How to Throw a New Year’s Event!

How to Throw a New Year’s Event!

New Year’s events make for a fun and entertaining way for people to come together and ring in the new year with friends and family. It’s also a great opportunity for event organizers to turn an annual festivity into a memorable and lucrative event.

To help you plan and organize a successful New Year’s event, we’ve put together this step-by-step guide to show you how to get started with a step in the right direction.

#1: Decide on a Venue

It goes without saying that you should start by selecting a suitable venue so you have enough time to plan and set up critical event-related things like your event website, catering, event activities, and marketing plan.

This will also give you a better idea about the different sorts of New Year’s event activities you can organize. For example, if you opt for an outdoor venue (like a park) you can organize all sorts of outdoor activities (such as fireworks and sparklers). And if you choose to go with an event hall then you can organize indoor activities.

Here are some of the most important factors you need to take into account when finding the right venue for your New Year’s event:

• Capacity. The venue you choose should have adequate room capacity for your event. If the room can only house 200 people and you’re expecting 400 people at your event, you won’t be able to comfortably fit attendees in the venue.
• Event activities. You need to make sure that the event venue can support the sort of activities you’re planning to organize. Some venues have built-in audio-visual equipment for you to use whereas others will require you to bring your own equipment.
• Location. If you’re organizing a local event, you should look for a venue that is closest to where most of your attendees live or work.
• Your audience. Figuring out the type of audience you’re catering to will help you create the right mood for your audience when the clock strikes midnight. If it’s a children’s New Year’s event, you would want to keep things light and fun. On the other hand, if you’re expecting a young adult (or adult) crowd, you’d be looking to deliver a different sort of event experience.

Let’s look at some examples of popular venues for New Year’s events:

• Your apartment, house, or backyard. You can decorate your house or backyard with party ornaments to set up a party environment for your friends and family. This is great for New Year’s parties for friends and family.
• Local park. An open-roof event at your community park is a great way to create a family-friendly New Year’s event. This is a great venue choice for local events that are likely to get a few hundred attendees.
• Clubs and bars. You might consider setting up a lively event at your local club or bar to attract your neighborhood audience. This is especially ideal for a New Year’s events for the 21+ crowd.

#2: Come Up With Activities

Fun activities and party games are a great way to keep attendees interested and engaged with your event.

Here are some quick ideas for New Year’s activities:

• New Year’s resolution jar. Ask everyone to think about their New Year’s resolutions. Then, pass around a jar containing blank cards or pieces of paper so attendees can jot their New Year’s resolutions down and keep them in their pockets or purses.
• Photo booth station. People love taking photos at parties so make sure there is a special spot decorated with festive ornaments and a matching backdrop. You can also make an instant camera available to your attendees for polaroids.
• Lip-syncing contest. A lip-sync contest is a great way to get everybody involved. Participants have to lip-sync to the lyrics of selected songs. The game can be played in teams as well and players should be encouraged to be creative with choreography.
• The press conference game. In this game, a participant is asked to leave the room while the remaining players choose who this person is going to be. When the participant returns, everyone will ask them questions about their persona as they try to guess who they are. Players can be creative with their questions which adds a lot of fun to the game. Plus, you don’t need any equipment to play this game!

#3: Decorations, Decorations, Decorations

You need to make sure that the existing decor of your venue matches what you want your New Year’s event to look like.

Pay close attention to the venue’s interior as well as the building’s architectural style. The less the ambiance matches the ideal theme and decor of your event, the more effort (and money) you’ll have to spend to make up for it.

You also have to make sure the decor is Instagram-friendly. This will help you boost event engagement and encourage event attendees to use your event hashtag in their social posts.

Here are a few ideas for inspiration:

• Countdown wall. A countdown wall goes well with any New Year’s event and you can set it up as the backdrop. Just the thing you need to ring in the New Year.
• Balloons or a balloon wall. Balloon drops are a hit on New Year’s events but you can just as easily set up a creative balloon wall. All you have to do is arrange balloons to spell out a message such as Happy New Year 2020 so attendees can share it on Instagram.
• Disco. Everyone loves sequins and disco balls for the eye-catching and lively ambiance they create. Not to mention, they’re incredibly Instagram-friendly!

#4: Offer Online Event Registration

 

Offering online event registration to prospective attendees is important for two reasons. First, it makes it easy for people to register for your event. And second, it gives you an opportunity to build your email list.

Event Smart is a powerful event management solution that helps you set up online registrations on your event website. This way, attendees can simply fill out a registration form on your event website instead of filling out a paper-based registration form, printing it, and sending it over to you. You can include text fields in your registration forms as well as radio buttons, dropdown lists, checkboxes, and a date selector.

Event Smart also lets you send confirmation emails to your registrants letting them know their registration was successful. Alternatively, you can manually register attendees at the door by selecting a ticket and filling out the registration form on their behalf.

Keep in mind that your registration form should be as brief as possible. In other words, you should only ask questions that are absolutely necessary for the purpose of your New Year’s event such as name, email address, and contact number.

#5: Sell Tickets

If you’d like to sell tickets for your New Year’s event, you’ll need a way to be able to let prospective attendees select and purchase tickets and then make their payment. This involves creating multiple ticket types. For example, you might offer an entry-level, general admission ticket for $25 and a more expensive VIP pass with upgrades.

Offering a low-cost general admission ticket with the option to upgrade is a great way to capture the interest of potential party-goers. Moreover, people would be more willing to purchase or upgrade to VIP tickets if you offer neat upgrades like an open bar, two free drinks, or the option to reserve a table.

Event Smart lets you create and sell multiple ticket types and collect payments. Its ticket editors can automatically manage the status of a ticket depending on various parameters such as the event start and end datetimes, event datetime capacity limits, ticket sale start and end datetimes, and ticket availability.

#6: Promote Your Event

Successful event organizers put together an effective marketing strategy to get the word out about their event and increase registrations.

Here are some ways Event Smart can help you promote your New Year’s event:

• Blog about the upcoming event. You can boost sales by blogging about your New Year’s event on your Event Smart website. Event Smart lets you share blog posts and stories, embed photos and videos, share stories on social media, and communicate with your audience through the comments section.
• Email marketing. Event Smart’s integration with MailChimp allows you to quickly transfer attendee data to a mailing list. This is a great way to send out marketing messages and offer promotions and discounts.
• Create promotion and discount codes. Event Smart lets you set up promotions through discount codes so registrants can save money on ticket purchases. For example, you can offer a flat discount (e.g. [italics]Save $20 using this discount code[/italics]), a percentage-based discount (e.g. [italics]Get 15% off with this discount code[/italics]), or a limited time discount ([italics]Limited time offer! Buy now and get 10% off![/italics]).

Conclusion

New Year’s events are a great way to celebrate an age-old tradition while bringing friends and family together. By following our quick New Year’s event guide, you’ll be well on your way to organizing a memorable New Year’s event!

Do you have any party ideas in mind for your upcoming New Year’s event? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!