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10, 9, 8… Are you ready to ring in the new year with a bang? Or are you still stuck in New Year’s Eve party planning limbo?
Here’s a tip if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the details: create a New Year’s Eve party planning checklist to map it all out. Keeping organized is the best way to stay on track so you can throw an event worth remembering.
With that in mind, here are our top New Year’s Eve party-planning tips!
The first thing on your New Year’s Eve party planning checklist should be to choose a theme. We know you’re clamouring to get the food, venue, and entertainment dealt with, but trust us when we tell you to get your theme settled first.
You can use your New Year’s Eve party theme not just to make the night exciting and memorable, but also to assist you with making other crucial decisions. It’s the bricks on which you’re going to build your super fun party house. You get it.
Once you have your theme, next on your New Year’s Eve party planning checklist should be choosing the venue. When evaluating your options, be sure to consider:
Whether you’re going for an indoor or outdoor NYE party, we recommend booking the venue well in advance (especially if you’re aiming for a popular spot). Remember that popular event spaces get booked quickly during the holiday season.
🎉 Bonus New Year’s Eve Party Planning Tip: Opt for a venue with easy access to public transportation or ample parking to accommodate your guests.
You’ve booked your venue. Now, it’s time to finalize your guest list and explore fun ideas for your invitations—don’t be afraid to get creative!
You can send out paper invitations, email invitations, or create an event on social media. We recommend digital invitations for eco-friendliness and quick responses. Make sure to include the date, time, location, dress code, and RSVP information. Also, use your invitations to ask your guests about any dietary restrictions or preferences they might have when it comes to food.
Some may say this is the main event of the evening: the party food. New Year’s Eve parties wouldn’t be complete without some delicious snacks, right? You’re going to need to consider budget and preferences to sort this one out.
You can opt for a sit-down dinner, a buffet, or finger foods. We recommend offering a variety of dishes to cater to different tastes and dietary restrictions.
🎉 Bonus New Year’s Eve Party Planning Tip: Save money, time, and effort by hiring a caterer or booking a venue with catering. Trust us—the food will taste better and you won’t have to worry about cleaning up after.
Speaking of drinks, you’ll want to make sure you’re covered in this area—it is a party after all. Work with your event vendor to plan a drinks menu that works for everyone on your guest list. Think: beer, wine, mixed drinks, and cocktails.
Consider preparing some champagne or sparkling wine for the midnight toast. Of course, you can also take creative liberties when it comes to cocktail recipes or mocktails to match your theme. See why we said to pick that first?
Just remember to prepare non-alcoholic drinks, too! Not everyone wants to start their year with a headache.
Here comes the really fun part: decorations!
Add some flair to your event space with balloons, streamers, confetti, banners, candles, fairy lights, and other props to create a festive atmosphere. You can also set up a photo booth with some fun props and backgrounds for your guests to take pictures.
A party with no music… just isn’t a party.
Make sure you have the best playlist to set the mood and get people dancing. You could go the route of hiring a DJ if you feel so inclined, or just hook your phone up to the speaker system!
Besides eating, drinking, and dancing, you might want to have some other entertainment ideas in place for your guests as the night goes on.
You can always play some New Year’s Eve party games or sing karaoke. You can involve some popular and fun traditions like making New Year’s resolutions, writing wishes on paper lanterns, or breaking piñatas. Baseball bats not included.
🎉 Bonus New Year’s Eve Party Planning Tip: Just make sure whatever games you include are good-spirited. There’s nothing festive about being too competitive.
The whole night kind of revolves around this, so make sure your ideas don’t overlook the reason you’re celebrating.
Make sure everyone has a glass of champagne or sparkling wine in hand, and turn on the TV to watch the ball drop. You can also hand out some party hats and noisemakers like horns, whistles, bells, or poppers for extra excitement.
Cheers! You made it!
Follow this New Year’s Eve party planning checklist to a tee and you’ll be all set to celebrate in style! However, before you go, let’s circle back to step two for a second. We have a quick venue recommendation for you that’s not biased at all.
The Loft on King is a beautiful and fully customizable space in downtown Toronto’s most exciting nightlife district, King St. West, that can accommodate up to 200 guests. It’s complete with exclusive catering, bar service, and an events team dedicated to bringing your New Year’s party ideas to life.
Forget the checklist—contact our team today!
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Contact us now to book a site visit, and see what our unique 4 floor venue has to offer.
