Five! Four! Three! Two! One! It’s time to throw a rockin’ New Year’s Eve gathering! Ring in the new year with these party ideas:

• Spark guests’ anticipation with party-popper invitations. Write party specifics on a nice piece of paper and slide the paper into an empty paper towel roll with a bit of confetti. Wrap the paper roll in colorful tissue paper and secure the ends with curled ribbon. Hand-deliver the invites.
• Hire babysitters to keep younger guests entertained with crafts and activities in a separate room during the party or coordinate with neighbors to have the babysitters and kids play at their houses instead.
• Make your serving tables more festive with playful commands such as “eat,” “drink” and “be merry.” To make the letters, use a bold font in your computer’s word-processing program. Print the letters on patterned paper. Cut out the letters and attach them to the tablecloth.
• Toast in style with etched glasses. To make the flutes, wrap clean glasses with self-adhesive vinyl and use a craft knife to cut away designs such as swirls, stars or other patterns. (Wherever the vinyl remains, the glass is clear.) Follow the manufacturer’s directions to apply the etching cream.
• Create crepe-paper spheres that reveal New Year’s fortunes. Wrap crepe paper around a plastic-foam ball, pinning it as needed and slipping fortunes printed on colorful paper strips between the layers. After the toast, ask guests to unwrap the crepe paper, pick their favorite fortune and read it out loud.
• Have guests write down their resolutions on slips of paper without their names. Collect them, read each resolution aloud and have everyone guess to whom it belongs.
• Wrap up your party with a selection of delicious desserts.