NYE Party Planner

The 11 best ways to party on New Year's Eve in Dallas-Fort Worth

Fireworks will light up the sky over Dallas on New Year's Eve.

Photo courtesy of Reunion Tower

New Year's Eve always includes some fantastic events around Dallas-Fort Worth, at which revelers can dance, count down to midnight, and take in some spectacular fireworks. Presented below are some of your best options to finish out the decade and bring in 2020 in style.

Still looking for dinner reservations? Check out our list of restaurants that will open their doors for New Year's Eve dining, too. Then recover with brunch on New Year's Day.

Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark presents Roaring '20 New Year's Celebration
Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark will be in a celebratory mood all day long, but things will kick up once the sun goes down. Guests can slide into the new year with all-night, family-friendly fun, including DJ music, a New Year’s Eve “duck drop” at 6 pm, 9 pm, and midnight, duck races, and other festive activities. Guests can upgrade to a buffet dinner to avoid the standard pizza and hot dogs fare.

10th Annual Dallas NYE Ball
The Dallas NYE Ball is considered one of the best parties in the area, and it's not hard to see why. It features three party floors with two banquet rooms and one club. There will be different styles of music on each floor, including throwback, mainstream, salsa, and hip hop, as well as different attractions, including the newly added casino. Bars on every floor, party games, and much more will help celebrate 2020.

New Year's at the Symphony
Both the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will celebrate New Year's Eve with special concerts. The DSO's concert at Meyerson Symphony Center will feature lively waltzes from the Strauss dynasty and an exclusive Meyerson ‘Til Midnight after party. The FWSO's concert at Bass Performance Hall will feature a program of George Gershwin’s greatest hits, including "Rhapsody in Blue," "An American in Paris," and more.

Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert with The Allman Betts Band and Asleep at the Wheel
This is not your typical New Year's Eve event, but since Lynyrd Skynyrd claims this is their final tour, it makes for an interesting way to close out the decade. The concert, which also features The Allman Betts Band and Texas heroes Asleep at the Wheel, also happens to be the kickoff event for the NHL Winter Classic, which will take place in Dallas for the first time on New Year's Day when the Dallas Stars face the Nashville Predators at Cotton Bowl Stadium.

Texas Live presents Lone Star NYE Live
At this event, located next door to the nearly-completed Globe Life Field in Arlington, guests will enjoy live music and a DJ, specialty food and drink packages, NYE party favors, cash cannon blasts, champagne toast with a midnight countdown with the specially designed 12-foot ball, and other surprises. Guests are encouraged to dress "Solid Gold" and experience "The Ocho," a Las Vegas-style party inside Troy’s.

Four Day Weekend presents New Year's Eve Party
People on both sides of Dallas-Fort Worth can enjoy Four Day Weekend's end-of-the-year show. Both the Dallas and Fort Worth events will feature the hilarious interactive comedy show, a cocktail-style dinner, a ticket to a future Four Day Weekend performance, a copy of Four Day Weekend’s best-selling book, Happy Accidents, a champagne toast, party favors, and a DJ with dancing after the show.

The Statler presents Black and White New Year's Eve Party
The historic Statler Ballroom will transform into a modern-day re-creation of Truman Capote’s legendary 1966 "Party Of The Century." All tickets include access to ballroom, two drink tickets, late night food stations from 10 pm-2 am, live entertainment, party flare, and a champagne toast at midnight. VIP and hotel package options are available.

Cole Swindell in concert
Billy Bob's Texas almost always puts on its headliners at the late hour of 10:30 pm, a time that will be conducive to ringing in the new year with this concert by rising country star Cole Swindell. Swindell is a relatively late bloomer, finding success in his thirties with three big albums, including 2018's No. 1 All of It. Billy Bob's isn't advertising anything else special about the night, but it would a surprise if there weren't a few bonuses.

Reunion Tower Over The Top NYE
Finally, you can take in 360-degree, panoramic fireworks spectacular launching from Reunion Tower at midnight. One of the largest shows of its kind in the Central time zone will be a 10-minute show featuring imaginative pyrotechnic and LED lighting effects visible for miles. Reunion Tower and Lawn are not open for fireworks viewing, but anywhere in downtown Dallas or along the Trinity River will be prime spots to watch the show. There will be an official City of Dallas watch party at Dallas City Hall Plaza, complete with food trucks, drinks, and a performance by Castro.

nightlife holidays

Movie Review

Shaun the Sheep gets PG-spooky in new movie for the Halloween season

Photo courtesy of Aardman / Sky UK LTD / StudioCanal 2026

Shaun the Sheep in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.

Since his introduction over 30 years ago, the Aardman Animations character Shaun the Sheep has been almost as popular as the studio’s flagship characters, Wallace and Gromit. There is never a shortage of trouble Shaun can get into as he leads his flock and proves to be a thorn in the side of his farmer and Bitzer, the farmer’s loyal sheepdog.

His antics lead everyone down some slightly spooky roads in the new film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. At first, things are only slightly awry as Shaun and the flock are growing a secret pumpkin patch to have their own jack-o-lanterns. But when the farmer accidentally destroys the pumpkin patch, Shaun tries to regrow it quickly with a Frankenstein-esque experiment.

However, disaster looms when Shaun uses an old bottle of Hair-Gro as the container for the serum he creates. Naturally, the balding farmer uses it on his head, and everyone soon discovers how truly successful it is, with pumpkins growing out of control and the farmer sprouting hair all over his body. Through a series of mishaps, the farmer becomes the titular beast, creating mayhem while Shaun and others try to stop him.

Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, and written by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, the film goes down just as easy as every other Aardman project has. They get the Halloween vibes started from the opening credits, with things like the sheep doing the “Thriller” dance, and continue the fun throughout, referencing everything from Psycho to Friday the 13th in a nice, PG way.

With no script — every character is mute save for reaction noises — the movie relies on sight gags for its humor, and the Aardman team is endlessly inventive in that respect. Sometimes it’s small things like a sheep using toilet paper rolls as binoculars, and sometimes it’s something like forcing the Bigfoot-like farmer to be shaped into a rectangle as he escapes through a window. But there’s a never-ending stream of such moments, so even if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, chances are the next one will.

The biggest benefit of the characters not talking is that there’s no need for deep character development. The filmmakers do a great job of giving the basic traits of each character, and then use those attributes to color everyone’s actions for the rest of the film. Shaun is the troublemaker, the farmer is a bumbling fool, Bitzer is preternaturally smart, and the town’s vet is empathetic, and the combination of those characters and others makes for a highly entertaining blend.

Like all Aardman creations, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is a fun lark that doesn’t make its audience think too hard. With just enough references to keep viewers engaged but not so many as to be overbearing, the film puts its well-worn characters to good use once again, delivering a Halloween season story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is now playing in theaters.

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