[Updated for 2023] Printable New Year’s Eve placemats to color are an easy, fun way to keep kids entertained on New Year’s Eve during family gatherings and holiday parties.
Whether you’re having a simple celebration at home with just your immediate family or you’re putting together a big party with a bunch of friends, it’s always a good idea to have a few activities planned for the kids. Coloring placemats is a perfect addition to a night filled with food, games, and lots of funny photo props for candid selfies.
I’ve created ten 11″ x 14″ printable New Year’s Eve placemats to color, all completely free. The designs convert seamlessly to 8.5″ x 11″ or 11″ x 17″ format as well for added flexibility. Eight of the placemats feature New Year’s-themed messages and images to color with party poppers, firecrackers, stars, disco balls, clocks, and numbers.
Two of the placemats are activity placemats. One placemat is a year in review activity to look back on all of your favorites from the past year and reflect on a few goals for the year ahead. The other placemat is a new year goals activity about your wishes and ambitions for the year ahead, both big and small. The coloring difficulty varies significantly from one placemat to the next with designs suited for all ages.
Free printable New Year’s Eve placemats to color couldn’t be a simpler activity to prepare ahead of time. A few days before New Year’s Eve, allot a little time to print or have the placemats printed and round up or purchase age-appropriate coloring supplies. Set out the placemats and coloring supplies before the dinner or party, and you’re ready to go.
I share my favorite coloring supplies in the next section. After the printables, I share my recommendations for printing or having your placemats printed.
Recommended coloring supplies for printable New Year’s placemats
I’ve made New Year’s Eve placemats for a range of ages. For younger children, twistable coloring materials aren’t required but do make the activity much easier for everyone. You get rich colors without the hassle and stress of peeling paper and worrying about kids eating crayons (or eating quite as much crayon anyway). Crayola Twistables colored pencils and Crayola Twistables crayons are both great choices.
For older children who want to add more detail to their coloring pages, colored pencils are optimal. My favorite colored pencils are Prismacolor premier colored pencils. You get richer, smoother tones with better blending potential than other leading colored pencil brands. Prismacolor sets range from 36 to 150 pencils.
Fine tip markers are another good option for detailed coloring pages and placemats. The best budget fine tip markers available are Crayola super tips washable markers. To see additional choices on Amazon, search fine tip markers. They offer an extensive range of markers intended for adult coloring, planners, and more.
About the printable New Year’s Eve placemats
The free printable New Year’s Eve placemats are for personal use. You may print them as many times as you like for both home and classroom use. Please don’t send the download files to anyone. If family, friends, or co-workers are interested in New Year’s Eve placemats, please direct them to this post where they can download their own files. Thank you!
I’ve created each placemat in JPG and PDF form. When you print your placemats at home, most likely you’ll want JPG format, as it gives you more control over the image scale and quality. When you sent out your placemats to be printed, most likely it will be easier to send PDF files.
The preview versions of the placemats in this post are low-resolution and feature black borders, as it gets confusing having so much white space in the blog post. The previews aren’t designed for printing. Please use the download links to get the placemats you’d like to print. The download files are high-resolution without borders.
Happy New Year with assorted designs
A “Happy New Year!” message surrounded by balloons, party poppers, clocks, stars, and numbers.
Happy New Year with shooting stars
A “Happy New Year!” message surrounded by two large shooting stars and a variety of smaller stars.
Cheers to the New Year
A “cheers to the New Year!” message rounded by four large firecrackers and an assortment of smaller stars.
Here’s to an amazing 2024!
A “here’s to an amazing 2024!” message rounded by party poppers, balloons, and stars.
Party like it’s 2023
A little homage to the iconic 1999 song, a “party like it’s 2023” message surrounded by assorted quarter, eighth, and sixteenth music notes.
Counting down to 2024
A “counting down to 2023” message under a clock, surrounded by numbers.
Happy New Year countdown
A “Happy New Year!” message under numbers counting down from 10.
Happy New Year disco ball
A “Happy New Year” message under a disco ball, surrounded by twinkling lights.
2023 in review
A year-in-review activity with places to fill in your name, age, grade, and various favorites from the past year. There’s also a place to fill in a few of your hopes for 2023.
2024 goals
A goal-setting activity for the year ahead with places to fill in various aspirations for the new year, such as books you want to read, something you’re looking forward to, and something you want to try.
Printing your New Year’s Eve placemats
Home printing
I designed the printable New Year’s Eve placemats with 11″ x 14″ printing in mind. The placemats are great for 8.5″ x 11″ and 11″ x 17″ printing as well. Many home printers have the capacity to print up to 11″ x 17″ or even wider. If you aren’t sure if your printer is able to print beyond 8.5″ x 11,” look up the specs. Simply Google your printer make and model, and you should find the information you need.
Regular printer paper will work in a pinch. However, it isn’t ideal, as these placemats are intended for coloring. I recommend premium matte inkjet paper or cardstock for home-printed placemats. Using one of these materials will create much sturdier placemats with smoother, more vivid colors.
Professional printing
If you don’t have a home printer that prints 11″ x 14″ pages or larger or the idea of ordering special paper while dealing with other New Year’s preparations stresses you out, send your New Year’s Eve placemats to a printer. There are lots of places that offer affordable yet high-quality printing services, such as FedEx, Costco, Staples, and OfficeMax.
How do I print my placemats on 8.5″ x 11″ or 11″ x 17″ paper?
11″ x 14″ is a common photo printing size. It isn’t nearly as common for other types of printing. As such, it’s not always easy to find 11″ x 14″ paper that isn’t photo paper. I did link a couple of options above for 11″ x 14″ paper. However, I know that many people prefer 8.5″ x 11″ or 11″ x 17,” as these types of paper are more common and versatile.
An 8.5″ x 11″ format may also be preferable for younger children and anyone who simply wants to use the New Year’s Eve designs are coloring pages, not placemats.
To print on 8.5″ x 11″ or 11″ x 17″ paper, just select the size you’d like in the print screen menu. Both of these formats will leave a white border on either side of your placemats. For the vast majority of the designs, you won’t be able to tell the difference.
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