Let me start by saying New Years Eve isn’t my favorite holiday, but I still enjoy celebrating with friends! Neither Logan nor I really like to “party,” so we usually end up hanging out with a small group of friends or going to dinner and a movie just the two of us. We’re lucky if we’re able to stay up past midnight … old married couple alert! Last year for some reason, I decided we should host our own New Years Eve party, and I do have to say it was A LOT of fun!
We served a variety of drinks and appetizers and had our guests bring snacks to share. Great food is a MUST for an awesome New Year’s Eve party!
The biggest hit of the party, though, were these gift bags that we opened at 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00. The first two contained games and the last one contained noisemakers and party hats for ringing in the new year. Our guests couldn’t wait for the next hour to see what was in the next bag! This kept everyone guessing and entertained. Even those who had said they were only going to stop by for awhile ended up staying the whole night!
The first game (9:00) was matching celebrities to their New Year’s resolution and the second game (10:00) was a trivia game about pop culture, sports and news from the past year. Our guests had to divide into three teams and write their responses on white boards – yes, my inner teacher is always a part of me! It was so funny how competitive everyone was, especially the guys! The winner of each game got to choose a gift bag of their own, which contained a $16 gift card (get it? 2016?) I think I had the winning team of the second game go head to head in a sudden death round to figure out who would get the gift card. Hello… teacher salary, remember?
(Most of these ideas came from this blog post.)
And before everyone left, they got a ring pop to take home to thank them for ringing in the new year with us. Because who doesn’t love a ring pop?!
This was my favorite picture of the night – celebrating with my best girlfriends! Like I said, the last gift bag contained party hats and noisemakers for ringing in the new year. We had a projector installed when we finished our basement, so watching big events like football games, the Bachelor (duh), and the ball drop are extra fun on the big screen!
I’m thinking this year’s New Year’s Eve may be a little more low key for Logan and I. I’m not feeling super motivated to plan another party at 36 weeks pregnant, but I do hope to host a NYE party again sometime! How will you be ringing in 2017?
Check out my New Years Pinterest board for more fun ideas!
XOXO, Jenna