Christmas

A New Years party is probably the last thing on a lot of people’s mind’s this year, especially with the Covid restrictions and not being able to see family and friends.

It doesn’t mean that you can’t celebrate though. We haven’t had a party for years now, but we still have our New Years Eve traditions. We have party food that we all enjoy. We put up a few extra party decorations and we play some fun games as a family.

Or you can use some fantastic New Years Eve Clipart to make some decorations.

Party Food

I’ve done all sorts of fancy stuff in the past including slow cooker pulled pork and Christmas Dinner Leftover Pie One year I even made a delicious Moroccan Spiced Pie.

We generally stick to easy to prepare food though, like mini pizzas, quiches, mini sausages, scotch eggs, spring rolls, sausage rolls, ham, salad and we always finish off with a nice cheese board with a load of crackers. I think we spend most of the evening just snacking away. We even have a couple of cakes and a tiramisu to devour. I doubt we’ll be able to move on New Years Day.

Party Fun

Just because we can’t have people around it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. Board games are always a hit. We have Monopoly Cheaters edition which is a little quicker to play that normal, especially if you are good at cheating! Or we pull out on of the consoles and play Mario Party, or Mario Kart. This year we have Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 which is causing a lot of competitiveness.

Or we may put a movie on that we will all enjoy. When the kids were younger we used to watch one of the Cornetto Trilogy, Sean of the Dead, Hot Fuzz or The World’s End. But the kids stay up now so we choose something that everyone can watch like Star Wars or a Marvel film.

Staying Up!

We always stay up until midnight at least. We will then wish each other a Happy New Year and generally go out into the street to wish Happy New Year to the neighbourhood. Usually there are fireworks, but we don’t set them off. Where we used to live we could see the big display in the City Centre, but now we just have the neighbour’s firework shows. Even if we did go to bed early the noise would wake us up! We like to do the countdown to the New Year with Jools Holland and his Hootenanny.

Then it’s off to bed and hope that next year will be better.

What are your plans for New Years Eve This year, will you be having a party even if it’s your own household only?

If you’re celebrating your wedding anniversary during the winter, it obviously means that this is a special time of year as you chose to hold a beautiful winter wedding celebration. There are plenty of ways to celebrate your anniversary and make sure that it’s extra special even if the weather is cold, and more often than not winter is the most romantic time of the year, when you can both cosy up together and have a cosy anniversary evening together.

Outside winter activities

There are plenty of fun outside activities that you can do together to celebrate your anniversary in style. You can take advantage of the winter activities that will be on such as outdoor ice skating or visiting the capital to see the Christmas lights. There are loads of places you can ice skate if you are visiting London, which gives you the opportunity to try something you may not have done before and also see different parts of London. Just taking a trip to see the Christmas lights is something that’s fun and romantic too, and after you’ve finished walking around you can enjoy a nice mulled wine. There is always plenty of street entertainment in London especially in areas such as Covent Garden so you will be entertained too.

With an abundance of bars and restaurants there are loads of areas to choose from to enjoy a romantic meal together. Many areas in London are also offering an outside igloo dining which would be very romantic and a nice surprise for your partner.

Christmas markets

Another outside winter activity that will be fun to do together to celebrate your anniversary is to visit somewhere you’ve not been before in the UK and visit some beautiful Christmas markets. This is a great opportunity to also buy your partner a unique gift as many Christmas markets have handmade items by local crafts people.

Re-live your wedding day cosy inside with a romantic weekend together

If you don’t fancy going out anywhere then you could enjoy a romantic weekend together in the comfort of your own home. Winter is the perfect time to get cosy by the fireplace, open the mulled wine or baileys and re-watch your wedding video together, reminiscing on your special day.

Enjoying a romantic weekend at home is a great way to save yourselves some money but doesn’t mean that you can’t have a nice weekend. You could choose to cook your partner’s favourite dinner or even make it easier and order a takeaway and watch a film. If you’re saving money on accommodation then you have a little more to spend on finding a gorgeous anniversary gift for your partner.  You could be creative with what you choose to buy your partner or even hand make something yourself to make it a truly meaningful gift.

If staying at home isn’t an option then you could spend a romantic weekend together at a local hotel or spa. If you decide to visit a spa for the day you can enjoy a drink in the hot tub together whilst being outside in the cold. If visiting a spa is too expensive then you could create your own DIY spa experience at home, and it might be a nice way to re-connect with your partner again. You could treat each other to a massage or facial, put on some nice relaxing music, light lots of candles and even enjoy a nice fondue.

If you are enjoying a romantic weekend together then you could have a pact to both have your phones turned off for the duration to really allow you both to re-connect and enjoy your anniversary together.

Go on holiday to somewhere warm

If you really don’t fancy another anniversary in the cold UK, then another option is to save during the year and treat yourselves to a mini break or holiday abroad, somewhere hot. If you do a search online you can always find yourselves a last minute deal, especially if you don’t mind where you visit. It could also be fun to pack yourselves a bag, turn up to the airport and take the next flight to a warm destination and see where you end up going! Make sure you take plenty of photos and you could create your own photo album or get some images printed and make a collage of each country you both visit together.

Movie marathon

This is something that you can do either at home or even if you decide to go and stay somewhere different. Choose three films each, buy plenty of your favourite drinks and snacks and enjoy a movie marathon while the wintery weather beats down outside your window. You could make it super romantic by choosing films from a romance genre.

#This is a collaborative post