How to Enjoy New Year's Eve at Home With Your Family

Co-authored by Anna Svetchnikov

Last Updated: December 7, 2024 References

Spending New Year's Eve with at home with your family can be a fantastic opportunity to bond, have fun together, and bring in the New Year with your loved ones. With all the possibilities for fun food, drinks, games and activities, spending New Year’s Eve at home can be a real treat.

Part 1

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Planning Food and Drinks For the Night

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1
Make a homemade meal. Considering that ordering out on New Year's Eve often costs more (since prices are usually increased for the holiday), this is a good excuse to splurge a little and make a family meal at home. Pick out dinner food that everyone enjoys but you don’t get a chance to have very often, like steak, chili, or lobster. This family meal can turn into a New Year’s Eve tradition.
- You could also consider making a meal out of appetizers. This could lead to a more casual dinner setup, and the kids will like having the ability to pick and choose different kinds of food.
- Cheese fondue is another fun dinner idea for New Year’s Eve.^{[1]
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  Research source} Eating cheese fondue with bits of bread and meats will require everyone to sit and eat together. You can take turns dipping your food into the cheese and tell stories from the past year as you eat.
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Make fun snacks and desserts. Consider making cookies, toffee, or other desserts that you can make together as a family and eat throughout New Year’s Eve night. You can get even more in the New Year’s spirit by making New Year’s specific desserts. Lots of cultures have New Year’s Eve desserts like Vasilopita, a Greek New Year’s Eve cake baked with a coin hidden in the dough.^{[2]
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Research source} Whoever gets the piece of cake with the coin will have good luck for the upcoming year.
- Marshmallow countdown skewers are another fun dessert idea. Each marshmallow has two or three numbers drawn on with edible ink, and you can eat the marshmallows as you count down to midnight.
- A fun idea for New Year’s Eve kid friendly drinks are milk and cookie toasts. The kids can join in on the New Year’s toasts by clinking their milk glasses together and eating their cookies as they toast.^{[3]
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Make some holiday drinks and mocktails. Kids will love having hot cocoa, fruity soda pop, and sparkling grape juice on New Year’s Eve. You can even make other mocktails like strawberry-kiwi spritzers, cranberry sparklers, and peppermint drinks. Be sure to use plastic champagne flutes or other plastic “adult” like glasses to make the kids feel really special. Adults can make their own specialty drinks, or stick with classic champagne.
- If you or family members are starting to feel tired, consider making some fun coffee drinks with and without alcohol.

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Having Fun Throughout The Night

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Bring out board games, card games, and electronic games, and even group video games to play as you wait for the clock to strike midnight.^{[4]
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Research source} You could make up game tournaments, or try to play all the games at least once during the night.
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Have a movie night. Pop in a movie you already have at home or rent a movie that you all have been wanting to see. Watching a movie can be just one aspect of your New Year’s Eve plans, or you can turn it into a movie marathon. During this time you can eat and drink different snacks that you have prepared for the night.
- You can also use this time to watch old home videos and reminisce on good times.^{[5]
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  Research source} Depending on how many home videos you have, you can make it a dinner time activity, or have them playing throughout the night.
Arrange an area of your home to be the photo booth stage. Find a wall or background that you can use as a backdrop, and decorate it with some holiday decorations or your written resolutions. You could even print out some masquerade type costume pieces, and have your very own photo props.^{[6]
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Bring out everyone’s best clothes and make everyone in the family feel like they are a part of a fancy New Year’s Eve party or ball. You could play music, dance, and everyone’s fancy outfits can make for some great photos.
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Make countdown bags to open every hour. Fill small bags with different snacks and goodies to open up at every hour leading up to midnight.^{[7]
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Research source} You can make as many bags as you want depending on how early you want to start opening the bags. Some ideas for bag fillers include:
- Disposable cameras^{[8]
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- Activity tags: watch a movie, eat ice cream, play a game, etc.^{[9]
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- Craft kits^{[10]
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- Candy
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Make your own New Year’s Eve decorations. Make your own party hats with some construction paper, string and decorating supplies. You can also make your own New Year’s Eve noisemakers by putting rice, confetti, and glitter inside empty water bottles. Simply twist on the cap and shake to loudly bring in the New Year.^{[11]
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Research source} Consider making a balloon drop for when the clock strikes midnight:^{[12]
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- Simply blow up balloons, and create netting around an overhead fan with some tape and wrapping paper or fabric.
- Place all the balloons inside the netting, and release the balloons whenever you plan to ring in the New Year.^{[13]
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Martha Stewart, Home, Garden, & Lifestyle Expert

Hosting at home creates a canvas for self-expression. "To entertain at home is a rediscovery–of rooms and settings, of your favorite things, and particularly of your own tastes and ideas."

