New Year’s Eve Party Ideas

December 28, 2015 ♦

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Ah New Year’s Eve. How many of you are you all dressed up with nowhere to go? The pressure is on. It’s the one night of the year where there is so much hype that if not done right, you are guaranteed to set yourself up for failure. You need to have the BEST party, with all your friends around you and ideally that special someone to kiss at midnight. Do you want to be the host with the most? If a DIY approach is your style, and you want to ring in the New Year right by hosting a fabulous party at home that you and your friends will never forget, then check out these New Year’s Eve party ideas to make your night one to remember.

Host the dinner party of all dinner parties

What’s more fun than inviting a bunch of friends over for good food, drinks, and conversation? We’ve all seen those films haven’t we? Where there’s a group of people dancing around in their finest black tie and evening wear, listening to big band music and basically just having the time of their lives. That is the ultimate New Year’s Eve dinner party right there. But the reality can be very different! However if done correctly, it can be lovely. Be realistic with your menu, add attention to detail, and get to grips with the mise en place and all should be fine – But if all else fails serve punch and pitcher cocktails and all will be forgotten in the morning!

Source: http://giphy.com/gifs/dancing-beetlejuice-u7rT5t9OkLiyQ

Set the theme

You could pick a poker theme or a karaoke theme but where is the originality in that? Why not host a party around your New Year’s resolutions? With most of us using the New Year to start a diet, sign up to the gym or cut back on alcohol – why not use your party to indulge in your all time favourite vices? Get all your friends to bring all the cakes and pizza and indulge until your heart is content (or at least until midnight when the clock strikes!)

Source: http://such-vodka.tumblr.com/

Play all the games

Make light of New Year’s resolutions by turning them into a guessing game. Tell partygoers to write down their New Year’s Resolutions and after splitting into different teams, have each team member try to guess which resolution belongs to which person. Alternatively if you are after a bit more debauchery, Set up drinking game stations throughout the house and have two teams compete in college dorm favorites like beer pong and flip cup (this one could get messy!)

Source: http://giphy.com/gifs/

Get the cocktails in

No other drink seems better suited to a celebration than Champagne so make sure there’s plenty of it! But if you fancy adding more to the drinks list then why not make a maverick martini? Bursting with fresh flavours and festive vanilla tones, this is perfect for New Year’s Eve. All you need is 37ml vodka, 15ml of passion fruit, 20ml vanilla syrup and 25ml of granadilla juice.

Cool the martini glass by placing ice into it and setting it aside. Fill a cocktail shaker with cubed ice. Pour a shot and a half of vodka and 15ml of passion fruit liqueur into the shaker. Add 20ml of vanilla syrup and 1 shot of fresh granadilla juice. Close the cocktail shaker and shake it for 20 seconds. Remove the ice from the chilled martini glass. Pour the cocktail through a fine tea strainer into the martini glass. Cut a whole granadilla in quarters and float one quarter in the cocktail. Pour a shot of sparkling wine. And enjoy! This recipe and more like this can be found here: http://www.liquidchefsmobile.co.za/maverick-martini/

Source: http://food52.tumblr.com/

Rave it up

If a rave is more your thing then host a black light party. Black lights are just fluorescent lamps coated to filter out visible light, allowing through only long wave ultraviolet light. When these lights are deployed in a dark room, the room remains dark but the ultraviolet light reflects off of anything white or fluorescent, giving your room a ‘ravey’ atmosphere. It really is that easy to turn your home into a nightclub! Switch out your regular light bulbs with black lights, tell guests to come wearing white and hand out glow sticks to get the full effect. Are you raving or behaving?