Christmas and New Year’s are coming, which I’m sure is no news to anyone! But what might be news is all the happenings in Delavan for each holiday! Let’s get started on figuring out what your plans are going to be.
Kick off the day before Christmas Eve with Whiskey Ranch’s Ugly Holiday Outfit Party, Dec. 23 from 11 am – 2 pm. Pull out the ugly sweater, find the knit pants with the snowflakes and penguins on ’em, throw on the fuzzy boots and head on over for some lighthearted holiday fun. There’s even gonna be a winner chosen for the “best” ugly holiday outfit! Follow that fun with Rosewood’s “Listen to the Lights” outdoor light and music display, 5 – 11 pm nightly. Just turn your car radio to 92.9 FM and listen to the sounds and music of the holidays as every 20 minutes it rotates through. Seeing someone else’s lights, and especially put to music, is always a highlight of the holiday season ‘coz it’s someone else up on the ladder and not me! If you’ve still got your ugly sweater on, then you can finish off the night at The Watershed Saloon’s Customer Appreciation Christmas Party, 7 – 10 pm. If you’ve never been there, well first of all, shame on you, but don’t think that you don’t count as a customer to be appreciated since when you walk in the door on Dec. 23 for the party, you instantly are now a customer! Ain’t that easy peasy how that worked out? If you like live music, then head over to Lake Lawn Resort from 9 pm – 1 am for Kevin Kennedy, aka Special K, in the Lookout Bar & Eatery. The award winning entertainer will bring his powerful vocal styling as you listen to familiar songs from the 50’s to today.
Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 of course, can be kicked off at Lake Lawn Resort with their Champagne Brunch, 8:30 am – 2 pm. I even heard a rumor that certain someone might be paying a visit before he gets busy later on that night! If you left room after the Brunch, then stick around or if you’ve got last minute shopping to do, then come on back for Lake Lawn Resort’s Dickens-inspired Christmas Eve Dinner at The Frontier. Take a step back in time and enjoy one of the most famous holiday meals as shared by Bob Cratchit and his family. Chef David Ross has created a spectacular menu based on the food, design and spirit of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. After all that good food, dance it off at New Horizons with The Mike Stone Trio, 6:30 – 9:30 pm. I’m betting some hot swing jazz will be just the ticket to get energized for Christmas Eve. And that makes for good sleeping while you know who does his gift giving thing!
Christmas Day brings a Grand Yuletide Christmas Day Buffet at Lake Lawn Resort, 10 am – 6 pm, with traditional holiday and brunch favorites in abundance, at the beautiful and festively decorated Frontier Restaurant. After the presents are all opened and before the first toy is broken, let Chef David Ross and his staff do the cooking for Christmas Day. If you didn’t get enough of The Mike Stone Trio the night before, they’ll be back again at New Horizons, 6:30 – 9:30 pm, or if you couldn’t make it out then, you get a chance to see ’em now!
Get warmed up for the New Year’s Eve celebrations with live music options on Saturday, Dec. 30! Kevin Kennedy, aka Special K, will again be at Lake Lawn Resort in the Lookout Bar & Eatery, 9 pm – 1 am. You can start off the night with Grammy award winner Terry Sweet, 6 – 10 pm, playing all your favorites from Billy Joel to Jerry Lee Lewis in The Frontier Restaurant at Lake Lawn Resort. Delavan Lake Store is hosting SIMPLE, a local artist offering soft acoustic and folk music in a relaxed environment.
New Year’s Eve of course brings on the celebration! Start the morning by building up for the night with the Champagne Brunch at Lake Lawn Resort, 8:30 am – 2 pm. If staying up ’til midnight CST isn’t your thing, Rosewood offers New Year’s at Noon, 11:30 am – 3:30 pm, rolling out the red carpet for 2018 with cocktail reception, dining with their signature Chef-attended dinner stations, and at 2 pm, ‘Fabulous!’ featuring Mark and Gretch Hladish with Jo Hodgins performing a colorful, floor-show styled production of legendary musical standards by such artists as Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Elvis, The Andrews Sisters, and more. There will be the special feature during the show of Rosewood’s New Year’s Eve Countdown and Champagne Toast to properly usher in the New Year in style.
