2022 New Years Eve Party Themes

Looking for ways to celebrate New Years’ Eve 2022? Well, you’re in a bit of luck. How do 16 New Years’ Eve party themes sound?

Ah, New Years’! The sign of a new beginning. It usually comes hand-in-hand with New Year’s resolutions and the best of intentions for starting over by so many people.

The start of the new year comes off the highs of a holiday season that is rife with happiness for so many people, and with it, people’s hearts and minds are usually brimming with optimism and open to trying new things.

And of course, if you’re here, you’re probably looking for an idea on how to sweep in the New Year with enthusiasm. You came to the right place.

But, before we get into these fun themes, there are a few things to look out for when you’re planning a party.

How to Do New Years Eve Party Planning

Decide On Your Day 

You really only have two days. December 31st or January 1st. That’s it.

New Year’s is one of those holidays where you don’t really do a celebration around the holiday. It’s not like Christmas, where you can have a holiday party pretty much the entire month of December.

So you have a decision to make: is this a New Year’s Eve party, or a New Year’s Day party. There are pretty distinct vibes there.

You should also consider what time in the day you want to have your event: it could be a mellow afternoon with friends, or it could be the main event for the ball drop. Since New Year’s Eve, specifically, is such a festive special night, it isn’t uncommon for people to ‘pre-game’ one place before taking a cab to another party.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong if you want to host the more laid-game ‘before party,’ rather than the midnight countdown and ensuing after-party.

Generally, December 31st is a day for night-time parties, while January 1st is good for day-time gatherings.

Guest List

With your date and intention in mind, your guest list will fluctuate.

If you’re throwing a New Year’s Eve party, then you’ll be ing adults and those who are likely to be drinking and partying for some time. That isn’t absolute – if this is an event for the whole family and family friends, there might be children there as well.

However, the parents are likely to be sipping on something while the kids stay up late and practice hanging out with the grown-ups. A New Year’s Day party is better for family friends who have their own children, coworkers, and acquaintances that you are just generally less comfortable drinking around.

Keep Your Budget In Check

Budgets will make or break any event. Work with what you have and DIY what you can. If you’re low on funds, there’s no shame in asking others to pitch in party supplies that they may have, too. This is especially true if it’s something durable, like a folding table or a crockpot that you can simply return when the party is over.

Of course, if your funds are unconstrained, you’ll have an easier time. To be honest, if you describe your funds as “unconstrained,” I envy you.

Location, Location, Location

Obviously, every party needs a location, so picking the right event space for yours is crucial.

You can host at a home, rent out a bar or nightclub, or even get an Airbnb near a lake and have a bonfire. The time of day comes up again here, though, so keep that in mind.

Unless you’re doing a bonfire, for example, it tends to be kind of cold being outside at night in late December. So you’re not going to want to host a ball drop party in your backyard unless you have a bonfire to keep everyone warm, or at the very least space heaters, so keep that in mind.

On the other hand, is a bonfire necessary for a New Year’s Day party when the sun is up and you’re all talking about New Year’s Resolutions? Probably not.

There are other examples of this. If you want everyone to be drinking heavily, a large house with ample space for people to sleep over is ideal.

If you’re more interested in dancing, then a rented venue is better, unless that house has a big living room and halfway decent acoustics.

Dress Code

Are you going for something a bit more upscale in your theme or keeping it low stress and low-key?

Your dress code can really impact the overall feel and look of your party. I personally would feel weird going to a party on New Year’s Day with my neighbors and coworkers dressed in a glittery little cocktail dress. That dress is more appropriate for a New Years Eve party filled with bubbly and clock-checking.

For a lowkey hangover cure shindig the next day, though, any old thing should do. Spend a little time choosing an appropriate dress code to match your theme.

Alright, now that we’ve gotten that all out of the way, how about we get into these New Years theme ideas!?

Popular New Year’s Eve Party Themes

Decades Party

Perfect for ringing in a new decade (obviously), a decade party takes on the looks, stylings, and feeling of the decade you’re ringing in. Just like for 2020, everyone went crazy for the Roaring 20s and Flapper NYE Parties based on the 1920s.

And maybe we shouldn’t have. Cause look at what happened next. A “great” depression.

There are other 1920s themes you can borrow from if you wanted to; prohibition, speakeasies, and the birth of the mafia and the modern media.

You could all dress up like gangsters, moonshiners, and reporters to spice things up. Lindberg flew across the Atlantic and the jazz age was roaring in Harlem, so there are a lot of ideas you can go with.

But other decades aren’t that bad, either, and you also don’t necessarily need to attach the theme to the year that you’re entering.

There’s certainly a cuteness to linking them, but if you’re feeling groovy, you can pretty much always go with a 70s party. Or a 90s party for that matter, I know half of us wish we were still there!

Olympic Party

If it’s an Olympic year, throw a Grecian part as an ode to the ancients. With that type of vibe, make sure you think about plenty of ‘events’ that people can win for fame and bragging rights.

There are a hundred different games or contests you could have people participate in: trivia, ring-toss, drinking ‘classics’ like flip cup, and so on and so on.

