8 Ways to Celebrate New Year’s Eve in 2020

Let’s talk New Year’s Eve: often the night of the year when you get dressed up, go out and stay out late ringing in the new year with other people. It doesn’t have to be another thing 2020 has taken away from us.

1. Reframe your thinking- today is just another day. If you are feeling down because you are celebrating the holidays alone and won’t be seeing anyone for New Year’s Eve, it can help to remember that this has not been a normal year. Nothing right now is normal and you are not define by your NYE plans- nor do your NYE plans need to set the tone for how you will start your new year. There will be a lot of celebrating and a lot to celebrate when we are able to do things within 6 feet of one another again. It may be hard to change your thinking about that so it can help to stay off your instagram feed to avoid seeing what everyone else is doing and to have a plan of how to amuse yourself. Keep reading!
2. Drive-by gift drop – baked goods (i.e. granola is alway a good idea 🙂 !) , a bottle of wine, homemade cocktails or mocktails in mason jars, a game, etc. – it can boost your spirits to just do something fun for someone else
3. Gather with people outside– Even though it is winter and it is cold, there are still ways to connect safely with others. Gather outside for a fire and some drinks or a walk or even hang out in your garage, if you have one, which provides some protection from the elements, but still allows for some air flow. If your climate is very cold, like it is for me, opt for something earlier in the evening before the sun sets- who needs to be up until midnight anyway?
4. Make your own Paint Night– choose a picture you would like to paint or find a paint by numbers. It’s easy to find a paint kit on amazon or make your own. You could even make a game out of it- have a friend describe a picture to you and you need to paint it without seeing the picture. Then you would do the same for the friend and see whose best matches the picture.
5. Holiday light drive-through – find a local holiday light display to drive- through. Many are up through the new year. You can even go with friends in separate cars and spend the time driving through on the phone. If you can’t find a public light display, find a neighborhood or two with some spectacular lights. Many neighborhoods in our area have pinned their houses to saved google maps to show they are neighborhoods with lights for people to see. You can try searching for these on google.
6. Themed virtual food swap– a friend came up with this idea for her family for Thanksgiving. Each person or family participating makes a part of the meal. You keep some of what you make for yourself and trade some of it for another part of the meal with anyone else participating. We plan to choose a theme by making food from a specific country. After the swap, you can eat together over zoom.. or not! 🙂
7. Online game night: Scattergories, for Pictionary, get words from here, and draw on a shared board here. Cards Against Humanity (for adults!) and 5 board games you can play online
8. Get dressed up or get really cozy, whichever makes you really happy! I know I have had very few opportunities this year to get dressed up so the idea makes me feel a bit more festive.