It’s that time of year again, the time when everyone starts saying “wow, this year flew by,” and your dad says “see you next year!” five seconds before midnight. Like most holidays, there is always a lot of buzz leading up to the actual day. Everyone is wondering who they’ll be with when the clock strikes midnight, and people are planning exquisite and exclusive holiday parties.
I don’t know about you, but holidays incite a lot of feelings for me. Leading up to the day, I’m usually very excited. But when the day comes, I feel a bit anxious about my plans (or lack of plans), and I sometimes feel like everyone else is having a better time than me. So this year, I’m planning ahead and coming up with some simple ways to celebrate the new year!
- Make a Scrapbook or Photo Album
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Personally, I feel like this past year has been a great one! It had a lot of ups and downs, but overall it has been a year to remember. If you know me in real life, I have been constantly complaining about how my phone, computer, and google account are out of storage (it’s been rough). Because of this, I’ve been meaning to print out all of my photos to put them in a scrapbook or photo album.
I think this could be a really fun New Year’s Eve tradition! I feel like the possibilities are endless and it’s easy to customize this to fit whatever your evening has in store. For example, you can look back on photos with your friends as you watch some New Year’s Eve performances, or you can get cozy in bed and do it by yourself! It can be an intricate scrapbook if you have some creative talent or just a simple photo album.
- Make a Vision Board
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It could be a fun idea to make something to represent what you hope to achieve in the new year. For example, I hope to raise my GPA in 2023, go on some fun trips, and start a really rewarding internship! I can then find some photos to represent these dreams and put them together on December 31. Just like the scrapbooking/photo album idea, making a vision board can be done with other people or solo and can fit in with whatever you’re doing that night.
If you really want to get creative, your vision board can be more conceptual! For example, you can make a playlist of music, a Pinterest board, or whatever else you can think of!
- Do a Deep Clean
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I know this may not seem fun at first, but I feel like this is a great way to start your year off on the right foot. Just picture waking up on January 1 to a fresh start— no clutter, no laundry to do— just a calm, relaxing day. While this idea kind of forces you to stay home, it can be done with family or just by yourself. You can try to make it fun by watching a movie, listening to music, or reminiscing about the past year.
As you clean, you may find a bunch of little knick-knacks that remind you of the past year; maybe a concert ticket, a piece of your Halloween costume, or a paper from class. If you’re overly sentimental like me, this is the perfect opportunity to store these items, whether through photos or in a container. If you do this every year, you can have a box or folder for random memories from every year! I just think this is such a cute way to celebrate the past year!
- Watch a New Year’s Eve Movie
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There are actually a surprising amount of New Year’s Eve movies and episodes from TV shows. Her Campus at Gettysburg actually just watched a really good one, When Harry Met Sally. There are tons of lists of the best movies and TV shows to watch, so I won’t list them all, but Friends: season 5, episode 11 is a good one. Again, you can have a solo movie night, or get some people together to create your own movie theater. I love this idea because it’s so simple and you can just sit back and relax as you enjoy the movie or show.
You can even combine this idea with the other ones and make a scrapbook as you watch. You could also buy your favorite snacks and drinks for the experience, or you can make your own! There are so many fun New Year’s Eve snack and drink recipes online, or maybe you can even create your own recipe!
- Make some snacks and drinks
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Of course, I have some fun food and drink ideas! Picture this: a cake pop with edible glitter all over it. It’s giving Times Square ball drop. If you’re having a party to ring in the new year, you can make your favorite cake and put sparkler candles on it for some festive vibes too. If you aren’t into baking or maybe need something more low-key, I think it would be adorable to have some Hershey Kisses around (Get it? You can have a Kiss at midnight!). You can make a fun blue and ice-cold drink to remind you of the polar bear plunge, a peppermint hot chocolate, or a fun glittery and glamorous drink to wash everything down!
- Play a song so it plays perfectly at midnight
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In the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of people attempt to play a song so a certain lyric or a beat drop happens as the clock strikes midnight. I usually do this on my birthday, but I think this would be really fun if you’re going to a New Year’s party! The trick is to prepare beforehand because you have to start playing your chosen song at a certain time for the effect to work. There are tons of ideas on Tik Tok, but a popular one to play has been “Feeling Myself” by Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé, specifically at the “world stop… carry on” part.
- Celebrate like it’s any other day
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I actually did this to start 2021 and it was so peaceful! Similar to doing a deep clean, I feel like this way of celebrating just invites good vibes into your next year. Instead of staying up until midnight, I went to bed early. Because of that, my first experience in 2021 was opening my eyes to a beautiful day. I was well-rested and ready to take on the day, as well as the year!
You can make this even better by doing a spa night or cleaning beforehand, that way you wake up with zero mundane tasks to do. It’s fun to stay up and celebrate sometimes, but if you’re not feeling it, this is such a beautiful and wholesome way to wake up and celebrate. After all, it’s called New Year’s Day for a reason!
From everyone here at Her Campus, we hope your finals week went well and that you have a great winter break! We can’t wait to see you all next semester bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a brand new semester! Stay safe and have fun!
And you know what, I couldn’t end this article without saying see you next year!