New Year's Date Ideas

Burn Stuff!
Enjoy the outdoors on a cold winter night with a big bonfire! Pull together a group of friends and find a secluded spot where you can burn pallets and ring in the New Year around a toasty fire. Try the beach, desert, or other remote areas for hassle-free fun, but make sure there are plenty of designated drivers and that fires (and drinking) are allowed at your destination of choice.

Host a Party
Why spend New Year's Eve paying insane prices and dealing with crowds of strangers when you can celebrate with your friends? Try a traditional party with hats, balloons, and noisemakers or something more creative like a costume party where everyone dresses as an interesting character from the past year or a summer day at the beach theme party.

Rent It
Head out of town for the night by renting a nearby beach house, cabin, houseboat, or some other fun accommodations with friends for New Year's. That way no one ends up driving home drunk and you're not ruining your own stuff. You could also rent a room or block of rooms in a central party location or popular hotel. Have fun checking out the good bars and then head back up for a Jacuzzi and champagne at midnight! Expect to pay a large deposit for the damage you will cause.

Drinking without the Driving
Not only are there lots of police waiting to haul intoxicated revelers downtown, but starting the New Year by plowing your Toyota into a crowd of people is really bad karma. Instead, think about signing up for a party bus that will take you around to the night's hotspots or splitting the cost of a limo with friends. There are generally a ton of promotions, check online to find the best!

Theme Parks
Theme parks usually ring in the New Year with fireworks, shows, and all kinds of other celebratory activities. If you have a problem with crowds, this is not for you. These places get packed. But if you like the energy of huge gatherings, have a ball!

Party without the Booze at First Night
First Night started back in 1976 in Boston as an alcohol-free event celebrating local culture through things like dance, music, artwork, fireworks, etc. These events have spread to cities throughout the country, check online to see if there's one planned in your area.

Game Night
Not every New Year's needs to be celebrated with copious amounts of booze and noise. Why not invite a few friends over for a couples' game night? Have everyone bring one of their favorite holiday foods or drinks and play board games, card games, charades, or theme games like Resolutions where you each write down 5 New Year's resolutions on pieces of paper draw them randomly from a hat and write your guess for who wrote them. The most right guesses wins.

Road Trip
Pack up the car and get away from the local scene with a road trip to one of the big New Year's destinations like Vegas, New York, New Orleans, or Orlando. Make reservations right away.

Concert
Local radio stations and venues like to throw holiday parties with live music, check your favorite stations' websites to see if they're sponsoring a show.

Those are some ideas for fun with friends and crowds and parties, but you can also enjoy New Year's with just the two of you (and maybe a furry friend).

Resolutions
These are not the typical resolutions about things you want to personally accomplish in the next year, but rather things you'd like to do together. If your boyfriend has talked about skydiving or your girlfriend really wants to visit Europe, put them on the list. This can be a fun activity by a fire, while out stargazing, or down at the beach during a midnight walk. A creative variation of this is to get a canvas and some watercolors and paint the next year together. Draw yourselves surfing in Hawaii, flying kites at the beach, decorating your first apartment together, and all the other things you've talked about. This way it's not just a list but something to hang up on the wall as a year-long reminder and also a fun keepsake.

Ice Skating
The open-air holiday ice rinks will be closing soon, take advantage while you can and go for a spin on New Year's Eve! When you're finished, sip hot cocoa while watching the other skaters or head home for champagne by the fire!

Stargazing
Get away from the crowds and all that light pollution by taking a drive to the country for some New Year's Eve stargazing! Bring warm blankets, warm drinks, your warm bodies to squeeze together, and wish upon shooting stars for a great year together.

A Nice Dinner
Make the evening a special one by enjoying a romantic dinner together. Don't fight the crowds with the standard night out, instead try something more creative like making sushi from scratch at home (tips here), a sunset picnic at the beach, or even our In the Dark date idea. See A Dinner to Remember for more ideas.

Moonlit Walk
This year's full moon will make it a perfect night to find a nice spot for a romantic moonlit walk. Drive out to a secluded beach, meadow, park where you can watch the city lights and fireworks, or other special place and stroll into the New Year! Bring along champagne, hot drinks, dessert, or whatever else comes to mind.

Paint in the New Year
I touched on this one in the Resolutions idea, but this suggestion is about your personal resolutions, not those made as a couple. Go out to a nice spot and paint the goals you're going to accomplish next year. Have fun giving each other tips and learning about what things are important to your date right now. Hang them on your walls for motivation!

Take a Drive
As with the walk, a full moon makes a nice setting for a peaceful drive away from town. Put on one of your favorite soundtracks and drive to a place with a beautiful view for you to kiss and welcome 2010.

Others
Some of our other great ideas that work well for New Year's are the Moonlight Cruise, Cozy Fire under the Stars,Hot Stone Massage, Blackout, and City Lights.

If nothing on this list strikes your fancy, check local blogs, community guides, and newspapers for events. Be sure to make reservations for the public events right away. Happy New Year!

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