The evening was mild, adding to the success of street parties held in Clyde and Naseby.
Crowds were well-behaved with only two arrests in Central Otago during the evening for drink-driving, police said.
The biggest crowd was at a street party organised by Promote Dunstan in Clyde, which attracted about 3000 people.
A DJ provided the music and the crowd danced their way into 2010.
Auld Lang Syne was performed at midnight by a solo piper, Alexandra Highland Pipe Band member Clifford Hiscock, and then the crowd partied on for another hour.
"The behaviour was very good aside from the odd one or two who cause a little bit of trouble," Promote Dunstan president Rory Butler said.
"By and large though, it's been a good natured crowd, with lots of families here and that's what we like to see, because that's what we aim at."
The organisation arranged the party as a service to the community, rather than as a money-making venture, secretary Louise Joyce said.
It employed security guards and there was a glass ban in the area and all the planning revolved around making it a family-friendly occasion.
In Naseby, several hundred residents and holidaymakers gathered in the street outside the Royal Hotel and were entertained by a Dunedin band.
Hundreds of families ringed the township's domain at 9.30pm for the fireworks display.
Cromwell's festivities were quiet, and mostly took the form of parties in homes and at the camping ground, Detective Gary Hyndman, of Cromwell, said.
Many of the district's teenagers tended to travel to Queenstown or Wanaka for the evening so Central Otago towns traditionally had quiet, family-focused New Year's Eve celebrations, Det Hyndman said.
"A quiet night is fairly usual for us on New Year's Eve and we have no complaints about that."
Alexandra and Clyde's liquor ban, which is usually in force at weekends, was extended to New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year.
Sergeant Ian Kerrisk, of Alexandra, said although shuttle buses took regular trips transporting people between Alexandra and Clyde on New Year's Eve, some young people had decided to walk between the towns, on State Highway 8.
The police had received several calls that evening about drunken youth on the highway.
