New Year’s Eve Party Planning Tips
2017 is over, we are getting ready to welcome 2018. Here are our Top 5 tips for planning the best New Year’s Party.
2017 is the Chinese year of the chicken and it really has flown and scurried past us. It has been a year filled with highs and lows but it also been a year of wonderful memories. We at MPR have been privileged enough to have been involved in a vast array of magical events this past year. Thank you to everyone for making this year such a great one for us. As we say good-bye to 2017 and look forward to the commencement of starting a fresh in 2018, we share a few tips on throwing an exciting and memorable New Years Bash to welcome in 2018 .
New Years Eve or Old Years night falls on the 31st of December. It is a time of the year where we are all on holiday (trying to get over the gluttony of Christmas) and relaxing and enjoying the summer sunshine. New Years Eve is a time to celebrate the potential of the upcoming year as well as reminisce and celebrate the events of the past year, 2017.
When planning your New Year’s party here are a few tips to remember.
- Book a venue or have the party at home.
Your New Year’s Party can be held at a venue you have booked or you can host your celebration in the safety of your own home. There are a lot of positives for either choice. If you hire a venue – the stress of catering and clean up is alleviated. Renting a venue will allow for more guests to attend and will have parking space and a larger supply of food and beverages should you wish. If you decide to have your party at home, you have more liberty’s to decorate as you wish, as well as having a convenient and safe place to rest your head at the end of the night. Hosting your party at home creates a relaxing environment for the party.
- Plan your menu.
New Years eve can be a long evening as you wait for the turn of midnight. Ensure your guests have enough to eat throughout the evening. Here are some ideas on what you can feed your guests and keep their spirits high as you party the night away. You can have a late leisurely dinner that allows guests to relax and savour a 3-5 course meal while enjoying socialising and mingling during the evening.
Alternatively you can organise a cocktail party with a variety of food platters that come out the kitchen throughout the evening ensuring that everyone is well fed and their appetites satiated continuously through the evening. We recommend organising some mini burgers, fish tacos, toasted ciabatta’s, cheese boards, mini quiches, fruit skewers, salted chocolate fudge, chocolate mousse and cupcakes to name a few.
On top of food choices, make sure you have a selection of drinks to offer your guests. These drinks should cover alcoholic drinks such as champagne, gin and tonic, wine and beers as well as non-alcoholic beverages such as iced tea, flavoured water and soft drinks. Why not jazz up your drinks with a few cocktail umbrellas, maraschino cherries of coloured ice cubes to create some fun amongst your guests.
- Plan your playlist
No party is complete without a great playlist. Music brings a party to life and elevates the mood and vibe amongst your guests to a celebratory level. Plan your playlist beforehand to include a variety of music covering hip hop, house, old classics as well as sing along songs. With covering an array of musical genres you are bound to have something for everyone to dance along to. Remember when hosting a large party, your music needs to be loud enough for your guests to hear thus we recommend hiring some speakers to connect to your laptop or iPod to.
Another consideration is to hire a DJ who will cater to all your needs. Ensure you brief your DJ beforehand to ensure they understand what kind of music you love.
- Games
Why not have play a few games for your guests to play during the evening? Games bring people together allowing different circles of friends to socialise and interact. Games are a fun way to enjoy the night and bring in the New Year. Some examples of games include (but are not limited to), giant jenga, beer pong, darts, glow in the dark ring toss and minute to win it inspired games.
Games are fun and youthful and allow your guests the opportunity to have fun with their friends while they are not dancing or mingling.
- Be Safe
At the end of the night, you want all your guests to get home safely. Most of your guests may have had some alcoholic beverages and thus should not be driving. Send a text/ email to all your guests before the 31st of December recommending they book taxi’s or collections services for that night to ensure they get home safely. If you are at a venue, consider renting a room for the night to ensure that you can stumble into bed and enjoy a relaxing sleep at the end of your night.
If you want to save money you can carpool with friends and taxi home together. Splitting the costs of these fairs is a lot cheaper and safety in numbers is always a good idea.
New Years Eve is a celebration of the memories and events that have made up the year gone past and to welcome the potential and excitement of all the possibilities that await you in the new year. We wish you all a Happy New Year.
Cheers to 2017 and we are excited for the New Year to start.