Get out the bells and whistles - it's time to ring in the New Year right!
Say goodbye to the old and hello to the new with family and friends,
fun and games, and food and favors. Happy New Year!
Theme
Consider choosing a theme for your New Year's Eve party, such as a
Black and White Ball, a Pajama Sleepover, a Costume Party or an allnight
Movie Marathon. Or, make it a Nostalgia Night and go back to
the crazy 80s, the swinging 60s, or the fabulous 40s.
Invitations
Match your invitations to the theme, with black and white cards,
toothbrushes, costume suggestions or request guests bring their
favorite videos. Or, send out invitations that resemble newspaper
headlines touting "The End of the Year is Near," and add a sub
headline: "So Bring The Chips and Cheer!" Note the date, time and
location of the party in the text of the article, along with other details.
Tape it to the front of a real newspaper, photocopy it and then mail to
guests. Fill the envelope with confetti for an added festive touch.
Costumes
Ask the guests to dress according to the theme, in black and white,
pajamas, or as their favorite movie stars. Or, have them flash back to
a particular decade or timeframe, with costumes representing hippies,
gangsters or even flappers. Or, assign a month to each guest and ask
them to dress to match - such as a snow suit for January or a bathing
suit for August. You could also encourage guests to reflect a major
highlight from the year - an election, a birth, a wedding - and have the
other guests try to guess the event. Like charades, but with costumes!
Decorations
Choose a color scheme - black and white, red, white and blue, or silver
and gold - and fill the room with streamers, paper hats, noisemakers
and colorful helium balloons using a Balloon Time Helium Balloon Kit.
Fill some of the balloons with confetti for an end-of-the-night activity.
Sprinkle confetti on the tables and hang colorful streamers from the
ceiling. Add lots of sparkly accents and glow-in-the-dark décor.
Write time-related phrases such as "Time Waits for No One" and
"There's No Time Like the Present," and tape them to the walls. Write
down memorable quotes from the year and hang them on the walls.
Create funny predictions for each guest, such as "You will marry a
prince" or "You will win the lottery," and write the phrases on the
backs of paper placemats. Have guests turn the placemats over once
they're seated for a witty surprise.
Games and Activities
Any Excuse for a Party Day
Write down names of obscure holidays, such as Mother-in-Law Day,
Groundhog Day, National Secretary Day (you can find them by
searching the Internet), and have players guess the correct dates or
months. Be sure to include one unique holiday from each month.
The Tabloid Game!
Buy some supermarket tabloids and cut out the bizarre headlines, such
as "George Clooney Gives Birth to Alien!" or "Oprah Buys Florida!"
Black out the celebrity names, and take Polaroid or digital photographs
of the guests as they arrive and tape them to a sheet of paper. Gather
the group around the table, mix up the pictures, and pass them out.
Spread the headlines on the table and let the guests match them with
the pictures to create personalized tabloid headlines for each other.
It's Been A Crazy Year
Buy a magazine that offers a pictorial review of the year. Cut out the
funniest, most bizarre pictures, such as the "World's Biggest Pumpkin"
or "President Faints in his Soup." Pass them out to the guests and
have them write a funny caption for each photo.
Balloon Blast
At midnight, give each guest a balloon filled with confetti and a pin.
Have them pop the balloon over the head of another guest at the
stroke of midnight - and watch the confetti fly!
Refreshments
Have guests bring food from a favorite time period, such as tuna
casserole or fondue. Or, have them bring a dish with special meaning
for the New Year, such as black-eyed peas for good luck (a southern
custom) or hard-boiled eggs which symbolize fertility. Serve
champagne or apple cider with a cherry at the bottom.
For dessert, offer elegant crème brûlée or cream puffs, or serve an
egg custard - eggs are also a symbol of rebirth and the New Year. Or,
make a cake that looks like a round clock or a square calendar and fill
in the details.
Favors
Give the guests a party souvenir, such as a diet book to assist with
those holiday resolutions, a coffee mug filled with aspirin tablets,
funny fortune cookies, or a bottle of champagne. Make your New
Year's Eve bash one your guests will remember - at least until next
year.
Penny Warner has more than 25 years of experience as an author
and party planner. She has published more than 50 books, including 16
specific to parties. Additionally, Warner writes a weekly newspaper
column on family life, penned a column for Sesame Street Parents
magazine and has appeared on several regional and national TV morning
programs. Her latest book, HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY, debuted in
February 2010 from NAL/Penguin.
Balloon Time is the leading brand of consumer helium balloon kits
in North America. Balloon Time kits feature a helium-filled tank, latex
or foil balloons and ribbon, and are available at national retail
chains, party goods and grocery stores nationwide.