Top tips for planning and surviving a New Year’s Eve party
- If you are dining out consider the likely of traffic jams, or if you are entertaining at home, opt for the less-expensive Prosecco over Champagne, make sure you have Spotify, and when the times comes for people to leave, give your building’s guard a call to help sell a fake noise complaint
A Christmas party with family and friends is a major part of any holiday festivity.
But it’s also a lot of work, so after hosting at home, folks tend to want to go out for New Year’s Eve. That is what restaurants and hotels are banking on as they offer extravagant New Year’s Eve dinner packages.
And they do not come cheap, as they are relying on your resigned acceptance that doing another big holiday gathering at home is just too stressful.
They also know that this is the one time of year when we enjoy getting glammed up to go out, socialise and tolerate those uncomfortable shoes all night for champagne toasts and a big countdown.
If you’re booking a table in a busy district like Causeway Bay, Central or Tsim Sha Tsui, you obviously accept the fact that your first post-celebration activity in 2019 will be fighting traffic and crowds to get home afterwards. So one tip if you decide on this: party on through the night until the crowds disperse.
There are other choices, though, such as a casual and relaxed gathering at home to ring in the New Year. The reality is, it does not have to be a grand soirée like Christmas. It just requires a little smart planning in advance.
Do not make it a sit-down dinner. It’s better to do a buffet so people can arrive at their leisure, nibble and snack through the night.
To start, remember that your friends will be around till late so make it comfortable and laid-back so nobody has to think about what to wear.
Also, do not make it a sit-down dinner. It’s better to do a buffet so people can arrive at their leisure, nibble and snack through the night.
There’s no need to wow everyone with a multi-course meal that leaves them stuffed and sleepy, unless you want to wish everyone a flat, lethargic New Year.