It’s hard to believe, but in just two days, we’ll be celebrating New Year’s Eve! While a New Year’s Eve party may make you think of an adults-only party with champagne and dancing, New Year’s Eve can also be a lot of fun for the kids! We love ringing in the New Year as a family and as long as the kids can make it, they’re allowed to stay awake until midnight and be part of the celebration. It’s wonderful to spend time together as a family before saying goodbye to the year and hello to new beginnings in the New Year. Including kids in your New Year’s Eve party will help them participate in family traditions or perhaps give them a chance to create their own. Check out these 15 ways your family can celebrate New Year’s Eve and say hello to 2015 together!
15 Ideas for Ringing in 2015 with Kids
1. Do 15 jumping jacks 15 minutes before midnight: To get the kids moving a bit, have them do 15 jumping jacks – symbolizing the year 2015. For even more fun, get them to do their jumping jacks 15 minutes before midnight!
2. Reflect on past year: Reflecting on the year that’s ending and reminding yourselves of all the good that happened over the year is a great activity for the family. It’s important for kids to keep memories alive and sharing them as a family is wonderful! A fun way to reflect on your year is to set up a jar where each family member can submit their good moments throughout the year, then read all out loud on New Year’s Eve.
3. Kid-friendly drinks: Sparkling cider or sparkling grape juice are fun, kid-friendly drinks for New Year’s Eve! You can have your champagne too, if you’d like, while the kids sip on their juice. The sparkling drinks will let your kids feel as if they’re celebrating the occasion in a fancy way. You can also add fresh fruit to your cider for a fun twist or make a sparkling punch with your favorite juice and either ginger ale or club soda. The kids will love it!
4. Have your kids read to you for 15 minutes: Story time may not seem like a festive activity, but a relaxing activity is good for kids too. Sit down for 15 minutes to read with your children on New Year’s Eve. If you can find a New Year’s related story, then even better!
5. Make a list of 15 wishes for the new year: Setting goals and resolutions is popular for the New Year, but phrasing it as “wishes” may make it more whimsical for kids. Have them make a list of 15 things they’d like to do in 2015 – it can be as simple as “try a new food” or a more complicated wish such as, “learn to ride a bike.”
6. DIY kids’ New Year’s Eve masks: While you wait to ring in the new year, try this fun kids’ craft with your children. They’ll love to make their own New Year’s Eve masks to wear later in the evening! Plus, these DIY kids’ New Year’s Eve masks are great for playing dress-up and taking photos!
7. Have (safe) fun with firecrackers: We usually purchase safe firecrackers to light up on New Year’s Eve with the kids. These are not the huge in-the-sky fireworks, but smaller ones like sparklers and snappers that the kids can manage along with our supervision. I can normally find these right at my local Walmart!
8. Dance for 15 minutes: Turn up the radio with fun party music and let the kids dance for 15 minutes! Join them for a truly fun way to ring in 2015!
9. Celebrate with other countries (via TV): Watch as other countries ring in the New Year and celebrate along with the various time zones. You can usually find elaborate fireworks and sometimes, parades on TV for the various celebrations from other countries.
10. Fun food and sweet treats: Serving kid-friendly appetizers and treats at your New Year’s Eve party will help kids feel included. They’ll love easy finger-foods such as these pizza empanadas, bacon & cheese stuffed potato balls, and delicious quesitos (cheese puff pastries)! Other fun ideas are bite-size sandwiches, fruit, and cupcakes.
11. Make New Year’s Eve poppers: My girl likes to make DIY poppers for New Year’s Eve, filled with candy and paper strips for confetti. You can easily make poppers with toilet paper or paper towel rolls, wrapping paper, and ribbon. At midnight, your kids can have fun popping their poppers!
12. Create a 2014 family photo album: Using photos of important events and memories from the past year, create a family photo album all about the year 2014! You can easily do this with the help of the Walmart Photo Center, where you can create a 5×7 photo book for less than $8! During New Year’s Eve, laugh and smile as you look over the photo album as a family.
13. Play board games: Board games are always a classic way to have fun as a family. On New Year’s Eve, you can have fun playing some of your children’s favorite games as you wait for the New Year to arrive!
14. Pop 15 balloons: Have 15 balloons filled with either confetti or small strips of paper with words and phrases that are important to your family. At midnight (or just before), pop your 15 balloons to ring in 2015!
15. Create a family story: Start your kids off with a story and let them finish it. For extra fun, make it a silly story using members of your family and real events that happened in the past year.
Have fun with your family this New Year’s Eve celebrating in a kid-friendly manner! Your kids will love these fun activities and sharing the joy of remembering 2014 and saying hello to 2015 along with you! Happy New Year, everyone!
What fun New Year’s Eve activities for kids does your family do to ring in the New Year?
All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™
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