If you’re looking for New Year’s Eve party ideas for teens, you’re in luck. First, congratulations on raising your teen(s) well! When my teen son has asked us if he could host a New Year’s Eve party at home for his friends, I felt like I had reached the summit of my parenting goals.
Not only was my son making innocent plans for the holiday, he was comfortable having his friends join him for whatever festivities he had planned right under my nose!
How much independence do you want to give to your teen?
I didn’t want to blow this opportunity, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make the evening fun and safe for him and his friends without being a helicopter parent or, on the other extreme, a completely absentee parent that lets the kids do whatever they want.
After searching everywhere, I realized there aren’t a lot of articles out there geared specifically towards New Year’s Eve party ideas for teens so I decided to make my own plan.
Food for a New Year’s Eve Party for Teens
For a party that lasts several hours, I like to stick with appetizers and snacks, simple finger foods that guests can nibble on throughout the evening.
After consulting with my son, we decided on the following food:
- Easy Sweet & Sour Meatballs
- Pizza Crescent Roll Ups
- Kettle Corn
- Spiced Nuts
- Inside Out Caramel Apple Bites
- Nutella and Banana Crescent Packets
In addition to these recipes, I provided a fruit tray and a veggie platter. You could also include a variety of cheeses and crackers.
Since the kids are all underage, we served sparkling cider in lieu of champagne for the toast at midnight. We opted for plastic champagne flutes so I didn’t have to worry about broken glass and to make clean up easier (we just tossed the flutes after the party).
If you want to put in some extra effort, consider making up some of these mocktail recipes for teenagers from 3 Boys and a Dog. You can also set up a hot chocolate bar, to provide additional beverage options.
Also, to take the pressure off of any of the kids who didn’t want to engage in the traditional midnight kisses, I put out a bowl of Hershey’s kisses (idea courtesy of Oh Sugar Event Planning).
For dessert, keep it simple. Set up a candy buffet or an arrangement of cupcakes. An ice cream bar makes a fun accompaniment to the hot cocoa bar.
Entertainment for a New Year’s Eve Party for Teens
For entertainment, we planned the following:
- Redbox or Netflix movies
- XBox party games like Just Dance and Kinect Adventures
- Other video games
- Foosball
- Party board games (see my list of favorite games for teenagers)
- Resolution Cards (from Real Simple)–guests fill them out and then try to guess who wrote what
- Photo booth with props (e.g. hats, tiaras, boas, funny glasses, fake mustaches), and photo backdrops around the house to encourage guests to snap lots of pictures
- Poker with lots of chips so no REAL gambling need occur
- Teen Party Games
- More Teen Party Games
Extra Ideas for New Year’s Eve Party for Teens
To make the evening memorable, we created a few “extras” for the guests.
- Tic-Tocks (repackaged tic tacs)
- CD of the playlist from the evening
- Hats, Noisemakers and Confetti Poppers for midnight
Decoration Ideas for a New Year’s Eve Party for Teens
For party decorations, we relied mostly on the photo backdrops we set up. In addition, we got a bunch of balloons to place around the party area and we hung some streamers.
I skipped glitter since I didn’t want to be finding it for weeks afterwards. Instead, we used this portable disco ball to add some color and sparkle. Combined with a good Spotify party music playlist, it paved the way for a fun dance party.
Glow sticks are another easy way to add some color and fun. Opt for the kind that can be linked together to make bracelets and necklaces to give the guests creative freedom.
More New Year’s Eve Fun
Looking for even more New Years Eve party ideas? I have several ideas for younger kids that can be easily adapted for teens and tweens.
- Create a New Year Time Capsule
- Fill paper bags with prizes or treats as a New Year Countdown Activity
- Play this New Year Dice Game
- Have the guests do a “Year in Review” where they share their highlights from the year
Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea.These are absolutely incredible, . i would love to try this keep posting such amazing ideas
Thank you so much for this! I am mom to 2 teens that will be having friends here. I needed ideas and your are great!
I’m glad you found some ideas you can use. I hope they have fun!
Hello! I am a teen looking to throw my own New Yearโs Eve party, and I can tell you all of these things are very helpful! They do not sound childish or boring of any sorts. Thank you very much!!
Thank you! I hope you have a fantastic night!!
Well, now I have plenty of ideas of what to bring to my New Years party Iโm attending! These look great, thank you. Happy New Year’s
We watched a movie, played games on the Wii, and several board games. We enjoyed our New Year’s celebration, I hope that you enjoyed yours as well. Happy New year.
My oldest would definitely love all the different foods you have there! I love the Tic Tac printables.
What a great idea.. with two teens in the home I bet they love to have a party like that.. soo need to show them.. Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year
My son’s Birthday is New Years Eve so we generally have a good bunch of kids over. One of the things they love to do is go sledding, come in for hot cocoa, and settle down to a movie as the warm up.
Then we serve snacks for dinner and they usually like to play the Wii until the ball drop.
I really like your tic tocks idea! Very cute.
I wish the Tic Tocks were my idea, but I can only take credit for finding them at Infarrantly Creative. I hope someday we will live somewhere where we can count on sledding for New Year’s Eve. It’s a rare event where we live in Virginia, unfortunately, due to the lack of snow.
My brother’s birthday is New Year’s Eve!!!
I hope he has a great birthday this year!
This sounds like so much fun! I love that your son wants to have friends over.
Fun ideas! Thanks so much for including me. I’ve pinned this to my New Years board ๐