Big New Year’s Eve parties and celebrations won’t be a thing this year. And although that doesn’t change much for our family, I know it will for a lot of families. You can make a New Year’s Eve celebration at home just as fun as a night out with friends, family, or a big public party. Use the ideas in this post to put together the perfect New Year’s Eve at-home celebration this year!
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We did this a couple of years ago as a family on New Year’s Eve and had so much fun. We made a cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue. Our meal was two courses, starting with the cheese. Because our kids were little, we put a cup of melted cheese in front of each person, and they got little muffin trays with various dippers in each muffin cup, while we put ours on a plate. We repeated the same thing with the melted chocolate later in the evening, after we’d played some games. Have each person come up with a few dipping options for each dip you make, and browse Pinterest for the fondue dips you want to make because there are a lot of good ones out there!
This is my plan for our celebration this year. I’m going to put together a smorgasbord of yummy appetizers including a couple of dips, meats, vegetables, and some chocolate-dipped fruit. Ask each person in your family for suggestions for appetizer-type foods that would make a good addition to your meal. You can spend the night snacking on the various foods you choose while enjoying the other activities you have planned.
Charcuterie boards and snack boards are a big trend right now! I enjoy seeing what people put together for theirs when they pop up on social media. I’ve seen dessert boards, meat boards, kid’s food boards, fancy food boards, brunch boards, etc. The sky is the limit when it comes to the foods and dips that you can put on your snack board. Again, I suggest consulting Pinterest or even searching hashtags on Instagram. There are a lot of good photos with inspiration out there!
A few years ago, I decided to be ambitious on New Year’s Eve and make one of my husband’s favorite meals from his time spent in Mexico. It meant cutting a pork shoulder into a million pieces, putting them on a homemade “trumpo”, marinating that meat, and then roasting it for a long time, standing straight up in our oven. It was time-consuming and delicious and so worth it! Take advantage of some extra time at home, and a special occasion, and create a fancy meal together. Maybe you smoke some meat, make ribs, go for lobster, or whatever appeals to you. It will be fun to try something different, learn something new, and make the night seem even more special!
Let your family members tell you what some of their favorite foods are. Then put together a potluck-style meal with those foods. You’ll have a variety of main dish foods, side dishes, and desserts to feast on for the night. Everyone will have foods they love, and you’ll also have a variety of delicious leftovers for the next few days.
Related: 13 Food-Themed Dates for Married Couples
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This year I’m planning to pull out one of the kids’ board games every hour until they go to bed. Most take less than 15 minutes to play, which will leave us with plenty of time for other activities. After the kids are in bed, I plan for my husband and me to play a few of our favorite board games as well.
Put on your comfiest clothes, set up a cozy space in front of the TV, and settle in for a night of movies! Watch a series or all of the versions of a movie that’s been remade a few times. Harry Potter is a fun series to watch with family. We also love the Jurassic Park/World movies or Jumanji movies, and those are a good option for watching the originals and the remake.
Related: Movie You’ll Both Enjoy Watching for Date Night
Divide the family into teams and base your night on your favorite cooking competition. Maybe that’s making a full meal or just dessert. Go shopping earlier in the day for all of the ingredients you’ll need. Have fun competing against the rest of the family, and eating the results of the competition. Let the winner be excused from dish duty for the night.
Pull out all the stops and incorporate every chair, blanket, table, or whatever else you need to create your fort. Spend the night eating, playing games, and watching shows inside the fort. You could even have a big family sleepover inside the fort! Leave your architecture up for a few days and keep creating quality time with it.
Related: 25 Ideas for Simple Family Fun
Sit down and talk about what you each want to accomplish and work toward in the coming year. Write your goals down and display them where the entire family can see them. Then discuss ways you can support and encourage each other in your goals in the coming year.
Related: 15 Goals to Set for Your Marriage in the Coming Year
Create a list of the things that you want to do as a family in the coming year. Are there vacations that you want to go on or specific activities you want to be sure to do? What traditions surrounding holidays do you not want to miss out on? Let each person have a say in a few things they think would be fun to do as a family. Maybe you want to start trying a new restaurant together once a month or every quarter. Or create a weekly ritual of taking a family hike or bike ride. Make a list of all of those things, and hang it somewhere you can refer to and pull from when you’re looking for something to do. Maybe pick one or two things from the list to add to your calendar each week during your family meetings.
Related: How to Create Your Date Night Bucket List
This past year has been a hard year for a lot of people. Rather than focusing on what you’re excited to say goodbye to, focus on what you’re sad to see go and hope to continue more of in the coming year! Spend some time together talking about the good things that happened to you as a family, and the fun memories you’ll take from the year.
What things did you learn from the challenges of the year that you’re leaving? Were there situations that force you to do new things? How did your family change and adapt to the obstacles that were placed in your path? Talk about those things that you learned and how you’re going to change the coming year for the better, based on those lessons you’re taking from the current one.
We love to grab a bottle of sparkling apple or grape juice, pull out our fanciest glasses, and celebrate with our kids. They love to drink “spicy juice” with us too! If you don’t have fancy type glasses, you can grab some plastic ones from the dollar store for the occasion.
New Year’s Eve is the one time when it’s acceptable to make as much noise as you want, in the streets at midnight. Create noisemakers with pots and pans and spoons and other things you have in your home. Or pick some up at the store to use for the new year. If you’re feeling extra celebratory, light a few fireworks or sparklers!
I honestly don’t know if there will be any sort of ball drop to watch as we ring in 2021. Even if there is, we usually find one from a previous year or stream a countdown on Netflix early in the evening with our kiddos.
Spend some of the night building some sort of ball drop you can use at midnight, or whatever time you choose to ring in the new year as a family. Put together some music to listen to, pull out your noisemakers, and count down to your ball drop when you’re ready!
This can be a fun family thing! After you share a kiss with your spouse, give each of the kids a kiss on the cheek. Then start a big group hug!
Everything has been different this year, and New Year’s Eve is no exception. But just because we’re all spending New Year’s Eve at home doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun. You can still celebrate and enjoy the time you get to spend as a family, ringing in the new year. Make the most of your time together, create new memories, and maybe even start some new traditions!
