5 Essential Tips For a NYE Party

Once the excitement of Christmas is done, the next big occasion looms – the largest one of the year, as "5 Essential Tips For a NYE Party"

5 Essential Tips For a NYE Party

Once the excitement of Christmas is done, the next big occasion looms – the largest one of the year, as well as, the first and last – New Years Eve.

This year, why not take the plunge and plan a party all on your own? With these DIY ideas for anything from ice-breaking activities to décor, you’ll have no dramas throwing a memorable – champagne notwithstanding – event.

Here are some Essential Tips For a NYE Party:

1. Ice-breaking Ideas

Especially important if your guests don’t know each other well, ice-breaking activities are an often overlooked aspect of NYE party planning. While the term “ice-breaking activity” evokes images of networking events, these can be quirky and fun without the cheese factor.

Consider a “resolution wall”; a large sheet of butcher’s paper and some pens, have guests write their resolutions for the following year (and if you have a follow up party the next year, see if any of them are kept!)

2. Food

Planning ahead is the best way to get out of the hosting nightmare of being stuck in the kitchen – bite-sized finger food can be left on platters, with accompanying serviettes, and replenished as required.

yum.com

Alternatively get everyone to bring a plate to share on small bites, this way it’s not all down to you plus you won’t have the financial burden. Then to relieve yourself of making sure platters up topped up and serving, you could hire and Airtasker to help you with this and also the dreaded cleaning up.

A BBQ or buffet is also a great solution for a more informal celebration. Everyone can help themselves when they feel like. There are catering services that you could get for this, or again get people to BYO.

3. Drinks

Tricky – and dependent on your budget, and the drinking habits of your guests! It goes without saying that all should have a glass of bubbles in their hand for the clock-strike.

Countdown-Champange-Flutes-New-Year_s-Eve
Source: jakomang

Beyond that, some ideas include having guests bring a bottle – not unreasonable, especially if you’re on a budget and already organizing food. Alternatively ask everyone to put money in to buy the drinks.

Alternatively, consider a fruit punch – packed with as much or little alcohol as your wallet allows. Communal so guests can help themselves, and refreshing in the warm weather!

It goes without saying – provide plenty of water and non-alcoholic beverages for the drivers and non-drinkers amongst your friends.

And don’t forget the ice.

4. Decor

Even if your party is in your lounge or back yard, it can be transformed easily using some fairly basic do-it-yourself décor ideas. Balloons, streamers, themed napkins are all easy enough to do; just pick a colour theme that suits your personality and house and go for broke.

nye-party-theme
Source: Style Motivation

Alternatively, pick a date theme – Great Gatsby, or 50’s Tiki Party, these can influence your food, drinks and décor. Also great as an icebreaker and starting point for conversations!

Don’t forget:
– A clock in a central location is important
– A screen to watch the fireworks and sparklers to hand out to your guests.

5. Enjoy yourself!

As host of a NYE party, it’s easy to get so caught up with making sure everybody is enjoying themselves that the night flies by in a harried rush of re-filling glasses and replacing canapés.

If you plan ahead, there’s no reason to stress the minor details – at the end of the day, or year, it’s the company that people will remember, not the sprigs of basil on your Crostini. So pour yourself a champagne, make a resolution you’ll forget, and have fun.

New Year Resolutions You Shouldn’t Make

We’ve all been guilty of making unrealistic New Year resolutions such as “lose 10 kilograms” or “complete a marathon” but "New Year Resolutions You Shouldn’t Make"

New Year Resolutions You Shouldn’t Make

We’ve all been guilty of making unrealistic New Year resolutions such as “lose 10 kilograms” or “complete a marathon” but making resolutions that you’re unable to achieve without pure dedication is setting yourself up for fail.

Funny-new-years-resolutions-cake

Your resolutions should be something that is a challenge but not unattainable. Here are New Year resolutions that you shouldn’t make and alternative suggestions that you’ll be able to put a tick next to.

Saving Money
This isn’t a bad goal at all but it can be hard if you have credit card repayments that are about to hit in February and March. You need to be careful with your spending by cutting back on eating out and shopping, but you can also earn more by completing tasks on Airtasker so you don’t need to cut back your fabulous lifestyle too much 🙂 .

