New Year's Eve Celebrations St Ives Cornwall

New Year’s Eve Celebrations In St Ives Cornwall

December 31, 2018

New Year’s Eve Celebrations In St Ives Cornwall

New Year’s Eve in St Ives, Cornwall is like no other New Year’s Eve celebration. It is a huge gathering of locals, visitors, family and friends. Everyone is welcome, except those not in fancy dress. Yes, if you DON’T dress up, you will stick out like a sore thumb!

My Top Tips For Having The Best New Year’s Eve In St Ives Cornwall

Park early as the car parks get full quickly. If you need to use your car after midnight, park in one of the car parks slightly out of town (Trenwith, Barnoon, Rugby Club all good)
If you need a taxi at the end of the night, book it as soon as possible. There aren’t many taxis to go around, so you might have a long wait!
Hire your fancy dress outfits from Kidz R Us. They not only do some amazing outfits, it also raises money for a good, local cause.
Choose outfits for your kids that mean you can layer them up with warm clothes underneath. They will probably want to stay and play on the beach, so an extra layer or two under their batman costume will make it all the more enjoyable for them.
Light up your kids so you can keep an eye on them. We stick ours in glow bracelets and light up deely boppers. They are still at an age where they like these and don’t complain. It means they can play on the harbour beach without us having to be right on top of them all of the time.
Go as wild as possible with your fancy dress. Don’t worry about being over the top. I can guarantee there will be more people in far more elaborate outfits than you.
Bring umbrellas (even if you are not going as a jellyfish). It is does start to rain, you can still parade around without your fancy dress wilting
Book restaurant tables well in advance. Especially if you are a big group. If you can’t book, don’t worry, there are plenty of places to grab food from. Fish & chips, pasties, crepes, burgers.
If you have young children, bring a buggy. Not only is it good for chucking coats, umbrellas etc in. It also means that little legs will last longer with short sit downs in the pram. Also, bring a blanket for them to snuggle up in.
Bring cash! St Ives is terrible for cash points. There are now 2 main ones at Barclays Bank and The Wharf Post Office. These will probably start churning out £50 notes which nobody likes! Get your cash sorted out a day or so before hand. Most places do take card payments though.

How We Celebrate New Year’s Eve In St Ives

This will be our 12th New Year’s Eve celebrating in St Ives. I’m sure everyone does things completely differently. But this is how our family and friends tend to celebrate New Year’s Eve in St Ives.

New Year's Eve St Ives Cornwall Fancy Dress Butterflies

Let’s Get The Party Started

From 2pm onwards, friends and family start arriving at the house. We are quite popular as we have quite a few parking spaces on our drive and we are near enough to walk into town. First come first served!

The big dress up begins. We start creating our outfits in the afternoon. Bits are sewn on, hair is done up, faces are painted and glitz is spritzed! And we have some lovely drinks and snacks with music too.

Into Town We Go

From our bedroom window we can see one of the main roads into St Ives. From 5:30 onwards the children love to look out of the window and start spotting fancy dressed up people. At first it seems no one is dressing up. Then one group appear, and then another and then hoards of people all start pouring down the hill, dressed up in some brilliant fancy dress.

At around 6pm we join the procession down into town.

Join In The Parade

We walk down Virgin Street to The Digey and Fore Street. We usually loop Fore Street and onto Wharf Road several times. It is like a parade of fancy dress and it is really sociable and lots of fun.

Food & Drink

Some years we book a table to eat in a restaurant. If you do want to do this, DO IT EARLY. The tables, especially for big groups, get booked up very early in the year. If you don’t manage to get anything booked, you can get lots of street food. Pels by The Sloop Inn is especially good for getting snacks and hanging out around. They also do the most deliciously warm mulled wine.

To be honest, we have found that with the children, getting them to sit down to a meal in a restaurant when everyone is out on the streets having fun, a bit of a faff. If you are all grown ups I’d say go for it. The atmosphere in the restaurants is great. If you have young children though, I’d say eat your main meal at home and get some snacks out on the street. Getting them to sit down to a meal whilst there is a party going on in front of their eyes is like trying to tame a pack of monkeys!

