What are you doing for New Year’s Eve this year? If you don’t have plans yet don’t worry, there is still time to get something sorted. With everyone focused on Christmas prep lots of people won’t know what they are doing to see in the new year yet so whether you want to spend the time with friends or family there is a good chance they will still be free. 

Lots of pubs, bars and restaurants will have special events on that need prebooking, but a more relaxed approach (and one that works better for families with children) is to have a party at home. It doesn’t need to be a huge challenge to organise either, in fact it only takes 5 steps to have the perfect last minute New Year’s Eve Party. 

Planning a New Year's Eve party doesn't need to be complicated

5 Steps To Planning Your Perfect New Year's Eve Party

1. Invite Your Guests

With a last minute party the most important thing is inviting your guests. You can wing pretty much everything else, but a party with no guests won't be much fun.  Send out personalised cards to everyone you want to come and make sure you include a RSVP by date so you know how many people to expect. You will also need to let them know: the address, when to arrive, if there is a dress code and what you would like them to bring.

2. Plan The Food, Drink and Other Bits

If you are feeling generous you could provide all the food and drink for your guests, this is easy to arrange with an online food delivery service so you don't even need to head to the supermarket. Another option is to use caterers, but all the best ones will probably be booked up well in advance for New Year’s Eve. If you are planning everything really last minute you could even just order a take away. Many of the big pizza companies do party offers around New Year so it's quick and easy to feed everyone. 

A more affordable option is to split the cost between the guests. You can ask everyone to bring their own drinks and a dish of food to share. This means everyone can work to their own budget. If you are asking people to bring food it is helpful to ask each family to bring specific items so that you don’t end up with 6 salads, 10 trifles and no sandwiches.

Another option is to ask everyone to contribute a certain amount per person and buy everything centrally. How much you charge will depend on how much alcohol people are likely to drink. If some people like to indulge on special occasions and others prefer to stick to soft drinks this can get tricky to balance out.

It’s not just food and drink you need to stock up on, make sure you have plenty of cups, plates and cutlery for people to eat and drink off. The easiest option is to get disposable items as they can all be thrown away at the end of the night, but the greener party option is to have items that can be reused. You might be able to hire wine glasses for free from wherever you are buying alcohol from. You are also going to need to make sure you have plenty of loo roll, that's not something you want to risk running out of!

3. Clear Your House

While some people might live in a house that is party ready, for most normal people you will need to spend a bit of time getting it suitable for guests. Decide the main rooms you will encourage guests to be in and remove clutter and breakables. No matter how careful people are when there are groups of people accidents happen. Keeping other doors shut should prevent the party spreading. It can be useful to put a sign on the toilet door if some of the guests haven't been to your house before.

4. Plan The Atmosphere

Decorations for a New Year’s Ever party are easy as you can keep your normal Christmas decorations up, although you might want to remove the tree if you need extra space. You can add to the party mood by having some party poppers for the New Year count down and maybe some disco lighting. 

You will also need party music. This is super easy as streaming services allow you to make your own playlist or you can choose from one of theirs (this is helpful if you want someone else to blame for the music choices).  Either link up your phone to a bluetooth speaker or group your smart speakers together and get them playing the same music throughout the house.

5. Get Ready

So you have people, food, drink and the atmosphere all sorted, the only thing left to do is get yourself ready. Choose to dress comfy or get your glam on, it’s entirely up to you at your party.

I hope you have a great New Year's Eve.