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As someone who knows how awful it is to fight for a reservation on New Year’s Eve, I’m firmly in support of hosting a party at home instead. And while I never need an excuse to have a party, New Year’s Eve is one of the best opportunities to break out the bubbly and get dressed up in my best sequined ensemble.
Whether you think of this as the last party of the old year or the first party of the new one, there are standards to uphold on New Year’s Eve. The secret to making your gathering fun and stress-free? Preparation. The first step is knowing the type of party you’re having and how many guests you’re planning to have—that will determine your pre-party shopping. If you’re hosting an open-house party, you probably aren’t going to break out the crystal glasses, but if you’re doing a seated dinner, you might want to unbox that nice stemware you got for Christmas.
Knowing how many guests you’ll have also ensures you won’t run out of chilled Champagne and nonalcoholic drink options, and you can buy enough cheese to open your own shop. I love adding extra details for my friends, so I’ll also pick up their favorite bites like pickles and dried cherries so they know I’ve been thinking of them.
The last thing I want to do after Christmas is clean, so I consider hosting for NYE a good excuse to move all the unopened (and opened) presents from the holiday season into a corner closet. Of course, I don’t want to have everyone over if the place is a wreck, so cleaning off large surfaces and fluffing pillows helps give the whole apartment a facelift. Out of sight, out of mind—at least for one night. Just before everyone arrives I add a few spritzes of my all-time favorite room spray to make the apartment feel even cleaner, so the first thing my guests smell is a cozy black cypress scent. Having everything prepped in advance means I’ll be dressed to the nines and able to greet everyone as they arrive. Within the first 30 minutes, everyone will have Champagne cocktails in hand and the charcuterie board will be ready for a light refresh.
The rest of my night will be spent topping off glasses, snacking on caviar, snapping photos near a DIY gold balloon arch, and watching the ball drop from the comfort of a couch. Hosting at home takes the pressure off of an expensive night out, and I can still get dressed up (shoes optional) and toast with friends without the fuss of feeling cramped at a bar. Planning out your New Year’s Eve celebration not only ensures that everything goes off without a hitch but also guarantees that your party will be the first hot topic of the group chat to kick off the New Year.