E-Mail This Article to a Friend First Night The annual New Year’s bash rolls on BY NINA MACLAUGHLIN

Back in 1976, a group of artists devised an alternative, arts-based New Year’s Eve party that has grown from a few decoratively dressed yahoos banging drums on Boston Common to the largest New Year’s celebration in North America with a million button-wearing revelers and hundreds of performances. It’s an unwieldy beast, First Night, and here’s a sampling to help you tame it. Events run from noon to midnight on December 31.

The centerpiece of First Night is the Grand Procession. A torrent of puppets, performers, musicians, and merrymakers starts at the Hynes Convention Center at 5:30 p.m. and makes its way down Boylston Street to the corner of Charles and Beacon Streets. The trademark ice sculptures include a dragon and First Night frogs at the Boston Common Frog Pond, " Buffalo Children " on the Lafayette Mall, and an ice circus on Copley Square.

The Hynes (900 Boylston Street) hosts a Family Festival with a day-long selection of kid-friendly music, dance, storytelling, and stunts. The New England Anime Society screens selections of Japanese animation at 1, 2:15, 3, and 4:45 p.m. The Airborne Comedians juggle electric guitars and birdbaths at 1:40, 3:10, and 4:40 p.m., and the SkyRiders bounce on trampolines with skis and hula hoops at 1:20, 2:50, and 4:20 p.m.

There’s music to suit most tune tastes. Incensed British pub-rocker Graham Parker plays the Orpheum (1 Hamilton Place) at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. backed by members of the Gentlemen. College-radio regular Bill Janovitz and his band Crown Victoria precede Parker at the Orpheum at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Some might recognize Neal Sugarman from his days with Boston punk-era band Boy’s Life; the saxophonist fronts vintage funksters Sugarman 3 at 9 and 10 p.m. at Emmanuel Church (15 Newbury Street). Ziaf channels Parisian chanteuse Edith Piaf at 7:30 and 8:45 p.m. at the Boston Public Library (700 Boylston Street in Copley Square). New Zealand free-noise champ Birchville Cat Motel drones as part of the " Evening of Experimental Music " from 7:30 to 11 p.m. at the Hynes. The bill also includes Black Forest/Black Sea, Jay Sullivan, and Howard Stelzer.

Those classically disposed will want to know that Très. performs Baroque works befitting the season at 6 and 7:45 p.m. at the First and Second Church (66 Marlborough Street). The thundering brass bash of the Old South Brass, Organ and Timpani ensemble can be heard at 6:30 and 8 p.m. at Old South Church (645 Boylston Street in Copley Square). The young musicians of Project STEP, which brings together African-Americans and Latinos to perform classical music, appear at 1 and 2 p.m. at the First and Second Church; they’re followed by the Boston City Singers at 3 p.m.

The First Night Film Festival takes place at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (290 Brookline Street in Brookline) and the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Avenue). At noon at the Coolidge, there’s the annual Looney Tunes Extravaganz. Then as part of the " Documentary Salon " at the Coolidge, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen follows in the hallowed bowling-flick tradition at 3 p.m.; it’s followed at 5 p.m. by Born into Brothels, which traces the lives of kids raised in Calcutta’s red-light district who are given cameras and lessons by a professional photographer. And at 9 p.m., you can catch Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as Antonio in a sneak preview of The Merchant of Venice, which opens here next month. The MFA, meanwhile, presents its annual shorts program at 12:15, 1:30, 2:45, and 4 p.m.

In the movement department, BalletRox offers its Nutcracker alternative, Urban Nutcracker, at 1 and 2:15 p.m. at the Hynes. Snappy Dance taps into the work of master-of-macabre Edward Gorey in Temperamental Wobble with its sculpturally absurd physicality at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. at John Hancock Hall (180 Berkeley Street). And at 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. at Hancock Hall, David Parker & the Bang Group serve up another alternative Nutcracker with a blend of comedy and contemporary dance in Nut/Cracked.

Comedy highlights at the Hynes include Tony V. at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; Tony calls his annual look back on the year " a Magical Mystery Tour without the magic or mystery. " Red Sox über-fan Jimmy Dunn joins Tony at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., as does Muslim stand-up comedienne Tissa Hami at 8, 9, and 10 p.m. Improv Boston leaves its cramped quarters in Inman Square for an evening at the Hynes from 7:30 through 11 p.m. And the Boston Poetry Slam encourages audiences to join the verbal dance at 7:30, 8:15, 9, 9:45, and 10:30 p.m.

The First Night Button affords admission to all First Night Events. Buttons are $15 and can be purchased at Shaw’s/Star Markets, Store 24s, the MFA, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Park Street T station, and a variety of other outlets. For more information, call (617) 542-1399; for a complete schedule of performances and events, visit www.firstnight.org.