Whether you’re celebrating the end of this year or just want to throw a party, decorations, apparel, and lights are key to having the perfect celebration, and 3D printing is here to help.
In this article, we’ll go over a few of our favorite 3D printable models to ring in the New Year and a few for other occasions as well. For your scrolling convenience, we’ve split this article into four sections: accessories, signs, food and drink, and lights and lanterns.
If you see something on the list you want to 3D print but don’t have the time or means, try Craftcloud. With a range of materials and finishes, your New Year’s print can be on its way in just a few clicks.
And now, let the countdown begin!
Accessories
In this section, we’ll provide you with some New-Year’s-themed accessories ranging from glasses to earrings to a confetti canon!
New Year Glasses
If you want to really stand out at your New Year gathering, you will need some appropriate apparel. These glasses take a unique spin on the traditional New Year eyewear with a fun goth text. The best part is that these “Happy New Year” glasses are perfectly reusable every year!
You will need to slow down your print speeds to ensure the intricate text can lay down on the print bed properly. The rods simply slot onto the frame, though they are not designed to snap-fit on: You’ll need to heat up the ends and wrap them around the frame for a secure connection. Because of this, PLA is the filament of choice as it can easily be manipulated with heat.
- Who designed it? Skaran
- How printable/popular is it? These glasses have earned a little over 30 downloads and 1 posted make that showcase them in action.
- Where to find it? Printables
Fireworks Earrings
New Year’s, like the Fourth of July, is known for its bright lights and fireworks. But who’s to say you can’t wear some festive lights (safely) yourself?
These firework earrings have five stems, with the middle one used for attaching them to the earring hooks.
Since it’s a two-dimensional design, it should be a very straightforward print. The creator of this design states that they printed this model in pearl white PLA. You might also consider painting them!
- Who designed it? wobbler
- How printable/popular is it? There are over 510 downloads of these earrings.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Confetti Cannon
Everyone needs something special to do once that clock strikes 12, and no party is complete without some confetti. Now you can 3D print your own pocket-sized confetti cannon and surprise everyone with a pop of color. Choose from a variety of printable confetti options, such as classic stars and hearts, or print out numbers to indicate the New Year.
The model uses a print-in-place spring and a hinged latch to keep the confetti inside while the spring is retracted. Removing the hatch will release the confetti. The spring is strong enough to launch your confetti while remaining safe to use.
Makers have praised the model on its ease-of-use while warning against scaling the prints down by more than 80%, as the mechanism won’t work as intended. PLA is a good choice for filament as it will give just enough strength to the spring while remaining flexible.
- Who designed it? Cisco3D
- How printable/popular is it? You can find 44 makes for this confetti cannon posted on Printables.
- Where to find it? Printables
Signs
In this section, we’ll go over a few 3D printable signs that show, in words, your excitement for the New Year.
Fireworks Silhouette
This is a simple yet great design to welcome the New Year! The designer commented that different backgrounds can be printed, so as to have different colors available.
For printing, no supports are required, and the maker recommends printing the first layer at a slow pace given that the model is quite intricate. A maker added their own touch with a stunning, colorful backlight.
- Who designed it? 3DPrintBunny
- How printable/popular is it? This timeless sign has over 310 downloads on Thingiverse and 2 makes shared on Printables.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse, Printables
Big
This sign is plain and simple: just a big “Happy New Year”! The maker switched from white to blue filament at the end of the print to make the letters pop out. As shown in the image above, using two contrasting colors has a great effect for not much effort!
Even if you don’t have a multicolor setup, you can use Cura to pause at height and swap the filaments.
- Who designed it? Bugman_140
- How printable/popular is it? This design has 99 downloads and over 2,800 views.
- Where to find it? Cults
Champagne Clock Hands
Champagne is another common tradition for celebrating just about anything, and while it’s not really a sign, this model perfectly displays your festive feelings. The two-part design is a champagne glass minute and hour hand for a clock, so you can know exactly when it hits midnight. According to the creator, the hand should fit an Ikea Stomma clock.
Besides the classification of this model as support-free, no other printing suggestions are available. However, this model isn’t very complex, so you should be fine printing this piece with standard settings.
- Who designed it? v1bennett
- How printable/popular is it? This champagne clock hand model has over 2,600 views and 88 downloads.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Hand Crank
Need a dynamic and creative sign? This model should do the trick! According to the maker, this seven-part hand crank sign was made using the program SketchUp.
With a hand crank mechanism, you can move the letters up and down, as illustrated in the short video below.
The designer goes into detail about post-processing and assembling the parts for this sign. They recommend using a different color of filament for the letters than the other parts, which should make the sign more readable.
- Who designed it? gzumwalt
- How printable/popular is it? This unique sign has close to 4,300 views as well as 186 downloads!
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Food & Drink
In this next section, we’ll go over a few New Year’s-themed designs for food and drink featuring cookie cutters and even a champagne glass.
