The first tradition we have at our home is that of buying a wonderful and decorative calendar to hang on our wall. Sometimes we are given one for the holidays, other times we purchase our own. Every New Year’s Day I remove our old calendar and hang our new one. In the process, I first copy over any important family dates such as birthdays or anniversaries which I need to remember throughout the New Year.

Many people set out to celebrate New Year’s Day by making resolutions which they really don’t have any real desire to fight to keep going throughout the year. If you have ever been in a health club or gym in January, then you know how many people can be there that you will never see again come February. It would be almost funny, if it wasn’t so sad.

The key to making your New Year’s resolutions and having them become reality in your life is to start small and really dedicate yourself to what you want to change in your life. If you are overweight, or even simply want to get into better shape, start with eating better and walking around your own neighborhood before you shell out the big money for a membership to a gym.

Another good way to spend your New Years Day is to take the opportunity of the New Year to clean out and purge your living quarters. It is very common to bring home your gifts from holiday celebrations and then have no where to put them. By doing some much needed de-cluttering and purging you can have space for all of your new treasures and make some nice donations of your unused items as well. Two of the best places to get rid of your unwanted items are through your local thrift store or freecycle.org. Thrift stores will generally take just about anything which they can re-sell to others. With freecycle.org you send out an e-mail to your local area and the person interested in what you have to offer will come pick-up your unwanted items. Both your thrift store and freecycle.org are good ways to keep your unwanted items out of the landfill.

In our home, we spend New Years Day first transferring the calendar, and then we move into the kitchen where we go through all of our cabinets and take a good inventory of what is in each of them. For things we have a lot of, we make an effort to use some of it up in the next few months. For things we will need to purchase we put them on our master shopping list. While we are in the kitchen we also try to find items which make good donations to our local food pantry. For instance, if I have been getting great buys on soup and have 30 cans of it, I will usually give half to our local food pantry and keep the rest to cover us for the rest of winter.

On addition to some of the suggestions above, it is always a good idea to look at the New Year as a time of renewal and a time when you can make changes to your life. However, rather than having lofty resolutions which you cannot keep, start small and make goals to change things over the next year or even longer. By making realistic goals you can change the things in your life that you choose to.

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Planning on having karaoke is one excellent activity for a New Years Eve party. This activity encourages guest participation and allows the guests to entertain themselves throughout the evening. In fact karaoke can even provide a very cost effective form of entertainment for all the guests even those who opt not to participate. Karaoke will provide the guests with music and singing at a much lower price than it would cost to hire a live band or a DJ for the event. The music may not be as high quality as it would be if you hired a professional but of course that is also part of the fun of karaoke.

Hosting a murder mystery event is another fun activity idea which is becoming very popular for New Years Eve parties. These events are typically a dinner theater where guests are encouraged to participate in the drama and work together or alone to try to solve the mystery of the evening. You can either hire a troop of actors to perform the murder mystery and allow the guests to interact with the actors to try to solve the mystery or you can assign guests to portray different characters including the victim, the murderer and the other guests. The guests should keep their identities a secret to keep everyone else guessing.

The food can also be a source of entertainment for the guests at a New Years Eve party. You can serve items such as fondue which require the guests to participate in the preparation of the food. Another idea for an activity is to design a party where the preparation of the food is a part of the party. For example you could hire a sushi chef to come to the party and teach the guests how to make sushi. The guests can all make their own sushi rolls and the sushi prepared by the guests can be served as appetizers during the party.

Activities as simple as viewing movies can even be fun activities for a New Years Eve party. If your party has a particular theme, you can select a series of movies which reflect the theme of the party to keep your guests entertained throughout the movie. You might even serve foods which are typically found at a movie theater to tie the theme of the event to the food.

If the New Years Eve party will include children it is important to spend some time planning activities for the kids. You might want to include some kid friendly activities as well as activities which are suitable for children and adults. If there will be adults in attendance there should also be activities just for the adults as well to ensure everyone has a good time.

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Consider making the dress for the event casual instead of formal to create a more stress free environment. This simple stress can be very effective for reducing the stress level. First of all, if the affair is casual, the host will have to spend less time getting dressed for the party. This is important because the host often becomes quite stressed out on the day of the party because she is trying to take care of last minute details while she is also worried about getting dressed for the party. It also helps to reduce the stress level because guests expect more elegant food for a formal party than they do for a casual party so there is less stress to prepare and serve an elaborate meal at the party.

Regardless of the type of food you decide to serve, preparing the food for a New Years Eve party can be a significant cause of stress. Hiring a caterer is the most efficient way to minimize this stress. When hiring a caterer the host may have a great deal of work during the planning phases in selecting a caterer, tasting the food and selecting dishes for the menu, but once this is done the host only has to worry about coordinating the delivery and service of the food. This leaves the hostess free to focus on other elements of the party and prevents her from spending a great deal of time in the kitchen on the evening of the party.

While hiring a caterer is an excellent idea, it can be rather expensive. Fortunately there are also a number of inexpensive options for minimize the stress associated with preparing the food for a New Years Eve party. One fun way to do this is to make the party a potluck event. Having guests bring dishes such as side dishes, salads, appetizers, desserts and even main dishes or drinks greatly reduces the amount of work for the host. In this scenario the host only has to worry about providing one or two items and coordinating the other guests to ensure they do not all bring similar items.

Another inexpensive option which can help to reduce the amount of stress typically associated with preparing the food for a New Years Eve party is to serve only appetizers, desserts and cocktails at the party. This is significantly less expensive as appetizers are traditionally much less expensive than main course items. It is also acceptable to do this because most New Years Eve parties do not start until 8:00-9:00 at night. It is acceptable to assume most guests will have had dinner earlier in the evening but as a courtesy to the guests it is worthwhile to indicate on the invitations that only appetizers and desserts will be served.

What better way to start a new year than with a personalized gift to someone special. Maybe you’ve been invited to a New Years Eve party and want to bring a hostess gift. Perhaps you just want to acknowledge the work someone has done the past year with a thoughtful gift. Whatever your reason, a personalized gift basket will be appreciated and remembered throughout the year.

Start with a wicker basket. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Spray paint the basket wither gold or silver for a festive look. Check and see if you have any in your house before you go out and buy it.

Line the bottom with a cloth napkin in a complimentary color. If you spray pained your basket silver, try red or blue. If you used gold, a green napkin might look nice.

Start with some traditional New Years items like a bottle of champagne. Buy non-alcoholic if the person you’re giving it doesn’t drink. Add two champagne glasses with a ribbon tied around the stem. You can also put some noisemakers, blowouts and horns inside the basket.

Next, add some treats and snacks. Chocolate candy wrapped in silver or gold paper would look nice in a basket like this. Check your local bakery for cookies made especially for New Years.

Other items that you might want to add would be a new calendar for the upcoming year or a new journal with a fancy pen.

Also, don’t forget to include items that the recipient likes. Do they enjoy going to the movies? Include a gift card for a local theater. Do they like working out? How about including an exercise DVD they’ve been wanting to buy?

With a little bit of time and some creativity, you can create a gift that is thoughtful and cost effective.

Happy New Year!

For more homemade gift basket ideas please go to: http://homemadegiftbasketideasonline.com/

Celebrating New Year is a way of reflecting on the year that has just passed, and looking forward towards the year ahead. If you’re marking the occasion with a celebration, here are a couple of New Year’s Eve party games to get you started:

‘The Year That Was…’ New Year’s Eve Party Game
This game is fun, and suitable for the quietest to the most fun-filled celebrations. Before the party, make up a list of 20 or so questions relating to world events, current affairs and pop culture from the previous year. These can be standard, true or false, multiple choice or “Who am I?” style questions. Guests gather together, and form teams of 2-4 people. One person is nominated to read the questions, and teams must try and answer as many correct as possible. The team with the highest score at the end of the game is the winner of this New Year’s Eve party game.

‘My New Year’s Resolution…’ New Year’s Eve Party Game
This game is a great way for people who think they know each other to test how well they really know each other. At the start of the party, get all guests to write down 3 resolutions for the New Year. A few hours later, after the alcohol has well and truly started flowing, gather the guests together. Someone nominates to read out the resolutions and keep score, and the players must try and guess who each set of resolutions belongs to. The first person to call out the correct answer each time gets a point; the person with the most points at the end of the game is the winner of this great New Year’s Eve party game.

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino takes a common sense approach to planning and organizing events, celebrations and holiday parties with unique ideas for New Year’s Eve party supplies and fun free educational New Years Eve party games. She explains proper etiquette and living a healthy life while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Shop has lots of party ideas with hundreds of free holiday printable games and free birthday party activities. Over 100 adorable Theme Parties to fit your birthday celebration, holiday event, or “just because” parties is at the Party Theme Shop. Party themes include cartoon characters, sports, movie, TV shows, luau, western, holidays, and unique crazy fun theme ideas.