The end of the year is right around the corner, and that means an opportunity to throw an epic New Year’s Eve Party for your family! Here are some quick ideas to help you plan a great party that everyone will enjoy.
Set your party up for success by planning ahead. Buy any games, decor, plates, utensils, and food and drinks before the holidays to prevent a last-minute rush. Utilize your freezer or additional storage in your house to keep these items until they are ready to be used. You may also be able to find good prices on items outside of the holiday season or even find useful ways to reuse items from previous holiday parties.
If your Christmas tree is still up, it can be redecorated with sparkly or fun New Year-themed decor. To complement the tree, decorate the surrounding area with streamers, gold garland, or anything else you would like. A fun activity to incorporate with this is to have your kids each write a note to themselves to read next New Year’s Eve and then have them place it in the tree.
Give prompts and encourage them to write and set goals they want to accomplish by the end of the year. When next year rolls around, they can read their notes and reflect on what they achieved. You could even make it a yearly tradition.
Have a family discussion and choose a theme for attire at the party. You can choose to go cozy with matching pajamas and have a slumber party or decide to dress up fancy as if you were going to a red carpet event. You can choose to dress silly and mismatched for an extra fun theme or choose to all dress up as someone who inspires you. Be creative and get everyone involved in coming up with ideas and making a decision. Document the night with family pictures and create a scrapbook or album to commemorate the event.
Set up a simple photo booth in an open area. Use a white or black sheet as the backdrop and set a camera or phone up with a stand or tripod. Hang up a gold garland, streamers or fun signs. Create a craft station and let everyone make their own props, hats, or masks to have fun with. Make a scrapbook or album to showcase all of the great photos.
Prepare plenty of snacks for everyone to enjoy. Have your kids help plan the menu with items they would love to help make or eat. Set a theme for the menu to make it a little extra fun, like colors of the rainbow, midnight breakfast, or a tropical pool party. Set up the food in fun containers or make little doggy bags decorated to match the theme. Getting everyone involved in the process can make even the planning and preparing fun.
Spending a lot of time at home means planning engaging activities to keep everyone occupied. Set up various stations around the party. Have an area for eating, one for relaxing, and then areas where there are planned activities. Put together themed games, set out coloring sheets with stickers, craft activities, and areas to inspire some physical activity. These stations will allow for your kids to come and go as they please throughout the evening.
If you live in a warmer climate or have a heated pool, host a midnight pool party. Pull out glow sticks, or fun pool floats to boost the fun. Add decorations, music, and anything else you feel would bring enjoyment to your party.
If you like to have an itinerary for the night, plan out your schedule ahead of time. Set hourly milestones for what activities you will do at a specific time to keep the party going and to keep everyone busy. This can be especially helpful for young children who have a lot of energy to spare. Wrap a gift for each hour of the night to add an easy activity everyone will look forward to.
If you plan to have your kids go to bed before midnight, prepare a mock countdown so they don’t miss out on the celebration. Make a special drink, like a mug of hot chocolate or ginger ale in a fancy glass so they can join in on the toast. Hand out poppers, glitter cannons, or noisemakers that they can use to ‘Cheers’ the start of the new year. Make a toast as the countdown ends, tie a net full of balloons to the ceiling and release them after the ball drops. For some added fun, you can place special prizes inside a few of the balloons for your little ones to find.
New Year’s is a great way to celebrate all the things that have happened in the past year and to begin to look forward to the possibilities of the year to come with the people you love and care for the most. Feel free to be as creative as you want with your party ideas and Happy New Year!
“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.” -Melody Beattie