How to Throw a Stress-free, Fabulous New Years Eve Party

The following post was sponsored by Cost Plus World Market, all opinions are my own.

Can you believe Christmas is in just 2 days!? I’m crazy excited!!! I’m also excited for the new year but I know that after a busy Christmas season, planning a big New Year’s Eve party is the last thing most of us want to do. Fortunately I’m hear to help and I have some great tips that will help you plan, and throw, a stress-free New Year’s Eve party!

My number 1 tip for planning a stress-free party is one-stop-shopping. I was looking around online trying to find the best place to find all my decorations and food items in one place (because who wants to be out shopping after you’ve just finished all your Christmas shopping?) and that’s when I came across WorldMarket.com. They have the cutest New Years decorations AND they have all the food and drinks I need for my party! I got all the ideas I needed from their website, made my list and headed to the store. A great time-saving tip is to make a list beforehand, that way you can walk in, get what you need and walk out (after paying, of course). Wandering wastes time and it usually results in you spending more money than you intended to.

This year for our New Year’s Eve party, I decided to put together a champagne bar, complete with lots of yummy goodies to mix in. While I was at World Market I stocked up on champagne, because they have a really good selection, of really good champagne, and this girl likes good champagne.

I also stocked up on champagne glasses because shockingly, I have 30 wine glasses, but only 6 champagne glasses! I purchased the entertaining set that comes with 12 glasses and a box to store them in. I have the same set, with wine glasses, and it’s perfect for all the entertaining we love to do!

While I was looking around online, I found this beautiful, gold 2-tiered stand that I knew would be awesome for displaying all the drink add-ins, and it’s gold, which is perfect for New Year’s Eve!

Every party needs yummy snacks so I made sure to stocked up on lots of snacks that I know everyone will love. I love that World Market has everything from yummy chocolate snacks (because if you don’t have chocolate, it’s not a party), popcorn, pretzels and all sorts of fun chips!

And of course every New Year’s Eve party has to have fun party items that make noise, so you can wake up the neighborhood at midnight!

I bought these party blowers to go with the gold theme, and I know my guests will have fun with them because even grown ups love party blowers! 🙂

I’m so excited to spend New Year’s Eve with my friends, ringing in the new year, but I’m most excited that this party was so easy to plan and even though it looks like it took a lot of time, it really didn’t. Here’s my complete list of time-saving tips that will guarantee your New Year’s Eve party turns out fabulously!

• One-stop shopping. Decide what you want to serve/do at your party, then look around to find the one store that carries everything you need. If there are additional grocery items you will need, pick those up when you’re doing your grocery shopping for Christmas dinner. All the fruit I served at my party were items I picked up while I was already at the grocery store.

• Make a list, and check it twice (sorry, it’s almost Christmas, I couldn’t help myself). 🙂 Do as much of your “shopping” online before you even go to the store. I “shopped” the entire World Market website and new exactly what I needed, so that when I actually went to the store, it was quick and easy.

• Buy pre-made, ready to go snacks. This is a biggie. It’s easy to put pressure on yourself to think your guests expect a full arrangement of homemade goodies, well let me tell you that your guests will be just as happy eating delicious items poured out of a bag, as they would be eating homemade items. In fact, they will probably enjoy the out-of-the-bag goodies even more knowing you didn’t spend tons of time stressing about them. 🙂
• Set up as early as possible. I always set my parties up at least the day before because there’s no time limit to how long it takes me. If you wait until the last minute you’ll feel lots of pressure to get it done quickly, and then it might not end up how you want it. Set it up the day before so you can take your time, get every detail right, and enjoy yourself more the day of the party.

• Enjoy yourself! I’ve said this over a hundred times but I keep saying it because it’s SO important! When your guests start arriving, grab a glass of champagne and treat yourself as one of the guests of your party. Tell yourself “what’s done is done and now it’s time to move on”. Don’t spend the party worrying that you missed something, or wondering what else you could have done, because your guests will be able to sense your stress and they won’t enjoy themselves as much. Attend your own party as a guest and you’ll have so much fun and want to host even more parties!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and get to enjoy a fabulous, stress-free New Year’s Eve party! I would love to see your party pictures, tag me on Instagram at @askannamoseley.

Happy New Year!!!