For those of you that will take a nap during the day on New Year’s Eve to allow for being up late… Okay, that’s probably gonna be me doing that, but I know I’m not the only one that does it! Rosewood again rolls out the red carpet for 2018, 6:30 pm – 1 am, with cocktail reception, dining with their signature Chef-attended dinner stations, and at 9 pm, ‘Fabulous!’. Midnight of course brings on the Countdown and Champagne Toast. Delavan Lake Store tests both your staying power (take a nap during the day! I’m tellin’ you, it helps!) and your brain power with their New Year’s Eve Games & Trivia, 7 pm – midnight. Whiskey Ranch Bar & Grill hosts their New Year’s Eve Customer Appreciation Party, 9 pm – 1:30 am, with $50 All-You-Can-Drink wristbands available from 9 – 10:30 pm (only 500 being sold; good for any rail, beer or call drink), 50/50 drawn hourly, and then at 1:30 am a wristband number will be drawn for a $500 cash prize. Of course at midnight, cheers to the New Year with champagne toast and party favors happens, too! Bring in the New Year at New Horizons with music by BCT, 9:30 pm – 1:30 am, that will have you pumped, dancing and partying ’til the cows come home! If you didn’t get enough of The Mike Stone Trio through the Christmas holiday, here’s your chance to ring in the New Year with them at Wally Wheelz Inn, 9:30 pm – midnight (or a bit later, what with the champagne toast and all for welcoming in 2018). The End Zone hosts their Steak & Shrimp New Year’s Eve Dinner, with none other than, steak and shrimp, starting at 7 pm! Dance the night away to Chicagoland DJ ‘Funky J’ and a $5 raffle winner takes all at midnight after the champagne toast and balloon drop.
So what’s there to do for New Year’s Eve when you’ve got family and kids of varying ages? One word, Lake Lawn Resort – okay, so that’s technically three words, but it’s one place so, yah, go with it. Lake Lawn Resort will again be hosting it’s annual New Year’s Eve festivities complete with multiple exciting parties for all ages. There are adult-only areas, then the wild family party complete with movies and crafts, so everyone of every age is covered. Activities and parties are happening all over the Resort, from The Frontier Restaurant and Lounge, to the Lookout Bar & Eatery, to the Geneva Ballroom, to the Great Room and in between. You’ll find movies, balloon drops, indoor 9-hole mini-golf (yes, indoor!), and carnival games, 7 – 11 pm. You can make this New Year’s Eve night whatever you want it to be with dining choices, activity options, entertainment selections, etc. If you can’t find something to suit everyone for celebrating New Year’s Eve at Lake Lawn Resort, then you’re probably not actually at Lake Lawn Resort.
And so now it’s New Year’s Day… New Year’s Brunch is all that comes to mind and luckily there’s two wonderful options for just that on New Year’s Day. Rosewood has their Signature Chef-attended Brunch, featuring the complimentary Bloody Mary and Mimosa Bar, and then at 2 pm, ‘Fabulous!’, once again featuring Mark and Gretch Hladish with Jo Hodgins performing a colorful, floor-show styled production of legendary musical standards by such artists as Tony Bennett, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Elvis, The Andrews Sisters, and more. Lake Lawn Resort hosts their New Year’s Day Bloody Mary Brunch, with Chef’s Custom Omelette and Waffle Bar, plus a Brunch Buffet to make your head spin with the selections. Why is it called the ‘Bloody Mary Brunch’ you ask? Because you can customize your own Bloody Mary at the Bloody Mary Bar with a wide variety of ingredients to create your own one-of-a-kind drink!
No matter how you choose to spend both Christmas and New Year’s, doing it in Delavan is the easiest choice you can make!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’s to you all!
“He’s making a list and checking it twice.
Even though the unseasonably warm temperatures of late aren’t making it feel like Christmas is 21 days away, there it is – three weeks from today is December 25. So how to get in the spirit of the season when Mother Nature isn’t helping with the visual aspect? Get out and do all the holiday-related things that are happening around Delavan, of course! And are there things happening… Lights and Santa and shows, oh my!
Regardless of having a white covering of snow, viewing holiday lights should always be on the list of activities. Head to Rosewood, turn your car radio to 92.9 FM, and enjoy ‘Listen to the Lights’ nightly, offered every 20 minutes from 5 – 11 pm. Watch as Rosewood’s entire facility lights up to the sounds and music of the holidays. Can’t get enough of it? Then it’s a good thing ‘Listen to the Lights’ is available from now ’til Jan. 2!
Wanting to make sure Santa knows you’ve been good this year and what’s on your wish list? There are plenty of opportunities to see Santa, so no worries! Check out the options:
Holiday shows of so many different types are happening, that there’s sure to be one, or more, that gets you in the holiday spirit! Remember all the songs, hymns, and carols that make this a magical time of year with Rosewood’s ‘Christmas Remembered’ show. Add to each performance delicious food, be it brunch, lunch or dinner, and what a combination! Below are the options:
As it gets closer to the Christmas, how about an opportunity to blow off a little holiday steam? Whiskey Ranch Bar & Grill is having an ‘Ugly Holiday Outfit’ party on Dec. 23, from 11 am – 2 pm. If you feel the magic and mystique of the holiday has faded with maturity and age, then go enjoy some lighthearted fun and maybe even win a prize for your ugly holiday outfit.
If your desire in wanting to listen to Christmas music is limited to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but you still love music in general, then you’re not to be disappointed in the options for live music. The hardest part of this will be choosing whom to go listen to! Here are just a few options:
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