by Karen Chaffee

Created on: December 11, 2009

If you are hosting a New Year's Day dinner, now is the perfect time to begin planning to assure that your dinner will be enjoyed by everyone-including you. Even though it follows closely on the heels of the major fall and winter holidays, ringing in the first day of the new year with family and friends is a wonderful way to get to welcome all the hope and promise that it holds.

Quick and Easy Tips For Planning A Great New Year's Day Dinner

 1. Designate a notebook specifically for organinzing your dinner. It can hold everything you need for guaranteeing  the success of the event. Write grocery lists and decoration needs on separate pages that can be torn out and carried with you to shop. Also keep any recipes you'll be using for your New Year's Day dinner handy in this notebook.

 2. First order of business: make your guest list. Once you have a head-count, you'll know if a sit-down dinner or one that is buffet style will work out the best. Write down names, addresses, and phone numbers. You'll want to choose or make your invitations and send them well enough in advance to allow time for potential guests to RSVP.

 3. Decide if you want to decorate with a specific New Year's theme or if, instead, you'll leave up the Christmas decorations. If choosing the latter, all you'll need are place settings, name cards, and a great center piece to reflect that this is the beginning of a whole new year.

Consider themes or table decorations that focus on silver or gold paired with black, or crystal and lace with blue accent colors. Snowflake or snowmen themes are good choices if you live in a cold-weather area. Place a runner down the center of your dinner table or buffet area, and use your focal piece, candles, and shiny confettie sprinkled at random to make a simple, but stunning, statement.

Small personal calendars, simply wrapped and labeled with names make great place holders. So do small boxes of mints, also labled.

 4. Next, plan your menu. Consider choosing foods that vary from those served for the holidays just past, and are lighter, less rich. Some suggested ideas from which to pick and choose: casseroles, meatballs, hot sandwiches, salads, vegetable dishes or a relish tray, creamy soups, a variety of breads, and light one-dish desserts.

 5. Choose some great after-dinner activities. Will you and your guests be watching sports? If so, all you'll need are snacks and drinks. If not, you can decide amongst various other things to do: board games, a walk or a game of touch football outdoors, or charades. Then again, given the flurry of holiday activity just past, perhaps the most welcome things you and your guests could do after a great New Year's Day dinner are quiet things like a good movie, or some conversation and hot beverages to sip.

 6. Shop well ahead for your New Year's Day dinner, and make as many dishes ahead as time and your fridge or freezer allow. If you've already thoroughly cleaned your home for the traditional fall and winter holidays, great! All you'll have to do are the last minute touch-ups.

Again, there are fewer ways as nice to ring in a whole new year as a great New Year's Day dinner with friends and loved ones. As a finale of sorts, consider donating any left-overs to your local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. You're off to a great start on a beautiful new year.

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