It’s time to bust out the noisemakers and confetti. 2013 is days away from taking its final bow. How are you planning on celebrating New Year’s Eve?

If you don’t have plans yet, try one of these three parties in downtown Cleveland:

Society Lounge’s New Year’s Eve

Scott and I recently made our first trip to Society Lounge on E4th, and as we learned at their Repeal Day party, they know how to throw one classy celebration. Fine cocktails, music, a beautifully nostalgic setting. If you want to reminisce about the past while celebrating the future, join them on December 31. Lounge singer Phil Turk will be performing from 10:30pm to 1:30am, accompanied by a champagne toast at midnight. General tickets are no longer available; however, you can pick up $75 VIP tickets which include your own private table and a bottle of champagne for every two tickets purchased. See the flyer below for more information and call 216-781-9050 for tickets.

New Year’s Eve at Pura Vida

Dinner reservations are available at Public Square’s Pura Vida from 4 til 10pm. After 10, a house party takes over. Party with Pura Vida and enjoy appetizers, an open bar, a DJ, champagne toast at midnight and breakfast buffet at 1am. Tickets are $100 if you have a dinner reservation earlier in the evening ($125 if you aren’t dining before the party). VIP lounges with bottle service and a personal host are also available. Reservations are required; email Katie@puravidabybrandt.com and see their flyer below for more information.

Cleveland Rocks New Year’s Eve on Public Square

Of course, the biggest party in downtown Cleveland will be Cleveland Rocks New Year’s Eve on Public Square. With special guest Drew Carey, Ohio Homecoming will bring more than 15 food trucks, local DJs, and electronic dance music group Krewella to Public Square for this outdoor NYE festival. The event will also feature live ice sculpting, a beer garden, fireworks and a countdown at midnight. This free celebration starts at 6 p.m. on December 31 and leads up to midnight. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to Ohio Homecoming’s Village Project. Learn more at www.ohiohomecoming.com (click on ‘Events’).

If you can’t make it downtown for NYE, there are parties going on throughout the Cleveland area. Check out WhyCLE and Anchored in CLE for more New Year’s Eve ideas.

Disclosure: Ohio Homecoming emailed me about blogging about Cleveland Rocks New Year’s Eve after I had already decided to write this post. The choice to blog about these three events is 100% my own.

Society Lounge was hopping with people dressed to the nines in honor of Repeal Day

When Society Lounge opened a short walk from my office, I badly wanted to go. However, with most of our post-work meetings happening on the other side of downtown and the now-6 degree weather keeping me from wanting to walk anywhere, I hadn’t had a chance to get there yet.

Well, I can’t think of any better reason to go than to celebrate Repeal Day.

When I opened my mailbox last month to find a glittery art-deco-inspired invitation to their Repeal Day party, Scott and I dug out our “finest” pearls and top hat to raise a glass in honor of the 80th anniversary of Prohibition’s end.  Make that four glasses because the cocktails were that good.

Love this mural splashed along the wall when you walk into Society Lounge

So we found ourselves on E4th last Thursday in front of Society Lounge’s velvet ropes, frosted glass door and doorman. If anyone’s watching Mob City right now, it reminded me a bit of the old, glitzy night clubs featured in TNT’s new series. The front entrance has a flair for the dramatic, which gets you in the mood for what awaits at the bottom of their staircase.

As the hostess took our coats and opened the door to the lounge, we were immediately enveloped by its nostalgic glamour. Low lighting and dark colors. Rich, plush couches and chairs. A large, beautiful bar as the centerpiece.

Combine excellent ingredients and handmade syrups with the bartenders’ attention to detail and flourish, and Society Lounge has a recipe for success

And why shouldn’t the bar be the centerpiece? Because behind it stood a small army of skilled bartenders.

The event’s menu featured drinks from the Prohibition era. Popular classics like the Old-Fashioned and French 75 were served up, along with El Presidente (which is very fun to say after a couple of drinks), Monkey Gland, and Scofflaw.

Fitting for a Repeal Day party, the menu had both pre- and post-Prohibition Old-Fashioneds. Although I’m happy I tried the pre-Prohibition’s rye, sugar cube and bitters recipe, I’ll take the dressed up Old-Fashioned I know and love.

Our first drinks of the evening at Society Lounge, a French 75 and Monkey Gland

The Scofflaw, though, was far-and-away my favorite of the evening.

Thankfully, the menu shed some history on this new-to-me drink. When anti-saloon members held a contest to come up with the best word to shame Volstead Act violators, boozlag, hooch-snipper, and law-loose-liquor-lover were only a few of the 25,000 entries that poured in. However, scofflaw beat them all out, and in doing so birthed a new cocktail at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris.

Made of rye whiskey, dry vermouth, lemon juice, and Society’s house grenadine, what I loved about this drink was how unexpectedly smooth it was. Although there was that delicious, sharp bite of rye, the sweetness balanced it out and made it a very too easy cocktail to drink.

Maybe the Prohibitionists were right — being a scofflaw leads to this.

The bartenders’ attention to detail combined with the fresh-squeezed juices and made-from-scratch syrups made each drink a work of art. Sadly, they were fleeting masterpieces since we sipped them up quickly.

Society Lounge’s full menu is organized by type of alcohol, so whether you prefer vodka, gin, whiskey, brandy, rum, tequila, or all of the above, you’ll quickly find a cocktail to your liking, as well as tapas to go with them.

They even offer a Temperance Menu if you want to take in the experience minus the booze. WhyCLE and baby-WhyCLE celebrated Repeal Day with The Buzz (local honey, grapefruit, and orange water) and The Brown Cow (house-made root beer syrup, heavy cream, and soda water).

Jen was kind enough to let me taste both and although I loved the strong taste of honey in The Buzz, I would go back to order The Brown Cow. How can you say no to a rootbeer float minus the ice cream headache?

A swing band and dancers added to Society Lounge’s nostalgia

The swing band, dancers, and a champagne toast were the final touches for the perfect Repeal Day party.

I’m not ready to give up modern comforts (or, you know, medical advances) to go back in time to the 1930s; however, an after-work trip to Society Lounge is perfect for a quick fix.

Society Lounge is open Monday through Saturday at 5pm. Check out their entertainment calendar to see who’s performing. Upcoming events include piano players, jazz singers, and swing bands. They also are offering some great music and champagne toast specials for New Year’s Eve. Call 216.781.9050 to purchase tickets for this limited capacity event.

Disclosure: I was invited to attend Society Lounge’s Repeal Day party with a guest. My opinions are 100% my own.