Easy Tips for Last Minute New Years Eve Entertaining

We don’t go out to celebrate New Year’s Eve anymore, and to be totally honest, we rarely even stay awake long enough to see the stroke of midnight to toast the New Year. However, we still have a simple little spread to acknowledge the incoming year.

We decided to leave some of our Christmas decorations up a little longer this year, but I wanted to do a little something on our small fireplace mantle for New Year’s Eve.

I used things I had on hand for all of the decorations. I painted a few small branches with some leftover gold spray paint and then stuck them in a dollar store vase along with a pretty gold bird ornament. I’ve had the cream colored nylon net with gold flakes in my fabric stash forever, and just bunched it up a little bit over a white tablecloth. The bead garland with the gold ribbon was bought last year on clearance and I pulled the good ornaments out of a mixed set I have had for years. Then I finished off decorations for the mantel with the floral pic that had a bit of evergreen, a gold flower, a few large beads and a pinecone.

New Year’s Eve Appetizers

Even if it’s just a little celebration for two or a small group, it’s nice to have a variety of appetizers. The following list includes suggestions on how to serve leftover appetizers, so you don’t have to be concerned about an abundance of leftover appetizers. in case your guests aren’t snacking much.

These are all delicious appetizers which I have made numerous times and have served most of them to large groups and came home with empty dishes.

This Million Dollar Dip is super easy to make and is always a huge hit. Serve it with Ritz crackers or spread on tortillas and roll up for pinwheels. Leftover dip and pinwheels will both easily last a few days in the fridge.

This Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip is the next best thing to Buffalo Wings! Serve with crackers or make stuffed celery pieces. The dip is also amazing as a sandwich spread on dinner rolls for a tasty little sandwich the next day, if you happen to have any leftover.

Black Bean Salsa with Corn is delicious! Serve with tortilla chips or vegetable slices. If there are any leftovers, it can also be eaten as a side dish.

3 Ingredient Swedish Meatballs couldn’t be any easier starting with frozen meatballs. Any leftovers can easily be reheated later with a little added milk or water and served with noodles and hot dinner roll for a delicious meal.

Serve Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Bread on a wood cutting board, cutting into one inch strips. Leftovers make for a tasty hot open face sandwich.

Ditto for serving French Bread Pizza as an appetizer on a cutting board. Leftovers reheat beautifully. We love this French Bread Pizza served with salad for a meal.

Lucky Foods

I enjoyed doing the research for my post 13 Lucky Foods for the New Year. It was quite interesting reading about the tradition of lucky foods and why they were considered so lucky. Included in the post are other appetizer ideas, as well as several ideas for easy meals to bring you good fortune in the coming year.

Be sure to add some grapes and orange slices to your appetizer list, too!