New Year’s Party Food Ideas

Do the holidays tire you out? I sure do love them, but by the time New Years rolls around, I’m exhausted!

But, no matter how tried I was, I could skip having a New Years Eve celebration with the family. It’s our tradition to have a little party at our home…we enjoy some drinks and party food and then we plan either a movie night or games.

For New Year’s Eve this year, we decided to watch the movie, Looper, as it came out on Blu-ray on January 31. Everyone wanted to watch it and even those who had seen it already were happy to watch it again.

I totally LOVED how easy all of our food was, so I thought I would share what I served — which all of these will work for any casual gathering or party.

–Daily Chef Bruschetta: One of the biggest hits of the night was the Daily Chef Bruschetta that I picked up at Sam’s Club (you can see all of my shopping trip photos here). It was our first time trying it, but I was really happy with it. The only variety our Sam’s Club had was the Chicken, Spinach and Artichoke Bruschetta, but that was perfectly ok with me! I did wonder if everyone would eat them because not everyone like artichokes (or shall I say, CLAIMS to not like artichokes), but guess what? Every single person ate them…and more than one of them too!

I really liked that that they were easy and fast. You pull them out of the package, put them directly onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. There bread is pre-toasted, so I wondered if it would be too crisp when it was done baking, but it was perfect.

One of the things I liked about them was that didn’t require a fork or even a plate to enjoy — just pick one up and enjoy — even when getting a New Year’s Eve kiss!

Or while holding a glass of wine:

Or, for the college student who insisted on snacking one-handed while reading a book on his Kindle:

Really yummy and easy for our New Year’s Eve party…now I’ve got to search out their other varieties and try them too (I hear there is one with bacon!).

–Buffalo Chicken Dip: We love buffalo wings in our house, but we wanted something a bit less messy for our New Years Eve celebration. So, the answer was Buffalo Chicken Dip — it has all the flavors of buffalo wings, but you can enjoy with less napkins. You can get the recipe here: Buffalo Chicken Dip.

–Barbecue Meatballs: Pull out your slow cooker, dump in a bag of frozen meatballs, and pour a bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce over them. Toss with the sauce and heat on high until meatballs are heated through. Lower heat to low to keep warm until ready to serve.

–Filipino Lumpia: Lumpia is the Filipino version of an egg roll made with seasoned ground pork. My husband’s grandmother used to make HUGE batches of lumpia and it would be part of the dinner she served every New Year’s Day. My husband bought our lumpia from a co-worker — $10 for 20 rolls.  I didn’t hesitate for a second! It’s been such a long time since we have it and I knew it would be perfect for our New Year’s Eve. The rolls my husband bought were uncooked, but frozen so all we had to do was fry them in oil. We serve ours with Thai Sweet Chile Sauce.

I have yet to make my own lumpia, but did find a recipe for it here that looks pretty good: Filipino Lumpia.

–Hot Broccoli Dip: One of our sons prefers less spicy stuff, but love vegetables like broccoli so this is a perfect dip to have during our parties. The recipe uses a bag of frozen broccoli which you defrost, drain, and then chop in a food processor. The broccoli then is just a quick mix with some mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. It’s then baked in the oven until hot and bubbly. You can get the recipe here: Hot Broccoli Dip

–Tortilla Pinwheels: These are an extremely versatile appetizer! In a bowl, you mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise with a softened 8 ounce package of cream cheese. Then, you add a variety of items to the mixture, such as a drained can of diced green chilies (this is what we did), bacon (cooked and crumbled, of course), chopped green onions, 1 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese or chopped spinach (thawed and drained well). This mixture is spread on burrito sized flour tortillas and then top with some thinly sliced ham. You roll up the tortillas and wrap each roll in plastic wrap and refrigeratate for a few hours. Then remove from refrigerator, unwrapped and cut into slices.

–Veggie Plates: You don’t have to do a whole veggie tray — just create a few veggie plates. Put some celery sticks, baby carrots, and cherry tomatoes. When placed in random places on your buffet table, they add a pop of color and even without dip, I noticed people grabbing them and munching on them.

 What party food ideas do you have?

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sam’s Club Daily Chef  #CBias #SocialFabric