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Out here on the homestead, New Year’s Eve is a night in. The roads are icy, the animals still need their evening chores, and honestly I would rather be in my slippers by the woodstove than in a crowded restaurant. But staying home does not mean the night has to be boring.
Here are 23 cozy things to do on New Year’s Eve at home that real families have tried and shared. You will find warm food and drinks, a Noon Year’s Eve for little ones, simple keepsake traditions, glow stick fun and a few quiet ideas for after the kids are asleep. Each idea links to the person who shared it. If you are having people over, our New Year’s Eve party ideas, New Year’s Eve party games and New Year’s Eve food ideas have even more.
1. Set up a hot cocoa bar
SaveCredit: Tatertots and Jello
If you only do one thing from this list, make it this one. A pot of cocoa on the stove makes the whole house smell like a holiday.
Set out mugs and little bowls of toppings, like marshmallows, crushed candy canes, chocolate chips, whipped cream, sprinkles and cinnamon. Tatertots and Jello makes a white cocoa and a mint cocoa next to the regular kind, and frames a free printable sign for the table. I put ours on the sideboard by the tree and let everyone build their own.
2. Have a chocolate fondue party
SaveCredit: Everyday Reading
This is the easiest way I know to feed a crowd of all ages on New Year’s Eve. Everybody stands around the pot and talks.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a fondue pot, stir in a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 4 or 5 big marshmallows, then add cream until it is smooth. Everyday Reading hosts about 25 people this way every year and asks each family to bring one or two dippers. Strawberries, bananas, pretzels, pound cake and donut holes are all good.
3. Make a cheese fondue supper
SaveCredit: Wholefully
Before the chocolate comes out, we do a cheese pot for supper. It turns a regular night into a long, slow meal.
Wholefully shares a family cheese fondue that takes about 15 minutes. Set it out with cubes of crusty bread, steamed broccoli and sliced sausage, light a few candles and eat right there in the living room by the tree. Put on a record and take your time. Nobody has to be anywhere.
4. Light the candles and set a pretty table
SaveCredit: Camille Styles
You do not need to go out for a fancy dinner. Bring the fancy home.
Pull out the good plates, a linen runner and every candle in the house, even the half burned ones. Camille Styles suggests a desserts only feast or a pajama party if you would rather keep it low key. Either way, a set table tells everyone tonight is special. I use my grandmother’s dishes and a few pinecones from the yard.
5. Throw a pajama party
SaveCredit: Camille Styles
Some years the best plan is no plan at all. We put on our warmest pajamas right after chores and never take them off.
Camille Styles calls the pajama party the easiest way to gather because nobody has to dress up. Pile the blankets and pillows on the bed or the couch, pour something cozy and pick a movie or a stack of books. If you want a little sparkle, add a dessert and watch the ball drop from under the quilt.
6. Make sparkling juice with rock candy
SaveCredit: Modern Parents Messy Kids
My kids think a fancy glass makes any drink taste better, and they are right.
Pour sparkling apple juice into plastic flutes and drop in a stick of rock candy or a few gummy bears. Modern Parents Messy Kids says to use a light juice like apple or white grape, since the candy color will bleed into it and that is half the fun. Plastic flutes mean no broken glass at midnight.
7. Toast with gummy bear mocktails
SaveCredit: Simple Seasonal
Every kid wants to clink glasses at midnight. This gives them their own drink to do it with.
Simple Seasonal makes these with only three ingredients. Rim a glass with sugar, pour in sparkling apple cider and slide a few gummy bears onto a skewer to set across the top. It takes two minutes, so the kids can make their own while you finish the snacks.
8. Have a Noon Year’s Eve with a balloon drop
SaveCredit: Happy Strong Home
When our kids were little, midnight was out of the question. So we moved the countdown to lunchtime.
Happy Strong Home calls the balloon drop the highlight of every Noon Year’s Eve. Fill a plastic tablecloth or a sheet with balloons and paper confetti, tape it up high and pull it down at twelve o’clock noon. The little ones get their big moment and still take a nap.
9. Make pretzel kisses
SaveCredit: Happy Strong Home
This is the treat my youngest asks for every year. It takes three ingredients and ten minutes.
Lay small pretzels on a baking sheet, top each one with an unwrapped chocolate kiss and warm them in a low oven for a few minutes until the chocolate softens. Press a second candy or a sprinkle on top and let them cool. Happy Strong Home jokes that these are the only kisses the kids need on New Year’s Eve.
10. Fill out a stars and wishes page
SaveCredit: Happy Strong Home
Kids remember more about the year than we think. This page shows you what stuck with them.
Happy Strong Home made a simple free sheet with two columns. On one side kids list the things that shined this year, and on the other they write three wishes for the new year. If they are too wound up to finish, it is fine to come back to it on New Year’s Day.
11. Plan your Noon Year’s Eve on one page
SaveCredit: Mums Make Lists
If you like a plan, this one keeps the day from getting away from you.
Mums Make Lists has a free one page planner with a simple schedule, snack ideas, activities and a box for wishes. Their classic timing is a party from 11:30 to 12:30, or an after nap countdown at 3 or 4 o’clock if your kids still need that rest. Pick one or two ideas and skip the rest.
12. Count down around the world
SaveCredit: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
This one turns the whole evening into a trip around the globe, and you never leave the living room.
Look up when each country rings in the new year, write a little activity for each one on a slip of paper and tuck it in a balloon. Write the time on the balloon and tape them around a world map. 123 Homeschool 4 Me pops one balloon each hour, with ideas like folding a paper samurai hat for Japan or making soft pretzels for Germany.