Pub Crawl

Most years, we duck in and out of several pubs. This is fine to do even with the kids! It can get a little hectic, especially if it starts to rain. The Lifeboat is good for this as they take out all their furniture so there is a lot of room for everyone.

Beach Fun

From about 9pm our youngest children get taken off home by their amazing grandparents. The older ones love to play on the harbour beach. There is always lots of other children, many friends, for them all to play with. We always set a few rules, lots of boundaries and dress our children up in bright things so we can spot them fairly easily.

What Ever The Weather

I don’t know what happens to the weather in St Ives on New Year’s Eve. Maybe I am always wearing a really thick beer coat, but it always seems unseasonably warm and dry. The few times it has rained it hasn’t been too much bother. If rain is forecast, we take brollies and raincoats with us. It is never stopped us yet!

Fancy Dress Envy!

Whilst the children play, us adults get drinks from The Sloop Inn and stand around chatting, drinking and eating. Plus of course admiring the many amazing costumes. No matter how elaborate we think we are, there is always someone wearing something more amazing.

Some of the most memorable New Years Eve outfits we have seen are:

Edwardian ball gowns complete with massive powdered wigs and full makeup
Jellyfish – see through umbrellas with dangly bits and lights
Oompa loompas.
Seagulls
Crayons
Postcard of St Ives
Inflatable dinosaurs

New Year's Eve St Ives Cornwall Jelly Fish Fancy Dress

There are always loads of fabulous mermaids and pirates too.

Fireworks At Midnight

At midnight, everyone gathers on the harbour for the most amazing fireworks display. It is seriously extravagant! If the tide is in there is always people jumping in for a dip too.

Just a word of slight warning. The harbour gets really crowded at midnight so hold on to your kids. It is easy to get jostled and separated!

New Year's Eve St Ives Cornwall Crowds

The After Party

Those hardy, energetic souls then party on into the night. We have never lasted longer than midnight and have always walked back home, happy, slightly drunk and ready for our comfy beds.

Where To Get Fancy Dress Outfits From In St Ives

Kidz R Us St Ives

Every year Kidz R Us at the St Ives Theatre on The Stennack opens their wardrobe. They hire out the most amazing costumes, whilst raising money for them to continue with their wonderful work.

Streetlife Fancy Dress Shop

Streetlife Fancy Dress on Ventor Terrace near the top of Porthmeor Hill do excellent fancy dress.

Local Charity Shops

The local charity shops must save up all of their fancy dress gear for the week before New Year’s Eve. They get in all sorts of amazing costumes for you to buy.

Bag O’ Rags

There is a super fancy dress shop in Penzance called Bag O’ Rags. It is right on the harbour in Penzance.

Don’t leave it all till the last minute though as everything get bought up very quickly!

Some Questions People Often Ask Me About New Years Eve In St Ives

Q: What time does it all start?
A: From around 6pm people start parading the streets in their fancy dress. There are lots of families and children at this time.

Q: Do the roads get blocked off?
A: Yes, from 6pm the roads are closed from The Stennack Surgery, Tregenna Hill all the way into town.

Q: Where should I park the car?
A: If you want to drive home after midnight, park at The Station, Trenwith, Barnoon or The Rugby Club. Barnoon especially gets full very early on in the day though, so be prepared to drive around for a space.

Q: Do I need to book tickets to get in anywhere?
A: No! So far as I know, no pub is ticketed. There are organised events that do need tickets at some of the hotels and The Guildhall. I have listed these below. These are not part of the main celebrations in town though.

Q: Are children allowed in pubs?
A: Yes, up until 9pm

Q: Can we get street food?
A: Yes, lots of places are open for you to buy snacks and drinks

Q: Can we drink in the street?
A: Yes, just use plastic cups

Q: Are there plenty of taxis at the end of the night?
A: No, there aren’t many to go around. If you need a taxi it is best to try and book one way ahead of time!

New Year's Eve St Ives Cornwall Fireworks