Another way to play off of the Olympic theme is to throw a ‘modern’ Olympic party. That’s where you dress up as Greece (because you’re the host, after all), and then every guest chooses the nation they’re going to represent and competes.

NYE Pajama Party

Trying to go low-key and unassuming? A pajama party that turns into a sleepover with friends is an easy way to ring in the New Year. Prepare the popcorn, put on some movies, have a dance party, and ring in the new year with hot chocolate, pillow fights, and snacks.

Take polaroids to commemorate the evening and send everyone home with photos that they can keep forever.

Rooftop Terrace Party

On the other end of the spectrum, you can be hella fancy with a rooftop terrace party. If you’re going for an upscale vibe, this is an automatic winner, and a great option if you live in an apartment that will allow you to use the rooftop space.

You might have to rent it out, but find out and just plan for the expense.

String some globe lights, hire a DJ, and prepare some signature cocktails. Just make sure you also have something to eat so no one is drinking on an empty stomach and falling off the roof.

Once you have the music, the mood, and enough chairs to sit down, you’re pretty much done. The lights of your hometown will provide a whole lot of ambiance, so all you’ll need to add are noisemakers and some way of watching the countdown. 😉

Boat/Yacht Party

If you can afford to throw a yacht party, you can also hire someone to plan your party for you if you want to go all out. But just for the sake of coming up with the idea, you have plenty of options for how to throw the coolest yacht party to ever… yacht? (Is that a verb, too? People go yachting…)

With a DJ, an open bar, and some awesome catering, you can have a floating nightclub ready to roll. Again, this isn’t exactly a budget party, but it’ll be one you never forget, and if you split the costs with others it actually isn’t that unreasonable.

Some of the bigger yachts even have hot tubs, in which case you can tell people to bring their swimsuits.

Lastly, if you’re a super “comfortable” person with enough means to afford this, first of all… hey. ‘Sup.

Secondly, you’ll want to think about fireworks or some other type of ‘event’ for the actual ball drop. It could be a light show or something else.

Your party planner can come up with something, but pyrotechnics are a sure way to have people talking about your party for years to come.

New York City Countdown/Disco Party

Keep it a hunnid by throwing a Time Square-inspired New Years’ party. You’ll need a TV with the ball drop on so you can watch the Good Morning America cast fill time for an hour before the countdown, and you’ll need a solid playlist.

Get your friends on the couch with some drinks and a few pizzas and you’re pretty much good to go once the clock strikes.

It’s that simple. Deadass.

If you throw up a disco ball and everyone starts dancing in place, you’ve basically got yourself a NYC apartment disco party. Discos tend to go for a metallic motif though, so maybe you want some decor to catch all the spinning reflections.

Brunch Party

My boyfriend’s aunt throws an annual brunch party at her home the day of New Years, so credit to her for this one. She orders catering, has colored beads, puts on some music (it’s an older crowd, so back-in-the-day classic rock), and then gets to mingle with her guests.

Having a budget to get the catering and by selecting friends who will entertain each other with their conversation takes a lot off her plate, but the other benefit of this is that it’s a casual, easy pace to welcome in the New Year. She sees people she doesn’t always get to catch up.

It’s really a win-win situation.

Obviously you can easily make a simple set-up like that fancier if you want. There are plenty of ‘brunch spots’ that cater to the Instagram crowd, with cute dishes and scenic locations.

If you find one that will be open, you can rent out a certain portion of the restaurant, or you could set it up for a park or another outdoor place. That obviously works best for a warmer climate, since… winter.

But if you’re indoors, you can still brighten up the party with flowers and you can serve mimosas to round out the effect. Plus, if you were all drinking the night before, there’s nothing like that one drink to curtail your hangover.

Outer Space Party

This one is a little out there (with a unique way to ring in the year!), but so is outer space. 

A space theme for New Year can be incredibly cool. It’s imaginative and completely outside of the box (it’s outside the atmosphere! hahaa).

I’m sure someone has done this theme before, so I won’t claim to be the first to think of it, but how many do you know who have? It’s definitely a different approach to New Year’s.

Tell your guests to come wearing their glitziest apparel. You’re all going to be celebrities, partying like it’s 2099 at the Moonbase. 

Think ‘premiere party’ mixed with Star Trek.

And decorate your house/apartment like they’re on their way floating through space with stars and constellations all around. Make that party glisten like the ball!

Waterfront/Beach Party

Rent out a beach house (preferably on a private beach or with a private beachfront) and throw your party there!

Airbnb has so many options now that you should be able to find something fun and relatively affordable. You can plan this party for day or night; if it’s a warm area and you want to swim, then daytime is obviously safer.

The advantage of nighttime is that, with the rental, you have a place for people to crash so they don’t have to drive.

This is a really easy theme as you can have a beachfront dance party and make fruity tropical drinks; the whole “we’re on a beach” vibe is just staring you in the face. So go with it and have a blast!

Vegas/Casino Party

Even if you’ve never been to a casino in your life (like me), throwing a Casino party for New Years Eve is super easy.

It’s mostly in the decor and in the few games that you provide for guests.

