New Years Eve Party Theme Ideas for Adults

These New Years Eve party theme ideas for adults are the best ideas for your next New Year's Eve party. Any of these themes are perfect for celebrating the new year with your closest friends.

I love any excuse to celebrate, so I especially love the holidays. We have decorations for every holiday and then some. I even keep our Christmas tree up and decorate it for Valentine's Day.

As a kid, I felt like I had to hide my excitement for life because I felt like my personality was too "cheesy," but now I am comfortable in my own skin. So, I go above and beyond to decorate for holidays, and I love it.

Food and parties are great ways to celebrate, so we have tons of fun parties and holiday recipes, like our Halloween worms in dirt recipe. Our green Christmas drinks are also a crowd-pleaser.

These Valentines cookie gifts are a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day and share your love with others. We also have delicious mocktails, like our 4th of July mocktail and best Thanksgiving punch, to celebrate holidays.

New Year's Eve parties are a wonderful way to celebrate the year and ring in the new year. What makes them even better is if there is a theme. This also goes for New Years Day activities and New Year's Eve ball drop for kids and countdown ideas.

Themed parties do not just have to be for kids. Adults will enjoy a theme because they are able to step out of their busy lives for a moment and spend time with family and friends.

These sparkling non-alcoholic drinks and taco charcuterie board are great for the festivities! This new year's eve charcuterie board or even our Christmas charcuterie board would also work great for NYE.

Why you should throw a themed New Year's Eve party

• It is a great way to celebrate the past year
• You deserve to have a good time relaxing after a long year
• A themed party makes a typical party even better
• It allows you to get creative and plan a fun event
• It gives you an excuse to make fun-themed foods

Now that you know why you should throw a themed party, here are some incredible New Year's Eve party themes you and your friends will love.

Clean Slate

A clean slate party is all about starting fresh. The new year is a wonderful time to reflect on the previous year and make new goals for the next year. This party theme reflects this idea through its simplicity.

We decorated with bright colors and sparkles but always returned to slate black as an accent. Of course, we had a beautiful slate cheeseboard. It was the perfect spot to put our appetizers and the classic meats and cheeses.

For a clean look, I used black and white vases for the flowers. We went with white flowers, too, to follow the clean aesthetic. I did add small touches of gold because, hey, it is a New Year's Eve party.

We put out resolution cards for our guests to write on, so they could create fun resolutions and start the new year on a clean slate. My kids even came up with their own resolutions.

Because we had so many appetizers, I made sure we have take-home boxes for our guests. We couldn't eat all of the leftovers by ourselves, so I sent them home with our friends!

Masquerade

A masquerade theme for a party is fun because it is an excuse to dress up. I don't know about you, but I'm not getting invited to fancy balls, so I never have a reason to get all dressed up.

So, why not throw your own masquerade ball? You can do as much or as little as you want when planning this party. It does not require as much effort as you think it would, though.

First, you need decorations. I would say lighting is one of the most important parts when decorating for a masquerade ball. You will not want a bunch of bright lights. because you will be able to see each other's identities!

Soft lighting, like string lights or twinkly lights, is what you will want to go with. You can also get fake candles and put them all over your living room (or wherever you are hosting this party).

Use lots of gold accents when decorating for this event. Balloons, streamers, and ribbons are the perfect way to add accent colors. Also, add a lot of glitter and sparkles wherever possible (on the tables, counters, etc).

If you want, you can find some gold candelabras for the olden-time fancy ball aesthetic. If you are going for a Phantom of the Opera masquerade vibe, you definitely will want to have those.

Pick out some fun music, and be prepared to dance! It is a ball, after all. Make sure to take lots of pictures too, because this will be a New Year's Eve you want to remember.

Buy some extra masks (they can be cheap paper ones) in case one of your guests forget to wear theirs. It may not happen, but it is best to be prepared so no one feels left out.

Disco

Another New Year's party idea you can throw from the comfort of your own home is a disco party. Your party guests can dress up in their best 70s attire and get ready for a groovy night.

A disco party NEEDS a disco ball, so that is the first thing to buy. If you can, have it on the ceiling, shimmering on everyone. If not, buy some little disco balls and attach them to fishing line and hang them from the ceiling.

Get all of the lava lamps, groovy decorations, and beaded curtains for party decorations. Set up a corner with a decorated wall and props for a photo booth! Everyone is dressed up, so you may as well document it.

Neon-colored balloons and glow sticks are also perfect decorations for this party. If you want to go all out, grab some black lights to create the best disco party aesthetic.

A dance floor is a must for a groovy 70s party. Play your favorite tunes and dance the night away! A karaoke machine is another fun thing to have at your party so you and your guests can sing the best 70s songs.

You can buy mini lava lamps and mini disco balls as cute party favors. These party favors are incredibly easy and cheap. Plus, they will remind your guests of the fun New Year's Eve disco party!

