New Year’s Eve is tomorrow! While some parents get the kids a sitter and hit the town, many of us choose to stay home and celebrate the New Year with our children. It’s always fun to order pizza and watch a movie, but here are some other ideas to make your family-friendly New Year’s Eve more fun for your kids and you.
1. Kid and Parent Party
This year I’m joining a kid and parent New Year’s Eve party sleepover. Six kids, ten grownups, and a whole lot of fun. The kids will spend most of the evening playing in the basement, while the grownups will get much-needed adult time. At around 10pm we’ll put the kids to bed and the adults will ring in the New Year. In the morning we all get to wake up in the same house and cook breakfast together. Kids love it.
2. Family Goal Setting
It’s not quite a party, but it can bring your family together. Kids and parents brainstorm ideas for the upcoming year on how to bring the family closer together, family time ideas, and goals for the household. This might include what charities or nonprofit organizations to volunteer for or donate to, new chores the kids can take on as they get older, and family vacation ideas that everyone can help save for.
3. Make Your Own Game
Create your own kid-friendly Trivial Pursuit, based on your own family history and ancestors. Combine questions like what time of day was each child born to questions about your ancestors’ country of origin. This kind of game is super fun and your family learns a ton about each other. Encourage your kids to create their own questions too, about their friends, school, and whatever else is important in their lives.
4. Learn Something New
This might sound boring at first, but it can be really fun. Let each child choose something that he or she wants to know more about, and that they don’t teach much about in school. It could be something like traveling the world by train, foods of Mongolia, or the best roller coasters in America. Take an hour or so for each idea, and watch videos, read articles, and look at pictures that help you understand each topic better.
5. Family Mural
Most U-haul and packing stores sell long rolls of paper that you use for packing fragile items. These rolls also make great paper for murals. Unroll the paper across your kitchen floor or tape to the wall, grab all your markers, crayons and paints, and create a family mural. You can either plan out how each family member will contribute to the mural, or you can just let each person go crazy and draw whatever they want. No matter how you do it, you’ll end up with a fun and creative collaborative art piece that you can unroll next year and see what you did.
What does your family do for New Year’s Eve? Share with us on Facebook!