NEW YEAR'S EVE
Although New Year's Eve is typically considered a holiday for the grown-ups, celebrating with your kids can be a blast! Here are some fun ideas for bringing in the new year with your kids, including party ideas, fun crafts, and ways to celebrate without keeping them up until midnight.
Break out the glitter. Use today to take down your Christmas decorations - if you haven't already - and put up some New Year's Eve decor! Cover plain party hats with glitter by spraying them with spray glue and then letting the kids go to town sprinkling glitter on them (may we suggest doing this in the garage?). Prepare for the big countdown by making paper poppers that can be filled with confetti - use a toilet paper roll and wrap it in a couple sheets of tissue paper, closing the ends with curling ribbon.
Make a time capsule. You don't have to dig a hole in the backyard to create a memorable time capsule with your kids. In fact, this can easily become a fun and special New Year's tradition for your family! Print out a survey that every family member needs to complete, with questions such as these: What's your favorite food right now? What is the best thing you did this year? Include the survey and a photograph of each family member and put them all in a special box. Add to the time capsule each year with the same survey of questions. It will be so fun to read from year to year and even five or 10 years down the road!
Throw a family-friendly bash. Remember all those friends that you used to spend New Year's Eve with, pre-kids? Well, now that you're all in the same parenting boat, there is no reason why you still can't get together to celebrate the new year! Invite them all over with their kids and throw a big, family-friendly New Year's Eve bash, complete with champagne... and juice boxes. tell your friends to bring pajamas for the kids and set up movies, popcorn and sleeping bags for the little ones so that everyone can stay as late as possible.
Get inspired. The simples but also the most memorable thing you can do with your kids on New Year's Eve is to sit down as a family and make a plan for the year to come. Get a big piece of poster board and go crazy brainstorming things you want to do as a family, places you want to travel, projects to conquer and goals to accomplish.