Let your New Year’s Eve Party be warm, friendly, inviting and inspirational.
It’s always great to do something new, especially if it’s something you enjoy. So what better way to spend an evening than by attending a poetry party? The event is not only fun but also provides an opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together in the spirit of community. Poetry has been around since ancient times, and while today it may be more popular as a form of social media usage, there is still nothing like hearing your favorite poem read aloud in person.
Let it wrap around your guests like warmth and coziness. Here is how to organize a poetry night party for the new year’s new beginning.
- Provide lovely pens for guests to use. Remember to avoid water-based ink as it will disappear through time. Colorful ball pens like the one I listed above can be fun for both kids and adults. Or else you can introduce a vintage feather ink pen for the wow effect.
- Share reference. Get one or two books of short poems to pass around. Or print out some of your favorite New Year’s Poetry and get everyone inspired.
- Set poetry topics. Some good examples are ‘Good Friends’, ‘Recipe for New Years’, ‘Reflection for the past year’, ‘Auld Lang Syne (old times gone by)’, ‘Poetic New Year’s resolutions.
- Provide journals. (You might place the guys in front of the T. V.) You can pick some up at a dollar store or even rather well priced at your favorite grocery store. You can also find some nice unique letter papers online, they will be perfect for going into the scrapbook.
- Invite non-poets to write new year resolutions. These will be some rebellious ones who do not like to write poems, then you can invite them for resolution writing. If you want to write resolutions with your guests then provide a sheet for them to do so. Give them some incentive: ‘Do I want to lose weight?’, ‘Do I want to exhibit kindness?’, ‘Shouldn’t I worry less?’, ‘Shouldn’t I forgive and forget those who have offended me?’, ‘Shall I set out to do more for others, rather than concentrate on myself?’ etc. Add some of your own ideas to the list.
- Ask kids to create their booklets. What about the kids? Have them make booklets of their own. Use those Christmas cards for book covers and some computer paper folded. The kids can write things like ‘Who will I be kind to?’ or ‘How can I help mommy this year?’ etc.
- Use photos of the past years as inspiration. Have friends bring photos from past years and share. Provide some scrapbook materials, have each make a scrapbook page with their photos along with their new year poetry.
- Start a tradition. Attendants can take turns to read their resolution/poem. Or the work can be kept secret to be revisited at the new year party of the next year. You can start a tradition of creating a new poetry scrapbook every year with family and close friends, that will be a lot of good memories for revisiting in the future!)
- Be the enthusiastic host. You or someone in the group will need to set the energy and make everyone feels like a superstar. The energy of the host makes the night more than anything else. There will be someone who read a really sad(or bad) work that kills the energy of the night, and someone who dominates the night while making others feel ignored. You should plan the night in advance and get ready for different situations. Be excited for each of the attendants, be thankful, and pay attention.
- Build breaks every 20 minutes. People can only really pay attention for twenty minutes, so build your breaks around that. Give people a chance to grab drinks, go to the bathroom, and talk.
- Plan the ending. Set a time and wrap the night up. If you don’t, you’ll find the last poets performing to an empty room with everyone tired or bored or left. That will not be the ideal situation for a New Year night party.
- Prepare snacks and drinks for guests as refreshments. One of my favorite alcohol-free drinks is grape sparkle. Just mix 1 bottle (64oz.) of white grape juice with 1 bottle of sparkling water (your choice). Place in a punch bowl, surround with white grapes and silver baubles.
Fun right? You can have a lot of great memories and build stronger connections with your poetry activity. If you use some of these ideas, you will certainly have a very unique New Year’s Party. Your guests will appreciate and come away with positive “lang syne.”
??? If your group of friends like poems, handwriting and high quality handmade crafts, then they will also enjoy these poetry books and pretty stationery ideas. –> Click the images below to explore!
