Best Fun New Year's Eve Party Ideas 2009

Themes for New Year Parties on December 31st 2008-2009

© Janienne Jennrich

Dec 10, 2007
Happy New Year Toast, Photo by wynand van niekerk, SXC
Party theme ideas for a New Year's Eve dance, party, or event. Formal or casual, have a happy New Year with tips for a special evening for kids, teens, adults or seniors.

Whether planning a New Year's Eve party for a mix of friends, adults, senior citizens, teens, kids, or family, an event as special as ringing in the New Year deserves attention to detail and a great party theme idea.

The theme of a party sets the tone for the whole event. Here are some themes arranged by possible guests. Many of these ideas can be used for any age group or type of event, such as a dance.

New Year's Eve Party Themes for Teens, Adults, and Active Senior Citizens (or a Mix of Friends)

Teens, adults and seniors may enjoy a fancy or more informal party or dance. Here are two themes that can go either way.

A "Black and White Party": This could be casual or a black-tie affair, and is centered around color.

  • Most decor in the event room will match the theme, including lots of black and white balloons, streamers, and sparkle.
  • Guests should be asked (on their black and white invitations) to dress in the party colors.
  • It is easy to find party favors and goods in these colors this time of year.
  • To give the party a little extra pizazz, pick one other color to highlight in small doses around the room. Consider red roses on tables or purple bows on the back of chairs.

A "Ring Out the Old Year's Party": The idea of this theme is nostalgia. Pick a decade or time in history and begin brainstorming from there.

  • The 50's seem to have great popularity, as do the 60's, with their own special style and rock 'n roll music. The 20's is a fun theme with terrific music selections and clothing styles.
  • A time in history theme might include knights and damsels, Victorian elegance, or vaudeville acts.
  • Pick a theme that works for the particular group. Who would dress up in period costumes and who could entertain in the style of the time?
  • Do research to add as much flavor of the time period as possible in activities, decor, costuming, invitations, food and music.

New Year's Eve Party Themes for Families

While the themes above work well for all ages, when planning parties for teens or kids , a lighter theme is fun.

A "Nostalgic Game Party": This theme is centered around classic board games.

  • Thrift shops are a good source of odd games. Consider using game boards and boxes as banquet table "runners" or trivets. Decorate with scattered dice, game spinners, and game pieces.
  • Some fun games to make available include: Trouble, Scrabble, Twister, and Candy Land. Also set out checkers, chess, and dominoes.
  • Encourage guests to mingle and switch thing up by trading places with a game player at another table. Have a half-hour session where players rotate between games every 7 minutes. This is a good early-evening ice-breaker.
  • For food choices, include candy crafted with Checkers Candy Molds (available at Confectionery House online), store-bought Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies, and bowls of "Candy Land" style candies.

Perhaps the best theme for kids and families is no theme at all.

  • Simply provide good food, good seating, and a few available activities (popcorn and a couple movies for the kids, notepads and pencils for writing New Year's resolutions, and maybe two or three group party games).
  • If guests know each other, the party will flow naturally. If not, mingle and introduce people and soon things will be underway.

For more fun New Years ideas, see the articles Kids Fun New Years Eve Party Ideas 2008 - 2009 and Teen New Years Eve Party Ideas 2009. Some good related holiday websites include: Christmas Song Lyrics and Entertaining All Year Long.

For all New Year's Eve events, have noisemakers and confetti on-hand when the clock strikes twelve. Happy New Year 2009! Goodbye 2008


The copyright of the article Best Fun New Year's Eve Party Ideas 2009 in Holiday Entertaining is owned by Janienne Jennrich. Permission to republish Best Fun New Year's Eve Party Ideas 2009 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


New Years Eve Party Balloons, Photo by Genildo Marcelo, SXC
Formal New Year's Party Photo, Photo by Steve Woods, SXC
New Year's Fireworks, Photo by Binko Kind, SXC
Happy New Year Toast 2009, Photo by wynand van niekerk, SXC
Candy Land Game, Photo Courtesy Hasbro


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Comments
Dec 31, 2008 10:50 AM
Phil Partington :
The suggestions are good, but don't elaborate nearly enough. Throwing a theme party or playing games aren't creative suggestions. Everybody and their brother does that. You might suggest some types of interactive and unique games people could play. For instance, have you heard of the clothes pin game? Everyone gets a clothes pin to wear somewhere on their clothes. Decide on a word or phrase, like "year" and if someone catches another person saying the word, they get to take their pin. You can take as many as you can and at the end, maybe have a prize for the person with the most clothes pins.

I don't know. It's just a suggestion. I like the article, but it's a bit generic.
1 Comment: