There’s no occasion more festive than New Year’s Eve, and decorating for the new year provides a fantastic chance to infuse a little bit of glamour into your holiday. Start the brand-new year in style with these stylish and sophisticated New Year’s Day decoration ideas. They’re super simple and fun to make.
1. New Year’s Eve countdown bags
Sometimes your stylish New Year’s decorations can double as a fun activity for your New Year’s party, like in the case of these New Year’s Eve countdown bags designed by Party Delights. Spend an hour during the week leading up to New Year’s Day to make these cute and clever party decorations.
If you don’t already have the supplies for this craft, no worries — you can easily pick up everything you need. Grab paper bags, curling ribbon, and some goodies to stuff into the bags, and get crafting!
Display these fun party favor bags on your fireplace mantle by hanging a cord across the mantle and clipping the folded bags to the cord. Alternately, simply place the bags on a side table where partygoers can easily access them. Don’t forget to make a party favor bag for each person who will attend your party. Fill the bags with simple party favors, like party poppers, party horns, hats, candy, or other traditional New Year’s favors.
New Year’s Resolution Wish Bags: Another idea is to create an activity with the countdown bags. Make the bags before the party, but instead of filling them with party favors, leave them empty. Then, on the hour indicated on the bag, have party guests write a simple New Year’s resolution on a slip of paper and slide it into the bag. Give guests a prompt for each hour, like “In the New Year, one family-related resolution I have is ____” or “My wild wish for the New Year is ____.” After midnight, read the resolutions that your guests wrote, or save them to read at your next New Year’s party.
2. New Year’s wreath
Would you like to be more crafty in the new year? Look no further than this striking New Year’s wreath designed by Everyday Scraps. Wreaths are one of the best crafts to make when you are just starting out on your New Year’s Day resolution to be more crafty. Wreaths are inexpensive and simple, and they always look fantastic when you finish.
For this festive New Year’s wreath craft, take a trip to your local dollar store or party store and raid the New Year’s Day decoration aisle. Pick up some colorful glittery garlands, paper New Year’s decorations, and any other sparkly embellishments that catch your eye. Don’t forget the wreath form — either a foam wreath form or wire form will do the trick for this project.
Hot glue the glitter garland to the wreath form to secure it, and then wrap the garland around the wreath form until it’s completely covered. Secure the end of the garland with a dab of hot glue, and then play around with the placement of the New Year’s embellishments. When you’re happy with the arrangement, hot glue each item to the wreath.
Note: Temporarily attach the year on the wreath by tying a string across the middle of the wreath, then clip the numbers of the new year with small clothespins. Save the wreath for next year’s decorations — just quickly swap out the new year numbers.
This New Year’s wreath is the perfect decoration to put on your front door during the last week of December, and you can leave it up until you put up your Valentine’s Day decorations.
3. Confetti-filled balloons
Did you ever look at a balloon filled with confetti and wonder “How the heck did they get that stuff inside there?” Wonder no more. We have instructions for exactly how to make a festive confetti-filled New Year’s Eve balloon, courtesy of Mum in the Mad House.
These celebratory balloons are a perfect New Year’s Eve decoration because they do double-duty — first as a shiny and sparkly decoration for the party, and then as a fun way to ring in the New Year. Just pop the balloons to release the confetti!
Gather up clear balloons, shiny confetti, and glitter stickers to make dozens of eye-catching New Year’s party decorations. You will also need a funnel to help load the balloons with confetti.
After you assemble and blow up the balloons, tie a string to the end of the balloons and hang them up on the ceiling. Give your guests a pin at midnight so they can pop the balloons and release the confetti into the night.
Confetti plus: Jazz up the contents of the balloon by adding tiny trinkets or candy to the balloon in addition to the confetti. Online party stores sell tiny party favors that work for this.
4. Paper foil medallions
Remember those paper snowflakes you made in grade school? These paper foil medallions from Lia Griffith are their sophisticated cousin — just as easy to make, but much more grown-up. This project, designed by Lia Griffith, makes a great backdrop for a New Year’s Party but is neutral enough to keep up beyond New Year’s Day.
Cleverly constructed of leftover holiday gift wrap, these paper medallions look complicated to make but can be made simply by folding paper and strategically snipping in the right places. Use holiday gift wrap you’ve collected over the years to create these dramatic decorations or pick up a few rolls of metallic gift wrap if you want to go super glam.
Tip: If you have spare gift wrap, but it’s the wrong color or pattern, buy a can of metallic spray paint and spray the paper before you fold it.
Make dozens of medallions and group them all together on the wall to make a big statement or put several of them on a wall to create a photo booth backdrop for your guests. If you have high ceilings, hang the medallions from the ceiling or tie them to a staircase to create a cascade of New Year’s cheer.
If you have kids, enlist their help as you make these paper medallions. Older kids will enjoy folding, measuring, and cutting designs in the medallions.
You can find supplies for this craft in the paper crafting section of your local craft store. You’ll need a cutting mat, craft knife, ruler, and hole punch, along with a few other common craft supplies.
Mini medallions: Use the medallion instructions to create mini medallions by reducing the size of paper you start with. Tie mini medallions to napkin rolls, party favors, or string together to create a festive garland.
5. Confetti bar
Looking for a wow-inducing party favor idea for your New Year’s Eve party? This confetti bar idea by Design Sponge is everything your Instagram-loving friends want but didn’t know they need. Simply place confetti artfully on a table along with scoops and bags, and let each guest create a custom mix of confetti that they can use to celebrate the New Year.
When it comes to parties, guests love an interactive party favor that allows them to create something to their exact specifications. This confetti bar allows guests to customize their confetti, which is creative fun for them, and easier for you! No need to prepare hundreds of tiny confetti sachets for your guests — let them do the work (and have all the fun).
Begin by putting a white tablecloth on a side table, which provides a solid backdrop perfect for displaying different styles of confetti. Next, gather stylish receptacles for the confetti. The best containers are clear (to allow guests to see the confetti inside) and have a wide mouth so guests can easily access the confetti with the help of a small scoop or spoon.
The best place to find an array of confetti is at a local party store or online. When shopping for confetti, choose several different colors, sizes, and styles. Stick to your party color palette, or go wild and include every color of the rainbow. Don’t forget metallic stars and long confetti streamers, and make sure to include bags or boxes so partygoers can store their custom confetti mix until midnight. Clear cellophane bags are a great choice, or choose small organza party favor bags if your party is posh.
Confetti party poppers: If you want to provide a party activity for your guests that goes beyond mixing confetti, check out our DIY confetti party poppers project. Simply provide the supplies for this project on a table, and allow guests to create party poppers with their custom confetti mix.