You want a table for poker or blackjack (maybe both), a set of chips for people to use, and to decide if you’ll be gambling real money (no worries, I don’t snitch), or if you’re going to have prizes, like a nice bottle of whiskey or wine for the person with the highest chip count at the end of the evening.

The food, booze, and music are all important for the atmosphere, but one thing you need here is unique – staff! Obviously hiring a server for any party makes it fancy, but for a real poker night, you need a dealer for card games and someone to refill everyone’s drinks while they’re caught in an intense hand.

If you can hire someone, that’s awesome, but if you have a friend who’s willing to help you co-host, even better. One of you is the dealer, little visor hat and all, and the other dresses up like a cute cocktail server and pretends to fawn over whoever throws down the most amount of pretend money.

The casino themes are definitely slated towards adults, but another fun idea is to have a ‘kids casino.’ The games are simple – maybe “high stakes” Go Fish and Crazy Eights, played over apple juice and served by the parents.

Obviously introducing your children to gambling young might not be a vibe for you… fair! But it is super cute, especially if you get them all dressed up for the occasion.

Blacklight/Neon Party

Blacklight parties are meant for one thing – dancing! Some glow sticks, glow-in-the-dark paint, and glow in the dark jello shots will make this one to remember.

Your party doesn’t necessarily need to go fully into the ‘rave’ vibe, but that’s also a path you can go down. The only pro-tip I can give you is to leave an extra lint brush by the door for those guests who suddenly realize their shirt isn’t actually all that clean.

If you want to lean hard into ‘everything is glow-y,’ they make paper plates, utensils, sunglasses, pretty much anything you can think of that glows in the dark. Literally just go to Party City and spend $20 and you’ll have more iridescent plastic than you know what to do with.

Lastly on this, here’s a super cool and super easy way to make something your guests will never forget: glow in the dark ice cubes!

Here’s the trick: you buy tonic water with quinine (super important). Then you pour that into an ice cube tray, because water. Then you put it in the freezer, because ice.

Then you set up the blacklight and when the cubes are all frozen, they will legit glow blue when you take them out. And not like a slight glow, they will shine.

All White Everything

If you’re a millennial like me, you’ve probably seen Gossip Girl. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s a great show.

There’s an episode where Blair and the rest of the rich socialites attend the Hamptons’ White Party and it’s a dream I have had for years since.

As the party name suggests, this is a party where absolutely everything could be white. Your guests should come dressed in all white, and all of your decorations should reflect this overall theme. White tablecloths, etc.

There’s a sort of symbolism in it, with you entering the next year with a ‘clean slate.’ It’s a beautifully refreshing “colorless” palette.

From that palette, though, you are allowed to have some points of color in your decorations. They should be subdued colors, like creams, blushes, and greens, because, against all the white, they’re really going to “pop,” so to speak.

Black and Gold/White

Except, maybe you don’t want to do that. Maybe ‘all white’ just feels too monochromatic.

A black and gold theme can also be super classy and the combination definitely works for New Year’s Eve parties, while ‘all white’ can feel like it’s been done before. The same can be said for a black and white party, the contrast is sleek and refined, and it gives guests a few more options to embellish their style compared with a white party.

Masquerade Party

This is one of those classic themes that everyone has heard about and seen in movies, but they rarely (if ever) get the opportunity to actually go to one. Be the host that changes that by planning your New Year’s Eve party around a masquerade.

So break out the masquerade masks, champagne, the fancy hors d’oeuvres, and your fanciest duds. You can set up a photo booth for all those tipsy memories that you and your classy friends make.

Wine Party

Wine parties are basically a dinner party that starts at Wine O’Clock and runs until you’re out of wine and cheese.

Wine parties are also pretty nice because it’s socially acceptable to ask everyone to bring their own bottle while you provide the hors d’oeuvres and main course. It’s actually a great move, since everyone’s taste in wine varies so much, you can all try a whole range of labels and years.

You can also pull out the charcuterie board, arrange fancy cheeses and fine meats, along with some baguettes, some fruit, and maybe one of those broccoli, carrot, and dip platters. I think they call them crudités. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Happy New Year 2022 Party

You know what though? Even if there is no theme (*gasp*), you’re guaranteed to have a great time. Throwing the simplest of get-togethers with friends and family can make the night (or day) all the more special.

A couple of numbered balloons, straw stirrers, tablecloths, and you’re done. You’ve got the whole shebang, even if it’s a pretty standard shebang.

Do what works well for you here and your guests are sure to love ushering in the future with you.

Conclusion to NYE Party Themed Ideas

Whether you’re dining with friends over wine or throwing a bash on a yacht, your friends and family are sure to enjoy their time ringing in the New Year with people that they love and admire.

So, don’t sweat the small stuff, if one of these ideas pops out to you, feel free to steal it, and remember: the most important thing is to have fun. Keep that in mind and you’re on the right track to having a great party.

Happy New Year!

Related New Years Articles:

How to Make the Best New Years’ Resolutions

25 Realistic New Years Resolutions

New Years Eve 2022 Themes

This post was on 2022 theme ideas.