New Year’s Eve Fun with Kids!

Planning on spending New Year’s Eve with the kiddos?  Make New Year’s Eve fun with kids by implementing these cool ideas!

Back in the day (translation: pre-kids), my husband and I would plan a fun night out for New Year’s Eve.  It would be composed of dinner at a nice restaurant (usually overpriced) followed by either a club or party of some sort.  I’d even stay up until after the ball dropped!

Wow have times changed!  With infants, we could’ve opted for a babysitter and paint the night red like the old days.  Mostly, we would end up eating at home and trying to pry our eyes open to at least see the ball drop on TV.  One year we thought if we invited another family over, we’d gather the energy to stay awake.  Both husbands were snoring before 11:15pm, and by 11:30pm my friend and I looked at each other and decided not to be martyrs.  We called it a night.

Now that the boys are a bit older, we thought we could all go out for NYE.  Last year we were invited to a close friend’s house – parents and kids,delicious home cooked meal, perfect right?  My youngest fell asleep on the floor of their play room by 8:30pm (takes after his parents).  My oldest – well, we couldn’t find him at first but when we did, he apparently found his way into the guest bedroom and made himself comfy on the bed.  That was before 10:00pm.

This year we figured that it would be better to plan for early festivities and then cozy up at home.  It’ll be OK if we fall asleep before midnight…as long as we are all together.

The hubby is in charge of the dinner menu and I have been researching some cool activities to do, maybe start a few holiday traditions…

COUNTDOWN UNTIL MIDNIGHT!

Keep the excitement going throughout the night with these two countdown ideas!

BALLOON COUNTDOWN

What you will need:

• 12 balloons
• Black sharpie marker
• 12 small sheets of paper
• Pen
• Craft ideas and supplies

Write a different time on each deflated balloon with the sharpie marker.  Now, write a different craft or fun task on a small piece of paper and insert one into each deflated balloon.  Blow up the balloons and you’re ready!

Pop a balloon at each designated time on the front to reveal what fun in in store until it’s the next time on a balloon.

PAPER BAG COUNTDOWN

The paper bag countdown is similar in concept to the balloon countdown below, just not as “loud” because there’s no popping involved.

What you will need:

• 12 paper bags.  Brown paper lunch bags will do well or if you want to be a bit fancy, pick up some colorful paper tote bags from your local craft store.
• Print up 12 blank clocks (any of these should do), and have your kids help you mark the designated times on each clock.

All you need to do is glue one per paper bag.  Like the activity above, write down a craft or task on separate sheets of paper, add them to the bags and fold them up.

TIME CAPSULE

This activity is something that you will definitely cherish next year…when you open it!  I found a few different free templates that you can choose from.  Have each family member, or party guest if you are having others over to celebrate, answer all of the questions.

Once you have gathered all completed sheets, tuck them away to reveal next New Year’s Eve.  It’s a great way to see how everyones’ taste has changed…or stayed the same!

SCAVENGER HUNT

This could actually be one of the things you do as a part of the countdown ideas above!  Pick up a few toys or chotchkies at the local dollar store and strategically hide them throughout the house.  The items you pick could have a theme to them (different plastic dinosaurs, play jewelry, etc.) or just be marbles or rocks.  Before you go and hide the items you will need to create a clue to lead the players to the location of each item.  You can create rhymes to make it whimsical.

Start out with a letter explaining the hunt as well as the clue to locating the first item.  After each item is found, the clue attached to it will lead the crew to the next item, and so on.

WORD SEARCH

I found this super fun website where you can make your own word search with 10 words of your choice.  There is a character limit, but it just makes you think more creatively (ha ha).  You can then print up a copy for each family member or have them complete it on the computer.

CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR AROUND THE WORLD

Log onto EarthCam to watch live video cams capture New Year celebrations all over the world.  I scrolled through some of the cities with cams and saw Tokyo, Dubai, Moscow, Amman, Budapest, Prague, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Dublin, Rio de Janeiro, St. Croix, Toronto, Niagra Falls, Times Square, Cleveland, Ft. Lauderdale, Washington, South Beach, Jamaica…to name just a few!

CHEERS!

Want to cheer in the New Year with the kids, in a super fun way?  Pick up some plastic champagne flutes at your local dollar or party store and fill it with sparkling apple or grape juice.

What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?