Spending New Year’s Eve alone presents an interesting opportunity. For one special evening, it’s all about you. It’s also cheaper and less stressful. There’s no dressing up, no crowds, no expectations to meet someone special, no pressure to have the best time of your life. And there’s no hangover the next day.
20 Things you can do at home to start the year on the right foot
Whether you’re spending New Year’s Eve alone by choice or because you have nowhere in particular to go, here are 20 ideas on how to have a great New Year’s Eve for one.
1. Throw a Personal Party
Throw a small party for yourself. Prepare your favorite appetizers, cocktails and desserts. Watch New Year’s Eve celebrations from all over the world on TV or online. Open a New Year’s gift you bought for yourself months ago for this night.
2. Watch the Fireworks
Go to a local fireworks show or watch the most spectacular fireworks displays in the U.S. and the world on TV or online.
3. Binge on Movies or TV Shows
Get comfortable on your couch or recliner and enjoy some of your favorite movies, New Year Eve’s-themed movies, or TV shows. Choose from your personal DVD collection, scan your DVR, or dive into an online streaming service.
4. Connect With People
Schedule a phone or video call with someone special for the countdown to midnight. Reach out to someone who is spending New Year’s Eve alone. Catch up with old friends. Write letters to friends and relatives.
5. Take a Trip
Make your travel dream come true. Go to Europe, Las Vegas, Fiji, Disney World, New York City, Egypt, the Caribbean—there’s a whole world out there for you to explore. Traveling alone is an exciting adventure. It also eliminates the stress of having to compromise with one or more people about where to go, when to go and what to do. It’s all about you, your curiosity and priorities. When you travel alone, you meet the most interesting people, some of whom may become friends for life.
Not sure where to go? Try a surprise travel agency like Pack Up + Go, which designs a trip for you based on your dates, budget and a quick survey on your preferences and interests. Be spontaneous and embrace the unknown!
6. Read a Good Book
Before New Year’s Eve, get a book (or two) that you want to read. That night, sit on a comfortable, well-lit area to read your book. Whether it’s a fictional story set on another planet, a non-fiction book about global trade or a self-help book on positive thinking, choose something you won’t be able to put down.
7. Play Video Games
If you’re an avid gamer, you’re familiar with the guilt involved in playing video games for hours and hours. Not on New Year’s Eve. Immerse yourself in your favorite video game, and consider connecting with other players that night. Take a break right before midnight so that you can toast the New Year.
8. Create Your Own Cocktail
All you need are a few liquors and a variety of modifiers or mixers (juice, cream, vermouth), accents (syrup, bitters) and garnishes (lemon, cherries, oranges, etc.). There are many websites that educate you on mixology and guide you through the process of creating your own cocktail. Consider using champagne for your cocktail. After all, it’s New Year’s Eve!
9. Eat Your Favorite Food
Make your favorite food, try a new recipe, order the best pizza or Chinese food, or skip dinner and go straight to dessert. However you do it, indulge.
10. Be Creative
Doing something creative or artistic is an excellent way to spend New Year’s Eve. Do you draw, paint or sculpt? Do you write poetry, compose music or knit sweaters? Maybe you enjoy working with wood, pottery or jewelry. While the rest of the world parties, use this night to express yourself and nurture your craft.
11. Affirm a New Life
Replacing negative thoughts and beliefs with positive ones doesn’t happen automatically. You have to work at it deliberately and consistently. Yet, although it’s probably the most important thing we could do to improve our lives, it ends up at bottom of our daily to-do list. A solo New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to think about what you think about and what you believe about yourself, and reframe these thoughts and beliefs to manifest what you want in life.
Do an online search for “affirmations,” and choose the ones that speak to you. Commit to them, say them out loud, memorize them, and put them to work for you in the New Year. It will change your life.
12. Throw a Virtual Party
If you must be home alone on New Year’s Eve but would rather not be by yourself, throw a virtual party for you and other friends who are home alone. Use a video chat app, such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, Facebook Messenger and Houseparty, to celebrate this night together.
13. Clean and Purge
New Year’s Eve is about getting rid of the old to make room for the new. Clean your house or apartment. Organize your closets, kitchen cabinets and drawers. Tidy up your garage or shed. Throw away or donate anything you no longer use or need.
14. Make a Gratitude List
You want blessings in your life? Then be grateful for what you have. Make a list of everything that you can be grateful for: health, shelter, job, talents and skills, relationships, financial resources, potable water, electricity, indoor plumbing, appliances, fine weather, transportation—the list is truly endless. Make a list and put it on your refrigerator door, bathroom mirror, computer screen, car dashboard, any place where you will see it daily.
15. Redecorate a Room
Pick a room in your home that you wish were different and redecorate it. You can go all the way, top to bottom, or just change enough things to freshen up the space. Paint the walls in a color you love. Replace the furniture or move it around. Get new pillows and plants. Hang inspiring pictures or posters on the wall. Redo the lighting.
16. Go for a Walk or Jog
Get in the zone on New Year’s Eve with a long evening walk or jog. Stick to safe, well-lit areas. There’s a special kind of peace that finds you when you go for a leisure walk or jog with no time or distance limits, no meetings awaiting for you at the office, no pressure, just you and the road you travel.
17. Reflect on the Year
The last day of the year is a perfect time for self-reflection. Spending it alone offers a unique opportunity for honest introspection. Go over major events—unexpected changes, accomplishments, problems you had to overcome or are still trying to overcome. Make a list of everything you achieved, the new things you tried, the toxic people or situations you eliminated from your life.
18. Set Realistic Goals
We’re forward-thinking creatures, always planning, always wondering what the future will bring. So we make resolutions, and we break them. During your time alone on New Year’s Eve, focus on goals or resolutions that are realistic for you. Consider how you plan to accomplish them, step by step. Take inventory of the resources (time, skills, support system, energy, money, etc.) you have that may help you in the process.
19. Relax and Pamper Yourself
Take an invigorating yoga class (in person or online), followed by a long hot bath with lots of bubbles and just enough essential oils or salts to make it a luxurious experience. Light some candles, play soothing music, get your glass of wine or champagne and relax.
20. Go to Bed Early
Go to bed when you feel sleepy and get a full-night’s rest to start the New Year refreshed.