Printed New Year's Eve bags for Bay Area restaurants, for the last orders of 2026 and the first of 2027.

The longest takeout night of the year

New Year's Eve isn't one rush. It's three. In the afternoon people pick up party trays for countdowns at home: wings, dumplings, lumpia, sushi platters. After dark come the late night orders from people who stayed in, plus anyone grabbing food before heading out. Then on Jan. 1 the hangover crowd shows up early for breakfast burritos, pho, jook and big greasy breakfast plates.

Lots of those bags end up on a coffee table with twenty people around it. A plain brown bag says nothing there. A bag with your name and a gold 2027 tells every guest where the food came from.

Doing office party trays? Our page on office catering bags in the Bay Area shows how to split a big order into bags people can carry. Pho shops can read our guide to pho takeout bags for San Jose for packing broth that survives the drive.

Fireworks over the Embarcadero at midnight

San Francisco rings in the new year with a fireworks show over the Bay along the Embarcadero. At the most recent show, on the night of Dec. 31, 2025, ABC7 News reported that it started at midnight and ran about 15 minutes, with crowds watching from the Ferry Building and up and down the waterfront. The pyrotechnics company said it would go on rain or shine.

We haven't seen details for the 2026 show yet, so treat that as last year's picture. The pattern holds anyway: crowds spend the evening by the water and then look for food, while plenty of others stay home and order in for their own countdown.

Source: ABC7 News, "Bay Area celebrates New Year's Eve with preparations for San Francisco's fireworks show underway," published Jan. 1, 2026 (abc7news.com).

Make dark, shiny party colors work on brown paper

New Year's art loves midnight blue, black and shiny gold. Here's the honest part: brown kraft softens all three. On the real order we measured, the deep navy came out a soft charcoal blue. Pale gold softens too, and printed gold ink reads as a warm mustard ochre, not a shiny metal. We don't do foil, so don't plan your design around a mirror finish.

So lean on contrast instead of shine. Put a bold gold or cream 2027 against a big dark shape and keep your shop name large. Build your mockup on a tan background close to our paper, never on white. Small details are safe: on the real bag, a full street address in small type prints clean.

You also get the whole front. Full color runs edge to edge across up to 12 × 14 in on the front, so confetti can spill right off the sides.

Order once, use it for two weeks

A Happy New Year bag doesn't expire at midnight. It works from the week after Christmas into early January. Boxes usually arrive 3 to 4 days after they ship, with free shipping. Send your final art early in December.

Testing it? The Kraft Discovery Box is 50 printed bags and 50 food tamper-evident stickers, so every late night delivery shows up sealed. If you already know you'll be slammed, get a box of 150 bags for $85 on Subscribe and Save, or the bundle with 300 bags for $152.

Every bag is 110 GSM kraft, 12″ by 7″ with 3.5″ gussets and 14″ tall, and it holds up to 22 lb. See every city and neighborhood we cover on our home page for printed bags in the Bay Area.