New Year’s Eve drinks: fizz at midnight, but a better plan for the whole evening.

A successful New Year’s Eve drinks plan covers the whole evening: arrival, food, long middle stretch, midnight and whatever happens afterwards. Starting with the strongest drinks usually makes the later part worse.

Long drinks, beer, wine, alcohol-free serves and water all have a role before the midnight bottle appears.

Fizz works beautifully for arrival or midnight because the sound, glass and bubbles create a clear celebratory cue. It does not need to be the only drink served all night.

Chill enough bottles in advance and include a genuinely good alcohol-free sparkling option so nobody is handed a lesser substitute at midnight.

If cocktails are part of the evening, choose one or two that can be prepared ahead and diluted correctly. Trying to make individual complicated drinks for a room full of people is rarely enjoyable for the host.

A batched alcohol-free counterpart makes the same presentation available to everyone.

Salty snacks, cheese, charcuterie, fried food and small savoury dishes are more useful than very sweet food for a long evening. Sparkling wine, lager, cider and bitter aperitif-style drinks all handle salt and fat well.

Coffee can be useful later, but it should not be presented as a way to reverse intoxication.