Fun and Festive New Year’s Eve Party Food Ideas

These New Year’s Eve Appetizers are 98% store-bought, for a low effort, but high impact, charcuterie board-style spread of finger foods.

Get festive with these New Year’s Eve Food ideas

Recently, I was talking with a neighbor about a dilemma she was having for New Year’s Eve: her and her friends need some sort of dinner, but nobody wants to cook and their group is too big for a restaurant reservation.

I’m guessing this could be quite a common issue, so I figured I would put together a board of New Year’s Eve appetizers that eats more like a light dinner, with cheese AND charcuterie AND seafood AND sweet treats AND even a simple homemade appetizer, if you want. 

While this board of New Year’s Eve finger food looks pretty epic, it actually consists of one item I made, a few things I heated up in the oven, and 98% stuff I bought at the store.

This post will give you a ton of ideas to put together the New Year’s appetizers spread of your dreams. The board pictured here is for a big crowd, but if your gathering is a little smaller, just cut it down to a few of your favorite things.

Staple ingredients for New Year’s Eve Appetizers

• Cheese – like marinated mozzarella balls from the cheese counter at my store, and high-quality sliced sharp cheddar.
• Nuts – cashews and pistachios are my favorite!
• Fruit – Offer whole clementines and berries, especially if there are kids around.
• Honeycomb – goes great with cheese, and always seems very fitting for a special occasion.
• Vegetable chips – so much fancier than potato chips for New Year’s appetizers, right?
• Smoked salmon – I buy this from my local bagel shop and arrange the slices on a small, pretty plate.
• Marinated olives + marinated mushrooms – from the olive bar at the store.
• Assorted crackers – The more interesting, the better for New Year’s Eve appetizers!
• Pomegranate seeds – for a pretty garnish!
• Chocolate-covered pretzels – everybody loves these!
• Mini cannoli – store bought, of course. Or go all out and make a cannoli dip board for dessert.
• Fun, festive cookies – from a local bakery.

Traditional New Years Foods that bring good luck

• Round foods – to symbolize completeness and unity. Roasted grapes are a good (round-ish) option, as well as round cakes and cookies.
• Greens – to symbolize wealth and prosperity. Consider offering a really good kale salad as part of your spread.
• Black-eyed peas – a Southern tradition thought to bring good fortune. Black eyed pea dip is always a great choice as a New Years Eve food.
• Pork – to represent progress and prosperity. You can’t go wrong with General Tso meatballs (which are made with pork, and also, they’re a round food!)

Easy New Year’s Appetizers that require little to no prep

• Quiche – quiche is awesome for a New Year’s Eve charcuterie board because it provides a more filling, meal-type option. It’s also super simple to “make” – simply bake it, cut it up into slices, and serve warm or room temperature. A store bought quiche is really delicious and so easy, but if you’d prefer homemade, my quiche recipe is for you. You can make it a day or two in advance and simply reheat it.
• Cocktail shrimp – buy them pre-cooked, so you just have to thaw and serve. Serve with bottled cocktail sauce.
• Salami – buy a fancy log of salami and slice it up for the easiest New Year’s Eve food.
• Creamy dip – something store-bought like spinach-artichoke dip, or Mexicali dip. I usually warm it up before serving for a special touch.

How to make a New Year’s Eve Charcuterie Board

1. FIND A HUGE PLATTER. The bigger, the better. Or, you can arrange multiple smaller platters together for a similar effect for your New Years Eve food.
2. PREP HOT FOOD. If you’re going to be making any hot foods like the Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Wontons in the recipe card below, prep those.
3. ARRANGE! Add the hot foods to the platter first, and then anything that has its own bowl or smaller serving dish. Then, arrange the smaller, loose items like nuts and chips in any blank space that’s left.