New Year's Eve is for partying, right? Getting your booze on, kissing some lucky fool at midnight and feeling like crap the next morning, vowing never to drink that much again, right?

Not necessarily.

The folks at Olympia Mahayana Buddhist Center believe not everyone is looking for nightlife and are offering a New Year's Buddhist retreat Dec. 30-Jan. 1 in Gig Harbor.

"We are so happy to be able to offer it this year," says resident teacher Gen Kelsang Tsoglam. "People are experiencing so much stress and heaviness, and meditation is powerful medication without side effects."

The two-night package takes place at Camp Seymour in Gig Harbor and includes gently guided meditation practices, heated cabins and meals. Cost is $125 for members and $150 for non-members.

"Our wish with the retreat," says Tsoglam, "is for people to be able to make heartfelt resolutions based on the connection they have made with their potential on the retreat and carry it through the whole of the 2014, making it the happiest, most relaxed ever."