2 Television Themed New Year Party Ideas

New Year party ideas based on TV shows can be a lot of fun; though sometimes it can seem challanging to narrow your choice down to a show that all your friends like and follow. The keys to success are to pick a theme based on a hot show that is popular with a wide demographic of people and also to plan all of the details well. Start with the shows that you and your friends and collegues watch and talk about every week. The following are some popular ones to get you started.

Mad Men Party

This hit show is a great opportunity to bring in the sophisticated vibe of the late 1950's to early 1960's. Send out retro written invitations inviting your guests to come dressed in their 3 piece suits or pillbox hats with pencil skirts. One idea is to create your invitations on business cards made to look like those from an ad agency. Do your research into popular cocktail recipes from this era, and serve favorites to such as Tom Collins, Vodka Gimlets, and Brandy Alexanders to toast the New Year. For a fun door game, test your guests on their Mad Men trivia. Make up a list of ad slogans from the show and hand a copy to each person arriving; have everyone guess which product the slogans are meant to match.

Take a cue from Betty Draper and serve refreshments with an international flair. For hor d'oeuvres, serve Utz potato chips. Follow this with chilled Spanish vegetable soup for an appetizer, followed by a German pasta dish known as Spaetzle with leg of lamb. Bundt cake was a favorite dessert in the '50's and 60's, so adding one rounds out the menu. Don't forget the music; create a playlist of early '60's music to rotate throughout the party.

Lost Party

If you are friends with many fans of this show, a Lost themed party will be a sure hit. Pick up some brochures from your local travel agencies for Australia and other Pacific Rim destinations, and include these with your invitations. One fun idea is to make and print invitations from templates designed as airline tickets. Don't forget to add an Oceanic Flight 815 logo. Decorate outside your house with tiki torches, garden gnomes, and artificial palm trees. Fun ideas for party favors include homemade lottery tickets, small toy planes, or small stuffed polar bears.

Set up a computer screen with a desktop timer to count down to midnight, and decorate this area with Dharma logos that can you can draw yourself or create with illustration software. Toast the New Year with tropical cocktails such as Mai Tai's, frozen daiquiris, pina coladas, and Bahama Mama's. Be sure to keep some non-alcoholic drinks some as virgin daiquiris and Hawaiian punch on hand for the teetotalers among your guests.

For your cocktail snacks and main dishes, draw from tropical island fare such as pulled pork, Hawaiian sweet bread, steamed rice, seafood salad, macadamia nuts, and fresh fruit such as papaya, melon, mango, and pineapple. For a fun dessert idea, make your favorite white or yellow cake recipe and top the icing with crushed Oreo cookies and stick in a small Styrofoam plane cut in half so it looks like the crash site from the show.