How to Decorate Your House for a New Year's Party

Your guests will be more than ready to meet the dawning of the new year surrounded by these fun and festive decorations.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Black And Silver Balloons
• 15 Yards Thin Silver Ribbons
• Noisemakers
• 3 Or 4 Strands White Christmas Tree Lights
• Party Favors
• Metallic Paper Plates Napkins And Glasses
• Black Plastic Top Hats
• Party Hats
• Black Tablecloths
• Large Plastic Margarita Glasses

1. String white lights (on a white cord) across your ceiling like you would streamers. Leave enough slack so that in the lowest places, the wire hangs about 2 feet above people's heads (or higher if you are concerned about people jumping up and down and/or waving their arms in the air at midnight).

2. Tie party favors, hats and noisemakers to pieces of ribbon, and tie them to the wire so that they dangle down. Make some low enough for people to reach, and others high enough to stay put as decorations.

3. Use black plastic top hats as serving dishes and fill them with chips, pretzels and other snack food.

4. Fill large margarita glasses with mixed nuts and M&Ms.

5. Put black cloths on your tables and then spill silver confetti around serving dishes. Tie the cloths to table legs with silver ribbon. Accent with metallic silver and gold plates, cups, napkins and silverware.

6. Blow up a few dozen silver and black balloons. Pile them up in corners and let them drift around as people move about your home.

Tips & Warnings

• Instead of stringing lights across the ceiling, you could fill large balloons with helium and attach party favors to them.

• Synchronize several clocks with the official time before the party starts, and make sure they are in plain view so that you have time to prepare for the big countdown.