Looking for party ideas to ring in the New Year with your family? These 5 Best New Year’s Eve Party Ideas for Families include appetizer/snack ideas and party games to play.
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While there is so much to love about the holiday season, I would have to say that my most favorite night of the year is New Year’s Eve. I don’t know if it’s the anticipation of what the New Year will hold or looking back on all the memories we made throughout the year that I like best.
Before kids, my husband and I would always celebrate New Year’s Eve by going out to a nice dinner. But, once we had our boys, we decided that we would celebrate at home and make it extra special for them.
Now, it’s become a tradition to stay home, have snacks, play games, and have fun counting down to the New Year together. It’s something that we look forward to all year.
As a matter of fact, every year my boys receive a New Year’s Eve box for Christmas It’s usually full of things to enjoy while we are ringing in the New Year, such as a couple of new board games, movies, and snacks.
I thought it would be fun to share some of the fun party ideas we enjoy on New Year’s Eve so maybe you will be inspired to try some of these ideas with your family this year.
5 Best New Year’s Eve Party Ideas for Families
1. Snacks/Appetizers
When it comes to New Year’s Eve, we like to keep it simple with our food. Pizza is usually our dinner of choice and then we set out snacks and appetizers to munch on throughout the evening.
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Here are a few snacks/appetizers that we like to eat on New Year’s Eve:
- Different flavor crackers and cheese
- Pepperoni, Kielbasa, Mini Smoked Sausages
- Chips, Dip, and Salsa
- Veggies and Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Dip (Franks Red Hot)
- Taco Dip– (Eating on a Dime)
- Pepperoni Pizza Egg Rolls– (Dinner Then Dessert)
- Sweet and Sour Meatballs– (Spend with Pennies)
- Mozzarella Sticks
- Buffalo wings
- Cheese Ball– (Tastes Better From Scratch)
- Fruit salad
If you have an air fryer we love making appetizers in ours, especially these yummy pizza rolls.
For dessert, I put out the leftover Christmas cookies because I always make way too many and we are eating them long after the holidays are over.
You may like:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
- Easy Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Board Games
We can’t get enough of board games in our home and have game nights frequently throughout the year. These are a few of the ones that we play the most. (and a few extras that we plan to get this year!)
- Pictionary– This is one of my family’s all-time favorite games.
- Scattergories– Another go-to board game for my family. We could play it over and over.
- Double Ditto– If your family loves scattergories then this game is for you. It’s very similar except you are trying to match your answers with other players instead of getting different answers to earn points.
- Jenga– Kids can’t seem to get enough of this game.
- Apples to Apples- We enjoy this game so much that we have it in the regular and Disney version.
- Disney Villainous– If you love Disney as much as we do, then this game is a must for your family.
- Codenames– I’ve added this highly rated game to our wish list this year.
- Friends Monopoly– This is game is a must-have for Friends lovers and the perfect way to pass the time waiting for the ball to drop on New Year’s.
3. Party Games
We like to add in a mix of board games and party games on New Year’s Eve. These are a few of the games that we have enjoyed over the year (plus a few that are in my shopping cart right now).
- Beat That!- A minute to win it type of game where you complete challenges. It looks hilarious and I’ve added it to our gift list this year.
- Bounce-Off– A family favorite game that all ages will enjoy playing.
- Charades (The Game Gal) We like to use the word generator from The Game Gal when playing charades. It’s easy to pull up on our phones and there are easy, medium, hard, really hard, and action categories.
- Karaoke– Karaoke is one of our favorite family activities at any time of the year. We just search up karaoke songs on YouTube. You can also get this wireless karaoke microphone for even more fun.
- Just Dance– We have enjoyed the different versions of this game for years. It’s a great time for the whole family.
- Jackbox Party Games– We discovered these games a few years ago and have been hooked ever since. Our favorite is the Party Pack 3 because of the Trivia Murder Party (trivia game).
4. Movies
Although the games, snacks, and activities take up a huge chunk of time on New Year’s Eve, we always try to squeeze in one movie. (It’s usually the newest released Disney or Pixar movie). If you subscribe to any streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Disney+, search out some family movies a few days before New Year’s Eve for ideas to watch that night.
A few of our all-time favorite Disney/ Pixar Movies include:
5. Countdown Ideas
A fun countdown idea for the younger kids is to get some paper bags and write the hour on each one. We always start our party festivities at 6 o’clock so I would have 7 bags in total, one for each hour leading up to midnight. Inside the bag were some fun treats, such as candy or confetti. We would also include a question such as “What was your favorite memory, song, movie, etc. of the year?”
We only do the questions now as my boys are older, I put them in envelopes and still put the hour on them and just hang them up on a wall. Here are the questions that I include in our envelopes:
- Choose your favorite song?
- Name your favorite movie or video game?
- Most memorable trip or experience of the year?
- Favorite accomplishment this year?
- Best Memory of the year?
- What are you looking forward to in the New Year?
- New Year’s Goals?
We have so much fun listening to everyone’s favorites of the year. It’s one of the highlights of the evening for me.
Hopefully, these short and sweet ideas have been helpful to you. As you can see we like to keep our New Year’s Eve simple and budget-friendly. I don’t serve elaborate appetizers, just easy and quick recipes that I know my family enjoys.
Also, by adding the New Year’s Eve box as a Christmas gift, it saves on spending any additional money for new games or movies after the holidays. A win-win!
Happy Holidays!
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