New Year’s Eve is one of my favorite family holidays, although I know that we don’t exactly associate New Year’s Eve with “family time.” In fact, maybe at its core we’ve been taught to believe it’s a “grown up holiday.” And, yeah, if we had to choose one holiday out of the whole year that was associated with adults, it would definitely be New Year’s Eve. The staying up late, nights out, glittery dresses, New Year’s toasts—they don’t exactly scream “family gathering!”.
But growing up, my mom made everything about family time. She didn’t have easy access to babysitters and didn’t live near her family who could just pop in to watch my siblings and I while she and my dad frequently went out. Therefore, she was forced to make every holiday and event a family one. Let me tell you, she did a darn good job at it—especially on New Year’s Eve! As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” and my mother invented one of our favorite family events of the year.
New Year’s Eve holds some of my most cherished memories. It meant great food, lots of snacks, games, cozy moments, and sparkly memories. That’s why when I became a mom I decided to pass down some of these traditions in my own home. Even though I had babysitters and my family lives a mere seven minutes away, I chose to keep New Year’s Eve a family holiday. I believe that my kids deserve to usher in the new year just like I do—just like I did as a kid.
So now, I’m going to pass on this valuable information. Maybe you also don’t have a babysitter, live far from family, or like me—prefer the coziness of your lounge set over a glittery dress any day. In which case, this post is full of ideas to make New Year’s Eve with your kids as memorable and beautiful as can be!
1. Get Dressed Up
Who says you can’t dress up just because you’re staying at home? This is just as important an event as any other! Some dress up ideas include:
- Matching pajamas or loungewear: Whether you grab new ones, pick a coordinating color scheme, or pull out those matching holiday pajamas you spent a lot of time and money finding. Tonight’s the night to wear them again!
- Get fancy: Just because you’re home doesn’t mean you can’t get fancy. Whether that’s your nice dress, dressy bathrobe, or your favorite lipstick, choose something that makes you feel festive!
- Pick a matching theme: Maybe you’re a Star Wars-loving family and each wants to represent a favorite character. Perhaps your entire family really loves the color blue or wants to represent their favorite sports team (Go Lions!).
2. Create a Fun Countdown
Every good New Year’s Eve party needs a good countdown. After all, we’re hours away from a new year and that’s the entire reason we’re having this bash in the first place. My suggestion is to adjust the countdown to your kids’ ages and developmental levels.
- Preschool-aged kids: Keep it very simple with a paper countdown they remove every hour. My kids loved this as preschoolers and would get so excited every time they got to take down one taped paper. Or, try balloons with the hours on them that they could pop every hour. Bonus points if you get confetti filled balloons that gradually turn your living room into a pool of sparkling confetti!
- Older kids: Create a digital countdown, or start the hourly countdown with the biggest number trend of the year: “6-7”! You can let them get involved and make the countdown themselves using Canva (an app my tweens love using)!
Also, if you want to “shorten” the countdown for your younger kiddos who have to be in bed early, this mama fully supports that!
3. Create a Charcuterie—or Kid-Cuterie—Board
Every good party needs a charcuterie board—especially a New Year’s Eve party. This is a fun way to get the kids involved and put all their favorite snacks onto a board that they can be snacking on all night long. Maybe even make an adult version and a kid version. Or, my personal favorite: create a savory cheese/snack board and another sweet board.
4. Entertainment is a Must
I know the biggest question on all of our minds is, “But what do we do with all that time?” It is an hours long event, after all. But don’t worry, with these suggestions your entire family will be entertained for hours! Some entertainment suggestions include:
- Do a puzzle
- Watch a movie: this is a great one because you easily just knocked out two hours! Bonus points if the movie matches your outfit theme.
- Bake a favorite treat: bonus points if it matches your movie theme.
- Cook a fun dinner together
- Play a game: board game, virtual Jeopardy, digital game on the television, Bingo, etc. The sky is the limit here and is dependent on your kids’ ages and developmental levels. Also, this is very important and non-negotiable: please make sure to have some fun prizes!
- Create a vision board for the new year: What are some family goals? Places you’d love to travel to? What were some favorite things from the current year you want to carry over?
- Have a dance party
- Make a craft or open up a new coloring book
- Make a fun mocktail, hot cocoa bar, or snack station
5. Make It Pretty
Set the festive vibes with some balloons, streamers, noise makers for when that ball drops, confetti, etc. Think about what your kiddos love. We’ve done confetti, balloons all over the floor, a confetti drop from the ceiling, noise makers, banners, and hats with the new year on it and it really sets the tone for a party.
6. Invite Others
Friends, cousins, siblings, invite others to your at-home bash. After all, there’s strength in numbers! The other kiddos can entertain your own kiddos and you’ll have fellow adult company besides just your significant other! Some of my kids’ best memories are spending New Year’s Eve with my siblings and their kids, and it just helps those beautiful memories reach even further and touch more people.
I hope these tips help you have a super fun and festive New Year’s Eve Bash with your kiddos! Remember, just because we’re at home doesn’t mean we can’t have the best moments ever, because the memories you’re building now might just be the traditions your kiddos carry into their own home one day too.
