the heartstrings even if you didn’t grow up in depression-era Rockaway, Queens. Apart from offering a sweet, though probably mostly fictional, glimpse into Woody Allen’s childhood, the film is a love letter to the golden age of radio at a time when the average American family needed the escape most. And then there’s Diane Keaton’s New Year’s Eve rendition of “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To,” which is, in fact, everything.
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Sunset Boulevard
In this dream-like film-noir drama, the classic murder mystery gets a decidedly glamorous, old-Hollywood twist. William Holden plays Joe Gillis, an amateur screenwriter who is seduced by a fallen silent screen actress, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Throughout the film you get glimpses inside the manic and egocentric brain of Desmond and the sad reality of fame. Interestingly enough, it’s the final scene that wins the award for the creepiest moment in the entire film.
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Ocean’s 11 (1960)
Featuring the second incarnation of the rat pack—starring Frank Sinatra (of course, playing none other than suave mastermind Danny Ocean) alongside Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. as a pack of friends who try to rob five different Vegas casinos on New Year’s Eve—this is the original inspiration behind the modern Ocean’s Trilogy. While the plot and characters are endlessly entertaining, the dazzling scenes of vintage Vegas and glitzy musical numbers are the true stars. You’ll want to book a trip to Sin City before the closing credits roll.
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An Affair to Remember
This 1957 film is a true classic. Rebellious Nickie Ferrante (played by Cary Grant) meets singer Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) on a cruise through the Mediterranean (cue fabulous scenes on board the ship and the New Year’s Eve kiss to end all New Year’s Eve kisses). Since they’re both involved with other people, they promise to rebuild their lives and meet six months later on top of the Empire State Building. This is about as romantic as a movie gets.
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The Apartment
With classics like Some Like It Hot and Sunset Boulevard (which also made this list) also under his belt, it’s no surprise that Billy Wilder’s The Apartment has stood the test of time. In this 1960’s comedy, C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) plays a go-getting office worker who loans his tiny apartment to his boss for a romantic rendezvous—but things get messy when Baxter falls for his boss’ girl, Fran, played by the ever-stunning Shirley Maclaine.