Party Coasters
A little New Year-themed party decoration can go a long way in making your event special. These multicolor coasters feature beautiful firework displays that you can customize with your favorite colors. Just be sure to print out enough coasters for all of your guests, as they’re sure to be popular.
The model is designed to be printed in multicolor using a Bambu Lab AMS unit. To take the appearance to the next level, the designer has used a PEX build plate to impart a holographic effect onto the prints’ surface. While this is definitely recommended, as the results speak for themselves, you can still get perfectly fine prints off of a standard build plate.
- Who designed it? Mr.Jay
- How printable/popular is it? With around 150 downloads and 120 makes according to MakerWorld, there are quite a few colorful and original coasters out there waiting for New Year’s Eve.
- Where to find it? MakerWorld
Celebration Cookie Cutters
Need to make some on-theme treats for a celebration? This assortment of cookie cutters is perfect for the job, including champagne glasses, a star, fireworks, and confetti. The champagne glasses are available in two versions, so you should have plenty of options to choose from. The designer even includes a sugar cookie recipe!
The creator listed a few of the print settings they used to print these cookie cutters, including a 0.25-mm layer height, 50% infill, no supports, and no raft. The maker also printed the cookie cutters in PETG, though make sure you’re using a food-safe brand. And maybe read a bit on food-safe 3D printing before you get started.
- Who designed it? TeamOliva
- How printable/popular is it? This assortment of cookie cutters has close to 950 downloads.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Champagne Cookie Cutters
And to add even more cookie cutter models, how could we not have champagne?
This delicious, bubbly design was printed with layer height of 0.4 mm, and the maker noted that it took less than an hour and a half to print – it’s a great option if you’re looking for a last-minute addition to the platters.
- Who designed it? OogiMe
- How printable/popular is it? This bubbly champagne cookie cutter has 1 make and over 3,000 downloads!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Snowflake Champagne Glass
Ready for a midnight toast, but don’t have special champagne glasses? This design has got you covered with its snowflake shape as the base of the glass. If you actually want to use this model to hold any liquid, make sure to follow food-safety guidelines like printing with a food-safe material.
While the designer didn’t make any printing recommendations for this model, one recorded maker shared a great print that included their settings. They listed that they used a 100% infill with no raft and no supports to make multiple champagne glasses.
- Who designed it? casentim
- How printable/popular is it? This snowflake champagne glass has 4 recorded makes and over 2,800 downloads!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Lights & Fireworks
Lastly, in this section, we’ll provide you with a few designs relating to lights and fireworks so you can brightly welcome the new year.
Fireworks LED Lamp
This clever design is a fireworks-themed LED lamp that provides unique and visually appealing lighting for a celebration at any time of year.
The lamp uses a 3D printable base and a few other bits of hardware and electronic components, including screws, an Arduino Nano, a neopixel light, some fiber optic cables, and wires. According to the designer, you’ll also have to know how to solder to make this lamp.
The designer indicated that the model is support-free. One maker also listed that they used PLA to print this lamp.
- Who designed it? Breaks’n’Makes
- How printable/popular is it? This model has 1 community print, almost 8,300 views, and over 480 downloads.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
Articulate Rocket
Articulate models always make for fun prints regardless of the occasion. Luckily, this star-trailing rocket ship model will make for a great decoration to any New Year’s Eve party. The ring on top of the rocket lets you easily run some strong through these models to hang them around the venue for all to enjoy. This is definitely the type of model that will benefit from some rainbow or silk filament!
Like most articulate models, this rocket will print just fine without any supports. You will want to slow down your print speed and make sure your print bed is clean before attempting to print this model as you don’t want any of the small connecting pieces to come loose and ruin the chain.
- Who designed it? MengPrints
- How printable/popular is it? So far, around 50 people have downloaded this model while 15 have liked it.
- Where to find it? Printables
Sparkler Holder
Another common tradition for New Year’s Eve is sparklers. This model is a sparkler holder that can hold up to 27 sparklers and allows you to make a nice display of lights. With holes spread across three different heights, this holder keeps the sparklers secure at different angles.
The designer provided a host of different print settings, including that they used two shells and a 20% infill to print this model. In the comments, a few makers were concerned about using PLA because of its heat sensitivity, but no problems have been reported.
- Who designed it? muzz64
- How printable/popular is it? The holder has 2 recorded makes, over 1,700 downloads, and several positive comments.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Good Luck Lantern
Lastly, since we all need as much luck as we can get, you can see if this lantern might give you some. Originally designed for celebrating the Lunar New Year, you could easily use it to celebrate on December 31st.
The lantern displays a scene involving a fish, known for bringing wealth, a lotus, known for tranquility, and the character Fu, representing luck. According to the designer, this model is made to fit an LED tea light, and you can use string to hang the lantern.
The designer recommends printing this model with a 20% infill, and one maker lists that they successfully printed the model in PLA.
- Who designed it? Jenuinely Yuself
- How printable/popular is it? This lantern model has 1 community print, almost 16,000 views, and over 1,700 downloads.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory
License: The text of "15 Great 3D Printing Projects to Get Ready for New Year’s Eve" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.