13. Make a punch piñata countdown
SaveCredit: Teach Beside Me
This is the craft that keeps my kids busy right up until bedtime.
Cover the tops of paper cups with tissue paper, fill each one with a small treat or a slip with an activity and label each cup with an hour. Every hour the kids punch through the next one. Teach Beside Me says you can do the same thing with balloons or paper bags labeled by hour.
14. Laugh over New Year’s Eve Mad Libs
SaveCredit: Teach Beside Me
Our family can play these for an hour and still be laughing. My husband always picks the silliest words.
Teach Beside Me has five free printable New Year’s Eve Mad Libs stories. One person asks for nouns, verbs and silly words without reading the story, then reads the whole thing out loud at the end. They work for any kid who can name a noun.
15. Interview the kids
SaveCredit: The Educators’ Spin On It
I wish I had started this when our oldest was two. The answers change so much from year to year.
The Educators’ Spin On It has a free New Year’s interview for kids with a word of the year page and questions about their favorite things. Ask the questions, write down exactly what they say and tuck the pages in a folder. Next year you can read the old answers out loud before you start a new one.
16. Write a letter to open next year
SaveCredit: Old Town Home
This is my quiet tradition after the kids go to bed. A cup of tea, a pen and the year in my head.
Wendy at Old Town Home has written a letter to herself every December 31 since 1997. She writes the highs and lows of the year and a few hopes for the next, seals it and writes the opening date on the envelope. The next New Year’s Eve, she reads the old letter before she writes the new one.
17. Paint a handprint for the year
SaveCredit: Wichita Mom
I keep all of ours in one folder, and pulling it out every year makes me teary.
Wichita Mom suggests painting each child’s hand and pressing it onto paper on New Year’s Eve. Write their name and the year underneath. Some years it looks more like abstract art than a hand, and that is part of the charm.
18. Host a vision board night
SaveCredit: Kassatex
My sister and I started doing this a few years ago, and now the neighbor ladies come too.
Set up one table with old magazines, scissors, glue sticks, tape and poster board. Kassatex says to ask guests to bring a magazine and to skip the formal table, since everyone ends up on the floor and the coffee table anyway. Put on music and cut out anything that makes you feel something about the year ahead.
19. Make a family vision board
SaveCredit: ParentMap
Kids have big dreams for the new year, like learning to ride a bike or getting a goat. Ours always want a goat.
ParentMap walks through a family vision board that everyone works on together. Each person adds a few pictures or drawings of what they hope for, from trips to new skills. Hang it in the kitchen where you will see it every morning.
20. Have a glow stick dance party
SaveCredit: Children’s Museum of Richmond
Turn off the lights, turn up the music and watch the kids glow. You will want to join in.
Tape glow sticks along each person’s arms, legs and body like a stick figure, and make a circle for their head. The Children’s Museum of Richmond says long sleeves keep the tape off skin. Have someone take a video, then watch it together. They also hide glow sticks around a dark room for a quick hide and seek first.
21. Play glow in the dark tic tac toe
SaveCredit: Great Wolf Lodge
Once the glow sticks come out, this game is the next thing the kids ask for.
Lay out long glow sticks on the rug to make the board, then bend glow bracelets into circles and crosses for the pieces. Great Wolf Lodge also puts glow sticks inside balloons to light up the dance floor. It costs a few dollars and keeps everyone busy until the countdown.
22. Make tinsel topped party hats
SaveCredit: Delia Creates
Every party needs hats, and nobody has to run to the store for these.
Delia Creates grabs Christmas clearance tinsel garland to whip up quick party gear. Roll paper into cones, staple them, and glue a little puff of gold tinsel on top. Make extras, because the stuffed animals will want one too.
23. Light frozen ice lanterns outside
SaveCredit: Garden Therapy
Up here in the cold, the porch steps are already an icebox. These look magical out there.
Freeze an inch of water in a large container first. Then set a smaller container inside, tuck greenery, berries and rose hips between them, fill the gap with water and freeze it solid. Garden Therapy shares this project from the book Sow Simple. Pop it out, set a tea light inside and line your steps for midnight.
How to plan a cozy New Year’s Eve at home
Pick two or three ideas, not ten. A cocoa bar, one game and a keepsake tradition are plenty for one night.
Do the busy things early. Crafts, the glow stick dance party and the Noon Year’s Eve balloon drop are best in the afternoon or right after supper, while everyone still has energy. Save the letters, interviews and stars and wishes pages for the quiet hour before midnight.
Make the food easy. Fondue, a cocoa bar and a tray of pretzel kisses all let people serve themselves, so you get to sit down too.
Let little ones count down early. A countdown at noon or at bedtime feels just as big to a four year old, and the grownups can toast again at midnight.
Things to do on New Year’s Eve at home FAQ
What can I do on New Year’s Eve at home with kids? Try a Noon Year’s Eve with a balloon drop, a punch piñata countdown, a countdown around the world, a glow stick dance party or a kids’ New Year’s interview. Add sparkling juice in plastic flutes so they can toast too.
What are fun things to do on New Year’s Eve at home as a couple? A cheese fondue supper by candlelight, a chocolate fondue dessert, a vision board and letters to open next year all make a quiet night feel special.
How do you make New Year’s Eve special at home? Set a pretty table, make one treat you only have once a year and start one small tradition, like a handprint or a letter, that you repeat every year.
What can I do on New Year’s Eve if I cannot stay up until midnight? Celebrate at noon or at bedtime, or follow the countdown around the world and toast when another country hits midnight. Then go to bed without a bit of guilt.
