Tips for Hosting a Spectacular New Year’s Party

Hosting a New Year party is a fantastic way to get all your family and friends together and celebrate the end of an amazing year. However, planning a party can be stressful – especially when it’s a major celebration like New Year’s Eve! The last thing you want is for no one to turn up, or for guests to leave early because of a lack of atmosphere and entertainment. Luckily, with some simple planning and organisation, you can host the perfect party that will keep people talking well into the New Year.

To help you plan an unforgettable event, here are some top tips for hosting a spectacular New Year’s party:

The first step to planning a memorable New Year party is to choose an amazing venue to host your event. There are a huge variety of party venues on offer – from 5-star hotels and luxury manor houses to fine-dining restaurants and nightclubs.

The type of venue you choose will largely depend on the size of your event, your budget, and the atmosphere you’re hoping to create. If you truly want to impress your guests, then a luxury hotel or manor house will offer an elegant ambiance that is perfect for New Year – alongside a host of team members to help you on your way!

What’s more, most hotels are extremely well equipped for New Year celebrations and can provide excellent catering options and entertainment as part of a package deal. This helps remove some of the stress of planning and will help ensure that your party runs smoothly on the night. Remember that popular New Year venues get booked up months in advance, so it’s always best to start searching for a venue as early as possible.

No New Year party is complete without a vibrant firework display! People have been watching New Year’s Eve fireworks for hundreds of years and the colourful shows are now symbolic of New Year. Your party is the perfect excuse to venture to a magnificent display or even let off some of your own and wow your guests.

You should also keep in mind that a lot of your party guests will have had a few drinks by midnight and will be keen to escape the cold and get back inside to party – especially if it’s a gorgeous manor house! If you are planning on arranging a firework display, then make sure you check with your venue first. Some venues do not allow firework displays due to being in a remote village location or being next to a listed building, for example. If your venue allows fireworks, then you may have the option to book the display through them or arrange for a company to come in and set up on the night.

One of the most important parts of planning a New Year party is to arrange lots of fun activities to keep everyone entertained. Start by hiring a DJ or live band to provide music and keep your guests dancing all night.

You should also consider other forms of entertainment such as party games, a karaoke machine, or a cocktail-making class – all excellent to keep the night rolling! If you have children coming to your party, then be sure to provide some fun activities to keep them entertained on the night.

It may be a good idea to set up a kids’ room with a comfortable chill-out area, toys, and lots of fun games to keep kids entertained if they want to escape the main party area.

A New Year celebration should be a classy event that offers guests more than an average party. You can give your guests a night to remember by booking an impressive venue and planning lots of exciting entertainment and activities for the evening. Make your party even more special with little finishing touches like canapes on arrival, a champagne toast at midnight, and beautiful festive decorations.

New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest and most exciting celebrations of the year – the perfect opportunity to bring your loved ones together. People all around the world look forward to the opportunity to celebrate the year that ends and welcome the New Year. Use the above tips to help you host the perfect New Year party that will give your guests a spectacular night to remember!

10 New Year’s Eve Party Ideas

Anyone that’s celebrated the New Year (silly statement really unless you’re a newborn baby) has a New Year’s resolution that they bid to stick to in the year to come, even though most of them only last the first week (we’ve had the same resolution for the past 10 years, dieting is hard).

So, we think it would be a great idea to have your guests fill a piece of paper with their resolutions and pop them in a communal jar, and do with those what you will. You could just keep them there for memories, or read them out and have the other guests guess who they could be for a fun party game. You know what they say – new year, new you!

We don’t know about you, but we love nothing more than a good photo booth at big events, who doesn’t love capturing unforgettable memories with their nearest and dearest? And if you can’t afford to hire one, making a DIY photo booth, with fun props and a phone is just as good, so don’t worry if hiring a photo booth doesn’t fit into your budget, there’s always a way around it!

Serving themed cocktails is a fantastic idea when it comes to any party, but especially when it comes to New Year’s Eve parties, as they’re basically made for drinking with your loved ones. Name them to coordinate with your corresponding theme, or use names inspired by the New Year such as a New Year’s Negroni, Times Square Tequila Sunrise, or a Countdown Cosmopolitan – they all sound delicious if you ask us!

As the clock strikes 12, who isn’t a bit peckish after a night of partying and an emotional send-off of the years passed. So we think it would be a great idea to have a fun ‘midnight theme’ after you’ve celebrated the new year with your loved ones. Dig into some yummy finger foods and get excited about the year to come with a full stomach – yes, please!

100 year on, it only seems right to celebrate the New Year the way Jay Gatsby would, with a huge party, surrounded by your nearest and dearest. We can only imagine how stunning your chosen party venue/location would look all decked out in 1920s-style decor. And if you’re really wanting to stick to the theme, have your guests come in Gatsby-esque outfits, we’re thinking flappers dresses and black ties – how glamorous does that sound!

Give Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenanny a run for its money with your own karaoke night, hosted for your nearest and dearest to ‘sing’ in the New Year. We couldn’t think of a better way to start the new year than with a bit of Whitney.

Have all of your guests write down their names and songs of choice beforehand and do a group song as the clock strikes 12. What’s your karaoke song of choice, we’re partial to a bit of Amy Winehouse personally!

We love the idea of putting all of our thoughts and concerns into a lantern and just letting them all go, what a healing experience. So, why not do that for your friends and family at your New Year’s celebrations? It’s been a hard year (that’s an understatement) for most, and it would probably feel like a weight lifted off their shoulders to let go of the past and embrace the new year that’s about to come with a clear head and a fresh mindset. Plus, it looks gorgeous, so it’s a win/win situation!

If you’re thinking of having a more intimate gathering, we think it would be a fabulous idea to ring in the new year in comfort. PJ parties are a nod to our childhoods when we could often find ourselves at sleepovers, giggling, gossiping, and making memories with our best friends. This is essentially what an adult PJ party is, only this time around, there’s plenty of bubbly to go around (that’s not stolen from your mom’s cupboard of course, or maybe it is for old times’ sake).

For the more sophisticated hosts looking to have a more demure celebration with their loved ones, you may prefer to host a dinner party on New Year’s Eve. Have all your guests bring a bottle of their favourite tipple to be shared amongst the others, and enjoy a tasty meal before ringing in the New Year. Or to make it really fun, you could do a ‘Come Dine With Me’ style meal, where all your guests bring their own meal and the best dish is voted for before midnight. How fun does that sound!

Throw it back to your university days with this classic party game (or drinking game if you’re feeling bold), a New Year’s twist on the teenage party classic, Two Truths, One Lie. Have your guests fill out slips of paper with their answers and have the remaining guests guess which are real resolutions and which is a lie. Rewards and consequences for right and wrong answers are all up to you – just have fun with it!

From our family here at Manor By The Lake to yours, thank you to all the fantastic couples who made this year so special, and here’s to another amazing year of weddings to come!