Ottawa New Year's Eve events run the gamut

Whether you're hoping to sip champagne with the one you love or have a ball with the whole family, there are plenty of options for New Year's Eve revellers in Ottawa this year. 

Beyond the host of parties at Ottawa pubs, restaurants and hotels, Ottawa will host several large-scale outdoor events. 

From concerts to comedy, you're bound to like one of these options. 

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If you want to dance

The outdoor concert stage will be resurrected on Sparks Street this year, as another New Year's Eve concert kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. 

Ottawa's Silver Creek will start off the show, followed by another home-grown artist, Angela Marie. The main event will be country rock group Cold Creek County, who are set to play right up to the annual "Maple Leaf Drop" and fireworks display. 

If you want to play

City Coun. Rick Chiarelli's alcohol-free family New Year's Eve event will once again be raising money for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, while providing an evening of performances and games for kids and adults. 

The event runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Ben Franklin Place, and Chiarelli says that if you want to take advantage of the free sleigh rides, you'd better get there early. 

This year's theme is "once upon a time," complete with a fairy tale skate show and costume contest. 

"For the little ones that obviously means fairy tales and scary tales," says Chiarelli. "But for the adults it's closer to the ongoing television series that's a little darker but still based on fairy tales."

The event will also include a bouncy castle and fireworks display, but the most popular activity is consistently colouring — which is why there will be a room dedicated to colouring this year. 

If you want culture

Hogmanay is back at Landsdowne Park's Aberdeen Pavilion, but this year the annual Scottish celebration will have even more for the kids. 

"What we found last year was that there were lots and lots of children and families and we didn't give it enough space or we didn't allocate enough entertainment for them," says John Ivison, executive director of the Scottish Society of Ottawa.

"So, this year, we're taking over the horticultural building as well."

There will be highland dancing, bagpipes and haggis, a savoury Scottish meat pudding that traditionally contains the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep.

This year there will also be an extra countdown at 7 p.m. to sync up with the ball drop in Scotland.

If you want to laugh

Three Canadian comedians will help people kick off 2016 in Orléans at the annual New Year's Eve Comedy Night at Harold Shenkman Hall. 

Ottawa's Terry McGurrin, Christina Walkinshaw and K. Trevor Wilson will perform stand-up routines starting at 9 p.m.