Game Night

If you want a more chill NYE party, throw a game night! Not much planning is needed, and you do not have to worry about finding a costume. You could even have a dress code of comfy clothes only.

Have your guests bring their favorite games and treats to make this game night New Year's Eve party super low-key. Serve some hot chocolate, finger foods, and tasty mocktails that your guests can munch (and sip) on all night long!

You can have any type of game on game night: board games, card games, video games, you name it! Set up spaces for different games to be played throughout your living space so everyone can play whatever they want to play.

I recommend having card tables and chairs for each game space so your guests can be comfortable and have a space to play. If you do not have a huge space for this, make sure you have a flat surface to play the games.

Some of our favorite board games are Clue, Life, Monopoly, and Scrabble. The cool thing about having everyone bring a game is you get to try new games you have never played before!

Apples to Apples, Uno, Cards Against Humanity, and Monopoly Deal are fantastic card game choices. We also enjoy Cover Your Assets, Skull King, and Throw Throw Burrito (don't knock it until you try it).

Risk and Settlers of Catan are great options if you have a smaller group and want to dedicate your night to one game. These games usually take an hour or two, so grab your snacks and have fun!

Make sure you are paying attention to the clock (maybe set an alarm) so you do not miss the ball drop to ring in the New Year. I easily get caught up in games, so I would not be surprised if I missed it.

Roaring 20s

If you are more into the 20s than the 70s for a decade party, try out a roaring 20s party! You could go about this theme differently, but two options are a speakeasy vibe and a Gatsby party.

I feel like a speakeasy party is not as common when you think about throwing a 20s-themed party. When I think about the 20s, I usually think about huge, lavish parties with glitter and flapper dancers.

Speakeasies are also a part of 1920s history, so how fun would it be to throw that kind of party? I absolutely love mixing mocktails, so a speakeasy party would be such a cool idea.

First, you need to make sure the lighting is low. Speakeasies were technically illegal, so they were typically underground, and there were few lights. One way to do this in your house is to decorate with dim lamps and Edison-style lights.

Velvet curtains and crystal vases are also good ideas for decoration. All you need to do to create the speakeasy vibe is to make it dark and mysterious. No need to spend a lot of money!

Drinks are a critical part of a speakeasy. Have a menu just for mocktails and have a fun bar top to make these drinks at. You can even have your guests make their own drinks!

Now for a Gatsby party, you need gold, black, and lots of glamour. Think of old Hollywood, extravagant, over-the-top decorations. Gold foil will also be a big part of decorating.

Glittery gold and silver balloons mixed with black balloons will easily create that expensive aesthetic without breaking the bank. Add some geometric patterns and feathers and you should be good to go!

One important piece you need to add to your Gatsby party is a photo wall. Your guests will be dressed in Gatsby style, which is the perfect photo opportunity. The photo wall will also give that old Hollywood movie premier vibe.

A roaring 20s party would not be a roaring 20s party without dancing. Play classic 20s music so you and your guests can dance the Charleston all night long. Throw some modern music into the playlist as well to dance to your favorites.

Murder Mystery

A murder mystery party takes a lot of preparation, but it is absolutely worth all of the work. The first thing you must do is figure out your guest list. This will help you get an idea of how many characters you will need for your story.

You can find a storyline for a murder mystery party online, but you can also get creative and write your own story. There are scripted stories and free play stories. Free play gives your guests the opportunity to be creative and dive into the story.

If your guests would rather, there are storylines that have a script your guests can read from. Either option is incredibly fun; it just comes down to the comfort level of your guests.

Plenty of online resources will provide all of the information and tools you need for your murder mystery party. You can also get creative and do everything on your own, saving you money, but it does take a lot more time.

When you send out the invitations, make sure you tell your guests the dress code. You can also provide costumes and props if that is easier. The more information you can give your guests, the better prepared they will be.

Casino Night

Viva Las Vegas! Decorate your home to make your guests feel like they hopped on a plane and traveled to a casino in Las Vegas.

Black, white, red, and gold are the colors you will want to go with for your casino night. Balloons, streamers, and decks of cards are easy decorations to turn your home into a casino.

You can also decorate with hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs to symbolize cards. A "Welcome to Las Vegas" or "Casino" sign will also add to the party theme.

Of course, you can gamble if you want, but you can always gamble with fake money or candy. Monopoly money is an easy choice if you don't want to print fake money.

Play card games like poker, blackjack, and baccarat while sipping a delicious mocktail. Turn on a movie about Vegas and gambling, like Guys and Dolls or Ocean's Eleven, in the background for the casino vibe.

No matter what you do to celebrate the upcoming year, as long as you have good company, it will be a great New Year's celebration. We hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and an even better New Year!