New resolution: Earn more

Goals
Long-term goals aren’t the culprits here, it’s the short-term goals which will be achieved and then you experience a ‘what’s next’ moment and fall in to bad patterns again. Instead make new habits that will change your way of living.

Regardless of what you want to achieve the 3 habits you will need to master are:
1. Set aside time to practice – wake up an hour earlier and put it in your calendar.
2. Do it – don’t procrastinate or make excuses.
3. Have fun- remember why your doing this and everything is working towards the bigger picture.

New resolution: Change habits

Career change
So you hate your job and your thinking the grass might be a little greener on the other side. Well it’s true it could be, but there is a smart way to find out if it’s where you want to go next.

By volunteering and completing tasks on Airtasker, you’ll be able to get great hands-on experience to see whether it’s for you. Plus it’s the perfect opportunity to network or better yet turn into a permanent job.

New resolution: Get experience

Shop less
This goes hand in hand with saving money, and it’s a struggle with the constant mid-season, end of season and new collections email blasts. But don’t worry you are not alone and it’s easy to get rid of temptation by unsubscribing to clothing stores and social media sites.

Better yet aside certain times to go shopping e.g. one hour before the shops close, by groceries before or after work, or treat yourself at the end of the month with a little kitty of money you’ve saved up.

New resolution: Shop smart

And there you have it, attainable New Year resolutions that you’ll be able to achieve by changing habits and still have a smile on your face.

P.s. I haven’t forgotten about loosing weight or quitting unhealthy habits, but we all secretly know near impossible to achieve without changing regular habits, so it’s best to start there.

New Year’s Eve Party Tips

Have you decided to host a party to bring in the New Year with some of your nearest and dearest? "New Year’s Eve Party Tips"

New Year’s Eve Party Tips

Have you decided to host a party to bring in the New Year with some of your nearest and dearest? It can be a bit of pressure to make sure you have everything from decorations to sparklers for the countdown. As the resident party planner at Airtasker I wanted to share a few tips to make it easier and make it a night to remember.

Here are some Event Planning Checklist for your New Year’s Eve Party

1. Food

Food and drinks are the most important thing to remember for any event and essential for a New Year’s Eve party when people tend not to leave till the early hours (or next day). If you carefully plan to bring out food at regular intervals people won’t go hungry or get tipsy too quickly.

You should have some simple snacks like cheese, crostini or oysters ready for people to munch on straight away to take away any hunger pangs.

new years eve party food
Source: Life’s Ambrosia

After an hour or two (post 9pm fireworks) serve up some more substantial canapés instead of a full meal. Ideally it should be pre-prepared so that you can mingle with guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen. Think sliders, taco stand or a pasta dish that only needs to be heated and put together last minute.

new years eve party food sliders
Source: Jenny Steffens

Lastly post-midnight food… this is for the people who have had a little bit too much champagne or not leaving anytime soon. The best solution is sausage rolls, pizza or meat pies which can be thrown in the oven and served up with tomato sauce.

2. Drinks

New Year’s Eve is the time to get a little creative with a signature drink for the night and a champagne cocktail (which can also be a mocktail) is your best bet. Don’t forget to add a bit of dazzle with some cute cocktail decorations.

new years eve party coctail decorations
Source: A Beautiful Mess

It’s also acceptable for you to ask for BYO and Men will most likely drink beer so get plenty of ice and eskies.

3. Music

Put together a playlist that everybody will love and get their boogie on with. To involve your guests why not create a collaborative playlist on Spotify where everyone can put their favourite tunes.

4. Decorations

Don’t forget to deck out your pad whether you have a theme or just add some glitz and glamour. It doesn’t have to be expensive and party decorations can be as simple as balloons, streamers, party hats, glitter, candles and party lights.

Another brilliant idea is to collect some tiaras, funny glasses and party hats and make a dress-up bowl near the entrance so people can grab something to wear as they walk in.

new years eve party decorations
Source: Celebrations

5. Final countdown

If you don’t have a vantage point, turn on a TV so you can see the fireworks. Also provide people with sparklers, party poppers and a glass of champagne.

6. Photos

Don’t forget to have someone taking photos of the night or people can take selfies with others and upload to Instagram using a unique hashtag so everyone can take a look the next day at all the funny images.

new years eve party selfie
Source: US Magazine

Need some more help? Take a look at our Event Planning Checklist which will have you covered or parties large and small