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Celebrating The New Year

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Around midnight or throughout the night in general, you and your family can gather together and reminisce over where the past year has taken each of you individually, and as whole family. After, make and share resolutions for the New Year and what you hope to achieve. You can even try to make a resolution as a family and be each other’s accountability partners.^{[14]
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Celebrate the New Year in a different time zone. If there are younger children, it may be hard for them to stay awake all the way until midnight. Consider celebrating the New Year with a different country’s midnight. For example, depending on where you are in the world, try ringing in the New Year with New York, Paris or Greenland.^{[15]
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Research source} That way, the kids can still celebrate the festivities, but also get to sleep at an earlier hour.
- To take it a step further, you can make whatever country's New Year you're celebrating the theme for the night.^{[16]
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  Research source} If you want to celebrate Paris’ New Year, have crepes, fondue, quiche, wine, and cheeses.
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Sing, make toasts and celebrate. When the clock strikes midnight, everyone should have their drinks prepared to toast, embrace, and wish each other a Happy New Year and make sure you count down the final ten seconds before you make a toast. After midnight, you can all sing the song, “Auld Lang Syne” which is typically associated with ringing in the New Year.^{[17]
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Research source} This is the time to bring out the homemade noisemakers and bang on some pots and pans.^{[18]
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- If the weather permits, go outside and light sparklers and watch fireworks as you hoop and holler celebrating the new year.^{[19]
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Community Q&A

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Question

I'm nervous about the New Year and celebrating it. What do I do?

Community Answer

Just relax, and take it easy. This is meant to be a fun occasion after all. Reflect on the past, plan the future, and at the same time, thank God that you have lived yet another year. Do all of this with your family. Enjoy good food, exchange gifts, listen to music, and have a good time.

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If you're celebrating New Year's Eve at home, what does everybody wear?

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You can wear whatever you want. If you want to be fancy and dress up you can do that, you can wear casual clothes, or you can wear your pajamas and have a slumber party theme to your celebration.

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I'm 13 years old and I want to do something fun but no one at home is interested. What should I do?

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Call up a friend and Skype as the ball drops on TV. Write a list of new year's resolutions and hang it on your wall. Encourage your family to do the same.

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Tips

Forgo the parties you really don't want to attend, and don't take on too many responsibilities. Instead, leave ample time for you and your family to have fun together.

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If you're ordering in, make sure you do so early to avoid the rush of many people choosing to do the same thing!

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Take care of anyone who seems bored or upset by spending the evening with the family. Teens and young adults especially can feel that they're missing out on all the fun if they feel stuck at home. Listen to them and ask them about their past year and what they're looking forward to – this can be a good chance for some family bonding.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you're serving champagne for the adults, have a non-alcoholic sparkling wine available for any guests who don't drink alcohol. Those under 21 can enjoy it too!
Keep the fun going past midnight with a cozy sleepover! Set up sleeping bags in the living room or make beds on the couch, and watch all your favorite movies.
If a fireworks show happens around your area, walk to a park or area where you'll be able to watch the show, then head home afterwards and watch a movie!

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Warnings

If you spend the entire evening regretting being with the family and thinking that you ought to be doing something more exciting, then you'll have a hard time living in the moment and appreciating its value. It's going to be a lot easier and more fun if you accept that staying at home is just another fun way to spend New Year's Eve. Remember all that you won't have to put up with, things like long lines for taxis, drunken brawls, crowds acting crazy, and being slobbered all over by people who insist on kissing everyone as the New Year rings in!

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Ensure responsible drinking in the household.

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If you play loud music, be considerate of the neighbors. Even if it's New Year's Eve, some people still have babies and illnesses to contend with.

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