New Year’s Eve is the last day of the year and most Dutch people spend this evening at home. That sounds boring, but it doesn’t have to be. New Year’s Eve is an evening par excellence where you take time for each other. Put the smartphones and tablets aside for one evening and do something fun together. Taking time for each other is a good start to a pleasant evening.
The food
When it comes to New Year’s Eve, everyone immediately thinks of oliebollen and apple fritters. Very tasty of course, but it is also nice to have some counterbalance to all that fatty sweetness. Consider:
- slices of zucchini with tomato puree, basil and cheese from the oven
- mini quiches with salmon, onion and spinach
- halved potatoes (pre-cook) with tomato, basil and cheese from the oven
- mushrooms filled with Boursin, spring onion and grated cheese from the oven
- peppers filled with cream cheese (supermarket)
- smoked salmon rolled up, filled with cucumber and herb cream cheese
- filled wraps (make your own or buy ready-made).
This way you can skip dinner and eat small snacks instead. It breaks up the evening a bit. Moreover, you can agree that everyone will make a snack, so you are jointly responsible for an enjoyable evening. It is of course also fun to cook together and put together a buffet of different snacks. Then your kitchen must be suitable for everyone to work in this.
Do something together
You can of course hang out in front of the television together, but then it will probably be a very long sit. Try to break up the evening a bit:
- Go for a walk together in the dark past all the beautifully decorated houses and gardens in the neighborhood. Most of the exuberant lighting will probably be gone tomorrow.
- Have fun all evening with games: Rummikub, Carcasonne, Settlers of Catan, cards or Triviant. If you alternate this with snacks, you will soon be sitting at the table all evening and chatting a lot without noticing. The sooner it will be twelve o’clock.
- If you are not fond of games, but would like to have the whole family around the table, you can also suggest doing a puzzle together. A puzzle of 1000 pieces will certainly keep you occupied for an entire evening.
- Would you rather go digital? There are countless games for sale for the WII, Playstation and Xbox that you can play together, board games, but also sports and dance games that get you moving. With the latter you will start the new year in good health.
- An entire evening of TV can get a bit boring, but maybe there is a movie that you have been wanting to see for a long time, or there are several movies that you haven’t had time for until now. This is a good evening for it.
Create an atmosphere
A New Year’s Eve should of course be fun. Turn on the lights of the Christmas tree, supplemented with some candlelight and a burning fireplace. While playing games, put on some nice music softly in the background.
If it doesn’t smell nice in your house, you can light scented candles or incense, or you can also bake an apple pie. Scent can strongly determine the atmosphere. If you often suffer from bad odors in your home due to moisture or pets, it may be an idea to put some baking soda in a bowl with a few drops of scented oil or perfume in it. You place some tea lights in this and the heat of the lights releases the scent. Another idea is to cut an orange into slices and place them in a pan with a cinnamon stick. Pour some boiling water over it and let it sit for a few hours. This also spreads a wonderful scent.
Only on New Year’s Eve
If you are alone on New Year’s Eve, it is nice to create a cozy atmosphere for yourself and also do what you like. A nice warm bath, complete with candlelight and music, reading a good book or doing a puzzle with some tasty snacks, or enjoying a hobby. It’s all possible, even alone you can make a New Year’s Eve fun. There are plenty of people who would rather do this than go to a party or visit someone.
It doesn’t matter what you do on New Year’s Eve, as long as you have fun doing it. At twelve o’clock we’ll watch the fireworks and maybe light a few things ourselves and then we’ll start the new year again. Have a nice end and a good new year.