Ideas for your New Year’s Eve night in

New Year’s Eve is the most anticipated night of the year, but all too often the wild party you were looking forward to turns out to be a disappointing evening of crowded bars, overpriced drinks and a long walk home in the rain. If you’d rather spend your first few minutes of 2014 in the comfort of your own home than a long queue for the toilets, check out our top ideas for a New Year’s Eve night in.

TV

Who needs to go out when the TV can bring New Year’s Eve to you? Alan Carr’s New Year’s Specstacular (Channel 4, 9pm) is as near to a party as you can get if you’re alone, and Jools’ Annual Hootenanny (BBC2, 11.30pm) is the beyond perfect background entertainment for a New Year’s gathering.

For the countdown moment, there’s nothing like fireworks to bring in the new year. But there’s no need to stand in the cold for hours just to get your view blocked by a six-foot man taking photos on his iPad; you can ooh and ahh at London’s famous firework display from your sofa (New Year’s Eve Fireworks, BBC1, 11.55pm).

Drinks

Drinks are an essential for any News Year’s Eve. Nobody should have to face singing (or shouting) Auld Lang Syne sober.  If you’re staying in, you can be more inventive with your drinks without battling through a crowded bar.

Keep Christmas in the air with mulled cider or wine, or turn your night in into a soirée by mixing up some champagne cocktails.

If you’re trying to make it to 2014 with a bit of change left in your bank account, ask your guests to bring a bottle of spirit each for communal cocktail making.

Food

Most restaurants hike up their prices for New Year’s Eve. Beat them by hosting your own dinner party, or whipping up some delectable nibbles for your guests (or yourself) – a buffet doesn’t have to be filled with beige sausage rolls and frozen chicken nuggets.

If you’d rather spend time preening than cooking you can always ask your guests to bring a small dish each, tapas style. You might as well make your last meal of the year a good one!

Music

The best thing about staying in for New Year’s Eve is having control over the music. You can spend the first minutes of the new year listening to something you actually like rather than wishing you could claw your ears off.

For ultimate control, spend the day making a perfect playlist on Spotify or iTunes. Or, let the radio do the hard work for you and tune in to Radio 1, 6 Music or Absolute for their non-stop party classics.

 Games

Just because you’re at home, doesn’t mean you have to be alone. Invite some friends over for a couple of games and say goodbye to 2013 with a smile on your face.

Keep it tame with a board game, you can’t go wrong with Articulate or Pictionary. For a more personal touch, ask your guests to write down their most embarrassing moment of the year for everyone else to guess.

As Big Ben strikes midnight and you pull that party popper, just be glad you’re already at home and not out hugging random strangers. What’s the best part of a New Year’s Eve night in? Going to bed feeling warm, and rather smug.

Happy New Year!

Sarah Edmonds