New Year Eve Theme Party Ideas

10, 9, 8, 7... The New Year will be here soon.  Do you know what you will be doing when the clock strikes 12?  Are you stumped about what kind of New Year’s Eve party to have?  Need some great ideas to bring in the new year with a bang? 

This article is full of great New Year’s ideas as well as some fun themes for parties like a starry night party, a pajama party, an ice party, and more.  Pick some ideas, invite your guests, and you will be ready to start the year on an awesome note.    

Make your New Year’s party stellar by decorating with stars. Serve the food in star-shaped serving bowls. Find plates, napkins, and cups with stars printed on them. Sprinkle star confetti on the tables and counters. Use star-shaped cookies cutters to make deserts. Use a star-shaped ice tray and serve your guests starry ice.  Place twinkle lights everywhere for a nighttime sky effect. Hang star cutouts from the ceiling. Give your guests sparklers to light for the countdown to midnight.

As the saying goes, make new friends, keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. What better time is there to both celebrate the past and to look forward to the new but New Year’s Eve?

Use silver and gold decorations. Tell guests the theme so everyone can wear gold and silver. Have everyone write down the best thing about the passing year and what they hope to have in the coming year. Give your guests gold and silver taper candles to light for midnight.

The New Year comes at midnight, right? Why not be in your nightclothes? Have all your guests wear pajamas. For adults, that can mean racier nightwear. Make the night feel like a slumber party. Place pillows and blankets around the room. Serve big bowls of popcorn. Play games like Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle. Have a pillow fight. Do facials and makeovers. Curl up in sleeping bags and watch movies.  Cinderalla lost her slipper at midnight.  Have everyone toss their fuzzy slippers in the air at midnight, too.

Host a glowing black light party. Give everyone glow sticks and glow bracelets. Serve tonic water to drink. It glows under black lights. Make tonic water ice cubes. Use dry ice to make the drinks misty (See links below for more drink ideas).

Use petroleum jelly to write “Happy New Year!” on the walls and mirrors. It glows under a black light also. Clothes detergent with bleach also glows. Write with it. Set off a glow in the dark Mentos geyser at midnight to kick off the New Year.

An ice-themed party is a downright cool idea for your New Year’s bash. Get a snow flake machine. It works basically the same way fog machines do. Some fog machines can even double as snow makers. Or you instant snow powder to create your own snow.

Use molds to create an ice sculpture for the table centerpiece. Get ice cube molds to make unique ice cubes for drinks. You can even get a mold to make shot glasses made of ice (Pictured at right). Use dry ice for a cool effect. Sit a bowl of warm water with a few pieces of dry ice in it on the table to make it look foggy and like melting ice.

Decorate with snow flake cutouts or snow flake Christmas ornaments. Use a light blue tablecloth and plates. Wear ski clothing or figure skating costumes. You could even try some ice experiments to entertain your guests. Don’t forget to clink your ice cubes together during the midnight toast.

Host an A-list party with this fabulous Hollywood theme.  Let your guests know they will be walking the red carpet so they can look their best for the paparazzi.  Be sure to have a real red carpet for your guests.  You can get one for $10-20.

Find other Hollywood items to set the scene.  Look for director’s chairs, stars, movie clapper boards, Oscar style statues, cameras, and megaphones.  Pop plenty of popcorn and watch movies with your guests after you’ve walked the red carpet. 

Don’t forget to take lots of pictures and interview your guests.  Give awards to the best dressed guests.  Make up other awards to give out at your star-studded affair like best scene at the dinner table, best entrance, best kiss, and so on.    

• Dress as a fortune teller and make predictions about the upcoming year. Make the predictions funny or kooky. (I see lots of asparagus in your future.)
• Serve fortune cookies at your party. Everyone wants to know what the coming year will bring.
• Leave pads of paper and pens for your guests to write down their New Year’s resolutions.
• Make a time capsule. Have everyone put something in it that is meaningful to them and that they want to share in the future. Set a time to reopen the capsule. It could be the following year, it could be 5, 10, or more years later.
• Throw a farewell party for the old year. Display mementos of the year as you wave goodbye at midnight.
• Have a Back to the Future movie marathon.
• Prepare a toast to ring in the new year.
• Give your guests bubbles, confetti, or sparklers for the midnight countdown.