Whether your guest is tall or small doesn’t mean the party can’t be a HUGE amount of fun! Keep it a New Year’s theme and include lots of New Year’s activities for kids.
- Have everyone dress up in fancy party clothes.
- Make New Year’s noise makers and New Year’s party hats.
- Set out party food. I’m thinking a star theme… star sandwich kabobs and cinnamon pastry stars.
- Maybe even set up a family photo booth.
Make a Memory Box For Your Family
New Year’s is a combination of celebrating the year that’s passed and anticipating the year to come. Doesn’t an evening of reminiscing that leaves you with a family keepsake sound like the perfect new year’s activity for kids?
- Decorate a shoebox or plastic container big enough to fill with all of your goodies.
- Fill your memory box with important family stuff (like a take out menu from your favorite restaurant). Here’s a huge list of ideas for your time capsule.
- Don’t forget to make yourself a note to open it up next year!
Cook Together
Hubby loves to make up recipes, I prefer to find recipes on Pinterest. However, you like to play around in the kitchen, cooking as a family just might be a fun way to spend the evening together. This New Year’s activity for kids just might turn into a regular family event.
- Find easy to prepare, kid-friendly recipes.
- Plan a lot of prep time. That way you’re not rushing. Having time to spare makes cooking way more fun.
- Turn on some music and dance around the kitchen.
- Make sure to take lots of pictures.
Enjoy a Movie Night (but make it an event!)
Family movie nights are a pretty common thing (at least around here) but for a special night like New Year’s, take it up a notch.
- Make up family movie night tickets.
- Pop some extra special popcorn. Movie theater candy popcorn looks especially yummy!
- Get into comfy cozies, bring out the blankets and dim the lights.
- Watch the movie (that means turn off your phone and in my case the computer) and be fully engaged in the movie.
- Make it a special movie. Is there a movie everyone has been dying to see? How about an old favorite from when you were a kid?
In our house, we keep things interesting with own version of a New Year’s ball drop: a balloon-popping countdown with hourly activities that range from silly to serious with a lot of loony in-between.
Here’s how to play:
Write down 12 family activities on individual slips of paper and insert one into 12 balloons before inflating.
Number the balloons 1 through 12 with a Sharpie and you’re all set.
Beginning at 1 PM on New Year’s Eve, pop one balloon an hour and do the activity you find on the sheet of paper inside. (If your kids aren’t "going the distance" that night, just do enough balloons to last you until bedtime.)
The activities can be anything – making a favorite snack together, blowing bubbles in the kitchen, playing Twister, whatever floats your family’s boat. I always try to mix sure-fire hits (Jenga!) with a few quieter, more thoughtful projects.
A few more suggestions:
Create a wishing wall. On colored squares of paper, have each family member write down a wish or two for the coming year. Then arrange the squares on a large poster board or corkboard and hang on the wall for decoration. Add on or make changes to your wishing wall throughout the year.
Make a family vision board. Similar to a wishing wall, but a great choice for kids who are too young to write or use their words as effectively. Make a collage from magazine clippings that inspire you and your family - and don’t forget to date it. The look and feel of your family vision boards will grow and change along with you.
Finish-the-sentence books. Fold a few pieces of blank paper in half and staple at the crease. Orienting the “book” vertically, open to the middle page and staple again at the top. Write an incomplete sentence on the top flap (“I am thankful for…” and “I am happy that…” are good options). Then have each family member complete the sentence on their own page at the bottom. Illustrate if desired!
Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year 2020!
Find more ideas and some resolution ideas at my pinterest site.
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