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How to Throw a New Year’s Eve Party
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How to Throw a New Year’s Eve Party
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How to Throw a New Year’s Eve Party

4 Steps to Throwing the Best Party of the Decade

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New Year’s Eve is typically the night with the highest expectations of the year. While some opt for fancier events and a pretty penny spent on tickets, drinks and the like, sometimes the most memorable parties are the most casual.

With that in mind, we’ve put together an easy guide to throwing the best New Year’s Eve party at home. From the invitation to day-after cleanup, we’ve got you covered.

RELATED: 10 Best Vodka Brands You Can Buy

Step One: The Invite

It’s likely that your friends fall into two groups when in comes to New Year’s Eve: those who’ve already planned something months ahead and those who have no idea what they’re doing. Be a hero to the latter group and send out an invite a couple of weeks ahead of the big night.

Everyone has their own way of inviting people to a party (and there seem to be a million ways to do so these days) but one of the easiest ways is to send a digital invite like something from the pages of Evite. They have themes for just about everything, it’s usually free and it makes it easy to get the word out to all of your guests at once. Try to get your friends to stick to an RSVP date as well so you know how many snacks and drinks to prepare.

Be sure to note if guests are allowed to bring guests themselves as well. If so, ask them to mark how many. Planning for a specific number of attendees is much easier than estimating and running low on food, or low on cash as a result of buying out the store when you didn’t need to.

Step Two: Snacks and Drinks

New Year’s Eve is not the time to do a full-scale dinner. Don’t go overboard with the food and drink on offer, but make sure there’s enough to keep everyone pacing nicely as they drink whatever they choose to drink. We have some tried and tested snack recommendations:

Harry & David Mixed Nut Crate

Harry & David Mixed Nut Crate

Your parents may have ordered something at one time or another from Harry and David, but they’re still around for a good reason: reliability. They have all sorts of solid party food options, including the standby’s standby: the mixed nut tray. It’s always a hit at a get-together, just make sure none of your guests have nut allergies first.
From $39.99 at HarryandDavid.com

Mary’s Gone Crackers

Mary’s Gone Crackers

These are highly satisfying crackers made with simple ingredients and pairs perfectly with any cheese or thicker dip. (They also happen to be pretty good right out of the box).
$25.68 (for a 6-pack) at Amazon.com

Siete Spicy Blanco Cashew Queso

Siete Spicy Blanco Cashew Queso

Queso is awesome, there’s no doubting that. However, having lots of dairy can weigh you down, and that’s no bueno, especially on the most important party night of the year. Siete has made a cashew-based version that has just a handful of ingredients, is completely vegan and offers something delicious and different heading into 2020.
From $5.99 at Amazon.com

For drinks, bubbly beverages are the obvious choice.

“If you're hosting a house full of guests on New Year's Eve, you’ll want to serve something fun, affordable and delicious. I love the new wave of bubbles coming out of Oregon — expensive, cheap, traditional style, unique varietals,” says Cellar 503 Founder and CEO Carrie Wynkoop. “This 2018 Brut Rose from Varnum Vintners pairs well with Mexican food, like tamales or chips and guacamole. I’m also loving Kramer Vineyards 2018 Celebrate, made with 100 percent Gruner Veltliner. Super crispy and dry, try this with apps of asparagus, artichokes, smoked fish or even sushi.”

With that, also remember that this is a great time for a punch - boozy or not.

“Buy a vintage punch bowl from a thrift store. You can often find large capacity bowls with matching etched glassware,” says Lydia McLuen, bar manager of Dóttir at the new KEX Portland hotel.

She also recommends you make sure to have enough ice. “Running out of ice is embarrassing,” she notes. “Don’t skimp out here.”

A good rule of thumb is around two pounds per person with adjustments based on cocktails, cooling down drinks, etc. McLuen offers this easy punch recipe:

New Year, New You

Combine ingredients, and store in the fridge. Set up a punch bowl with an ice mold or just regular ice, and fill punch bowl as needed with punch batch. Garnish with thinly cut lemon wheels and ladle into punch glasses over ice. This recipe yields roughly 30 servings.

There are plenty of great books out there that will help you find other ideal additional cocktails for your party too, should this recipe not be your cup of tea … or punch.

As a last note, make sure there are a couple booze-free options including sodas, juices and sparkling water and ciders plus plenty of water on hand. New Year’s Eve can turn into a long night of drinking no matter your choice of libations and hydration is absolutely vital. Remind your guests every so often to have a glass of water and the first thing they’ll be doing after they wake up in the new year is thanking you.

Step Three: Party Decor, Gear and Music

You can do better than the “Happy New Year” banner from the party store down the street. For example, Rita Tabet, Co-Founder of experiential agency Pop Up Mob has a really easy trick using Mylar to create a photo wall on any open space.

“We use Mylar in many of our pop-ups for an easy way to make a statement wall. All you need is a heat gun and Mylar sheets to make your desired shapes. You can even wrap it around chairs or furniture to make a complete photo booth.”

Zaria Zinn, “Celebration Expert” at Evite, notes that you can pick up some great decor while you’re at the thrift store as well.

“Since we’re ending a decade, take a visit to your local thrift store and see if you can find anything iconic from the last 10 years,” she suggests. “Those will be fun conversation starters as well as set the mood.”

For glassware, you’ll need a good amount of champagne flutes for the midnight toast and some festive cocktail cups for the punch. Grab a few of each and use recyclable utensils and service gear for the rest. It steps things up a bit without having to worry about too much glass.

Having an instant camera or a few is a fun way to preserve some of the memories from the night too. What better event to have real photos from to enjoy later.

As for music, invite everyone to make mini-playlists of their favorite jams from the last decade. Compile it all on your favorite streaming service and you have nonstop, conversation-starting music for the entire night.

Step Four: Party Time

The trick here is to not have a ton of setup and prep work so you can enjoy the evening. You’ve likely hosted some sort of holiday meal in the last month, so the last thing you’ll want to do is cook more on the last day of the year. All you need to do is prep the punch, put up the photo wall and set out food about 30 minutes before guests start arriving.

Delegate some of the food and drink duties to your friends to help take some of the workload off your plate. For cleanup, hopefully your friends will help out as things wind down. Above all, of course, make sure everyone has a safe ride home. Start the new year off with the right kind of bang! Here’s to 2020!

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