Celebrate a Fun Filled New Year’s Eve at Home
It’s that time of year! The time when it’s..time to start a new year. Let’s face it, New Year’s Eve is one of those holidays that tends to have a lot of pressure of doing something epically Instagram worthy. This usually involves either making plans for an overpriced dinner out, or hitting up a crowded bar / party that you don’t want to have to drive home from after midnight. So it should come as no surprise that here at Kind of Going Places, we like to ring in New Year’s Eve with a fun filled night at home. Just how do we do that? Well, let us tell you!
Game On
One of our favorite ways to ring in the new year is with a Game Decathlon, where we spend the day/night playing a series of 10 games. It’s a great way to entertain ourselves throughout the day and put our competitive sides to use. Plus, it’s a fun excuse to try out any new games you got as gifts during the holidays! Any game would work for this challenge, but to help get you started, here’s a list of some of the games we’ve battled out over the years. We typically play winner is best of 3 rounds:
Games
- Darts
- Klask – We’ve mentioned Klask before in our post Denmark – How to Live the Hygge Life at Home. This is easily one of our favorite games.
- Checkers
- Chess – Ok we don’t play best of 3 with this since we’re not the most sophisticated chess players…
- Mario Kart
- Trivia
- Beer Pong
- Resolutions – Share 2 Resolutions and a 1 lie
- Mortal Kombat / Street Fighter
- Lego Challenge – each person gets the same amount of lego pieces and has 20-30 minutes to build an epic creation
Keep it interesting by waging bets for each game/challenge, like loser takes a shot, or winner gets to make a rule for the day everyone has to follow. (Careful with this one, if there’s one continuous loser for all 10 games, shots get dicey after awhile…not that we know from experience or anything like that….). There can also be a wager for overall winner of most games won during the decathlon, including bragging rights for the rest of the year until the next new year decathlon.
Want to take it a step further? Make a little trophy or log the games and who won, so you can practice during the year and look back each New Year’s Eve.
Movie Marathon
If games aren’t your style, consider getting cozy on the couch with an end of year movie marathon. Not sure which movies to pick? Consider watching all the movies you wanted to see during the past year that you never got around to, and see how many you can check off your list. If you’re looking for a New Year’s themed movie marathon (we’ll be honest, we haven’t seen all of the movies we’re about to mention), check out some of these options:
Cheers!
Looking for something a little different than champagne to raise your glass with as you ring in the New Year’s Eve at home? Look no further:
Champagne Punch
Champagne punch bowls are a great way to sweeten what can sometimes be a pretty dry champagne. This colorful fizzy punch is bright and filled with holiday cheer.
Champagne Margaritas
You had me at champagne…and margarita. Not much to say here other than yes please, and that champagne margaritas are a festive fun way to kick off the new year.
Espresso Martini
Espresso Martini’s are a delicious, fun way to get a little caffeine to help get you to 11:59. With a hint of class, these drinks are a great NYE addition.
Fancy Fun Food
NYE is about both ending the year and starting the new year off on a high note. Which for us usually means indulging in some fun, fancy feasts. We recognize not everyone wants to spend their New Year’s Eve holiday at home cooking, so here are some of our favorite low-key “fancy” snacks:
Steak Frites Bites
These simple steak frite bites are a great way to incorporate a touch of class to some cozy comfort food. Plus they’re a great snack to help balance out a day of Decathlon drinking.
Crab Cakes
Sick of holiday leftovers? We love having seafood on NYE. After holiday binging on comfort foods, it’s a great way to cleanse the palette. Crab cakes are an awesome, relatively easy to make app that feels indulgent without the guilt.
Spinach Dip Bites
These little spinach dip bites are another great hybrid of healthy and comfort food. We all know how amazing spinach artichoke dip is, so just imagine how great it is in bite size crust filled portions.
Pimiento Cheese Deviled Eggs
We recently discovered our love of pimento cheese when we covered The Masters tournament (you can read more on that here). When paired with party favorite deviled eggs, you really can’t go wrong.
Sweet Endings
Calories don’t matter until January 1. So you might as well enjoy your year end holiday season with dessert! We haven’t made all of these ourselves, but we’ll have to change that.
NYE Resolution Cookies
These NYE Resolution cookies are absolutely adorable. They’re also a great snack to enjoy as you share your resolutions.
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
First off, peanut butter. This dessert is already a win in our book. But it’s also flourless which while not a requirement for us, is always appreciated. Plus, it has a fancy swirl.
Pink Champagne Mini Bundt Cakes
If you’re looking for something a little lighter, check out these mini champagne bundt cakes, that really capture the NYE vibe.
Hopefully these ideas give you a start to planning your own perfect New Year’s Eve celebration at home. And if you’re looking to travel from home, check our any of our other posts like Hawaii for inspiration. Let us know how you celebrated!
New Year’s Eve is a time of reflection and looking forward for things to come. With that, we thank you for joining us on our travels from home, and we’re excited to see where we head next! Cheers!
