Nightlife

Holiday Roll

The Hot List: 2012 Holiday Parties

You’ve fashioned a skinny tie out of gold tinsel. Well done. Now you just need someplace to wear it. Better take matters into your own hands and throw a holiday party. Here are a few spots that would be happy to accommodate you and your eggnog-loving friends...

THE BRICK-LINED BALLROOM

Fahrenheit at the Ritz Georgetown

You Require: The kind of brick environs and roaring fires that only a former incinerator can provide.
You’ll Receive: Cocktails near the giant fireplace in the lobby before you lead your group to this restaurant turned ballroom—all exposed brick and floor-to-ceiling windows. And probably a red bow or two.

THE NUDE ART GALLERY

The MOCA DC Gallery

You Require: Something more suggestive than mistletoe.
You’ll Receive: A multiroom Georgetown gallery that specializes in, ahem, the human form. You’ll find a wine bar and a surround-sound music room. Also: an exhibit called Heads or Tails that spotlights tasteful depictions of... the human backside. Which beats xeroxing yours.

THE LUXE LIBRARY

The Study at the Huxley

You Require: An air of studiousness. And champagne.
You’ll Receive: A low-lit lounge lined with 25 linear yards of novels, biographies and reference works. Because cracking one open for a dramatic reading will seem like a great idea once the bottles of champagne and tequila start arriving.

THE GIANT DJ DEN

The Upstairs Room at Marvin

You Require: A space worthy of your lofty ambitions.
You’ll Receive: The vaulted ceilings, old-timey chandelier and 45s on the wall in the space that once was known as Blackbyrd but now has been absorbed by Marvin. Book an ESL DJ. Order up some Belgian brews. Repeat.

THE PIZZA-FUELED PERCH

Upstairs at Matchbox 14th Street

You Require: Some semblance of privacy, while still surveying the scene on the two stories below.
You’ll Receive: A third-floor perch with a private bar at the just-opened pizza palace, and all the truffled goat cheese tater tots, mini burgers and spicy meatball pizzas your team can handle.