How do you ring in the New Year? Partying the night away? Enjoying a small gathering of friends and family at home? Crawling into bed well before midnight with a good book? However you like to spend the last evening of the year, here are a few suggestions to make it a bit more festive.

Celebrate at Home

1. Homemade Balloon Drop: You’ll need an 8-by-6-foot sheet of thin plastic or trash bags. Fold the sheet in half and securely tape the two short sides together with painter’s tape. Place blown-up balloons in the “envelope” you’ve created. Then, using short pieces of painter’s tape, close the long end, placing the tape close enough to keep the balloons inside but far enough apart to make it easy to open. Take a looong ribbon and tie it around each short piece of tape, leaving enough at the end to reach from the ceiling. Secure the envelope to the ceiling with the ribbons end down. When you’re ready, just pull the ribbons!

2. NYE Bingo: You can find downloadable Bingo cards online or create your own, and then fill in the spaces while watching the fun on TV. Or, if you plan to watch a movie, make cards to fit what you’re watching.

3. Sparkling Jell-O Toast: Instead of toasting with sparkling wine or juice, fill those champagne flutes with bubbly Jell-O. Pick your favorite flavor of Jell-O. Dissolve it in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water, and then add 2 1/2 cups of cold club soda. Pour the mixture into the flutes and chill until solid.

4. New Year’s Tree: Take the Christmas ornaments off your tree and decorate it with balloons, streamers, and noisemakers.

5. New Year’s Eve photo booth: Change a spot in your house into a photo booth with holiday decorations and costume pieces so everyone can have fun taking photos.

Celebrate on the Town

1. Salt hill Pub, 2 West Park Street, Lebanon: Join their 15th Annual NYE celebration featuring the Party Crasher. Four great hours of danceable rock and party music, party favors, complimentary champagne toast, and more. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the night of the show. With the NYE Entrée Package, tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Call (603) 448-4532 for tickets and more info.

• 2. Briggs Opera House, 5 South Main Street, White River Junction: Join the Brooks Hubbard Band for an early show on New Year’s Eve. The show starts at 4 pm and all ages are welcome. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door (BYOB with a $5 donation to the Briggs). Tickets can be purchased online (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brooks-hubbard-band-tickets-40916838365?aff=es2) or through the Hotel Coolidge. Doors open at 3 pm. NOTE: Hotel Coolidge Deal: If rooms are purchased with tickets, you will receive half-price off each concert ticket! Call the hotel at (800) 622-1124 to get this deal. 
  

3. The Skinny Pancake, 3 Lebanon Street, Hanover: Spend New Year’s Eve with Hanover’s Skinny Pancake NYE Party funk, soul, covers, and original music. From 9–11:59pm.

4.NYE Ball Contra Dance, Tracy Hall, 300 Main Street, Norwich: Live music by local band Cuckoo’s Nest. Tony Parkes will coach and call. No partner or experience necessary. Regular dance starts at 8 pm, but newcomers may arrive at 7:45 for a walk-through. A special celebration takes place at midnight. Bring clean, soft-soled shoes for dancing. Admission $15; students $9; under 16 free. More info at uvdm.org.

5. NYE Public Skate, Wendell A. Barwood Arena, 45 Highland Avenue, White River Junction: Music, snacks, and other goodies from 4 to 6 pm. Skate rentals will be available. Cost is $5.

How are you celebrating the New Year? Let us know in the comments!