Creative Décor Ideas for New Year’s Eve
Whether you are committed to Earth-friendly and eco-conscious décor in the new year or are simply hosting your New Year’s Eve party on a budget this year, a creative and DIY decorating style is the way to go. Get innovative this year and go fully DIY, or mix and match your creative projects with your store-bought home décor. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
Create Your Own Banners and Garland
Instead of purchasing an expensive and wasteful one-time-use banner, you can make your own banner. In keeping with the eco-conscious and creative theme, we recommend using craft supplies you already have. You can also get extra creative and use materials you might not normally think to. For example, if you have a sewing machine, you can use an old sheet, cut to whatever size you’d like your banner to be, and scraps of fabric to spell out “Happy New Year!”
For another cute, DIY, and waste-conscious craft idea, you could make a garland from popcorn or pasta. Stringing pasta into garland is a fun and easy creative project that even the kids can help with. Lay out some wax paper and let them paint pieces of dry box pasta, and once they’re dry, they can string them together with yarn. For popcorn garland, the best way to string together kernels is with a needle and thread, so you may want to leave this craft to the older kids or simply do it yourself. Holiday decorating doesn’t have to be all DIY arts and crafts, either. You can incorporate as much or as little DIY as you like.
Make Your Own Confetti
Another fun family-friendly and crafty DIY décor idea is to make your own confetti for releasing as you ring in the new year. Confetti is fun and beautiful, but it can also be an environmental hazard, not to mention a real pain to clean up. A great way to ensure you use sustainable, biodegradable confetti that is also much easier to clean up than bits of glitter is to make it yourself. There are many ways to do this, but one of the easiest (especially if you work in or have access to an office) is using shredded paper.
Get everyone in their matching family pajamas and make a pre-New Year’s Eve family craft night out of it.
Design and Paper Mache a Fun Piñata
Another creative DIY New Year’s Eve décor idea is to have a piñata. While not traditionally considered a New Year’s activity, having a piñata at any party is always great fun. This is also another décor idea that can be made at home with paper mache. (You can even use the shredded paper from your confetti project!) We also recommend keeping all your craft supplies organized in neat and tidy storage bins.
Set Up a Fabulous Photobooth
Photobooths are incredibly popular at parties right now, likely because we all have cameras in our pockets at all times and who isn’t going to be scoping out the perfect spot at the party for a New Year’s Eve selfie? Designate a corner of your home to encourage your guests to take pictures of themselves having fun at your party. All you need is a fun, bright background, but you can also provide props.
Signs, hats, wigs, masks, and quirky seating such as bean bag chairs are all fantastic ideas for photo booth props. Make it your own and have fun with it!
Get Creative With Snacks and Drinks
Instead of making a large batch of one type of mixed drink or shaking cocktails for your friends all night, set up a DIY bar cart. Offer a selection of ingredients, including cute note cards with ideas or recipes for mixing them, and allow your party guests to make their drinks however they want. You can also reduce waste (and reduce clean-up time) by keeping track of drinks with DIY glass tags. Create tags with twine or string and paper. Provide these with your beverages and snacks, along with a marker for guests to write their names, and no champagne glass will go unaccounted for.
Don’t Forget the Pets
Pets, especially dogs, aren’t known for their love of holidays like New Year’s Eve. Random celebratory fireworks, as much as we love them, can be downright traumatizing for our four-legged friends. Because of this, we also recommend keeping your pooch in mind while planning your New Year’s Eve party. Dog accessories, such as a festive, comfy bed for them to relax on, can double as a calming comfort and cute, festive décor.
Whether you take the time to create every decoration from scratch or you just borrow a creative idea here and there, we’re sure your New Year’s Eve party will be a hit.