The Best Party Pictures of the Year

You Won’t Forget These Wild and Classy Shots

By Shelby Hodge // Dec 29, 2016

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Tracy and Valerie Dieterich enjoying the Houston Grand Opera Ball in 2016. (Photo by Wilson Parish)

Ceron & Todd Fiscus aka Prince and "When Doves Cry" at Allison Sarofim's storied Halloween party

Allie & Jay Fields at Catwalk for a Cure

DJ Lucy Wrubel at Forty Five Ten opening

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston director Bill Arning

Chefs Charles Clark, Randy Evans, Pedro Garcia, Lance Fegen, Randy Rucker, Robert Del Grande, Bryan Caswell, Monica Pope all cooking at Recipe for Success

They don't get much more glamorous than this — Charles Clark, Romey Lauren at Van Cleef & Arpels

A sweet moment between Lynn Wyatt and maestro Antoine Plante at Mercury gala

Houston Symphony Ball 2016, Jones Hall, Carnival, theme, Brazil, Houston, Texas

Houston Symphony Ball a carnival blast on stage at Jones Hall

Josie de Guzman in 'Peace' splendor at the costume Alley Ball

Sara Eckert at Recipe for Success (no explanation needed)

Designer Brandon Maxwell and his young nephew at Catwalk for a Cure

Katherine & Paul Murphy at Jones Hall 50th anniversary gala

The Surrealist Ball in Florence, celebrating Aquazurra designer Edgardo Osorio's 30th birthday

Holly Moore, Randy Powers at PaperCity 'Bound to Happen' magazine launch party

Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez on the catwalk at Una Notte in Italia

Lizzie Andrews, Lucas Somoza — just because it's a beautiful party picture from the Barbara Bush literacy fundraiser at The Dunlavy

Rienzi Spring Party a beautiful night for al fresco wining and dining

Cheech Marin takes a breather at the Houston Art Fair

Houston Symphony Ball chair Jana Arnoldy steps out in carnival splendor

Allison Sarofim at her Halloween bash

Michael Coorengel and Naty Abascal, Duchess of Feria, at Edgar Osorio's birthday bash in Florence

Rocking with the Eli Young Band

Trenton Doyle Hancock, JooYoung Choi at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston gala

Oh, what fun it was, 2016. We partied and partied and partied even more. Even as PaperCity transitioned from broadsheet to bound, we kept the party beat going. From the monster bashes to the sweetest of intimate fundraisers, H-Town’s most intriguing events were covered in our pages — and on this burgeoning website.

But the party landscape did not stop at the city limits. From New York, to Paris to Florence and back to Houston, we captured the bright lights of party nights around the globe.

From the thousands of party pix in our files, we have selected a few of our favorites for your perusal. The Houston Symphony Ball, the white-tie Houston Grand Opera Ball, costume bashes, store openings, chef-driven events and more — we offer our readers a playful party retrospective.