Celebrate New Year’s Eve – Family Style!

Most parents would agree that staying up past midnight is usually a challenge, even when it comes to the most notorious late-night of the year – New Year’s Eve. But just because we’re parents doesn’t mean we still can’t have fun…kids included!

Looking for fun ways to celebrate the New Year with your family? The best way to avoid carrying sleeping children in your arms all night is to simply plan a fun family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration. PBS Kids offers great ways for a night to remember with your tiniest of party guests:

• Set up a craft table and allow each family member to create their own party hat for the day’s festivities. Get some colorful poster board, pipe cleaners, and glitter, markers…you name it!
• One of the best ways to remember the years of past, present and future is to make a time capsule. Have each child draw pictures or write a letter about their favorite parts of the past year. Store them in a capsule to be taken out again the following year.
• For those of you who have REALLY young kiddos, try ringing in the Noon Year! Most little kids won’t be up for the big festivities, so why not bring the festivity to them during waking hours? Bring out the noisemakers, pour a sparkling apple cider toast, and count down to the stroke of 12 p.m. on December 31.
• Maybe the most memorable thing you can do with your kids on New Year’s Eve is to make a plan for the year to come. Get a big piece of poster board and brainstorm things you want to do as a family and goals to accomplish. If you’re tech savvy, you can even record each family member and ask the same questions then watch the video the following year and repeat the process all over again!

Get ready for the countdown! For more ideas on New Year’s Eve fun with your family, visit Kiddie Academy’s Pinterest page.

Auld Lang Syne!