Believe it or not, you CAN enjoy a New Year's Eve bash with kids - even
if you CAN'T get a sitter!
Infants and toddlers make it simple. Tuck them in, turn on the baby
monitor, and you're free to party - as long as you limit alcohol
consumption and keep the noise down.
Preschoolers and kids in the early elementary grades love getting into
the New Year's spirit.
To build excitement, announce a day or two ahead of time that you're
going to have a night-time New Year's party with pajamas on.
Then, when you go grocery shopping, you can let your child pick out a
party snack. A trip to a party store for some inexpensive noisemakers
will add to the excitement.
Or, create home-made noisemakers and decorations together. Visit
www.familycrafts.about.com/od/newyears or www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/newyear/ for ideas.
On the afternoon or early evening of December 31, sit down together
with some oversized construction paper, glue sticks, markers, crayons
and scissors and make party hats.
Now, here's the sweet part: Young children don't seem to mind at all if
midnight comes at 9 PM - or even earlier!
All you need to do is put on your party hats, pick your time, count down
from 10 and yell Happy New Year! with lots of noise and hugs and
kisses. Then enjoy your party snack.
Have older kids in the house?
You have even more fun choices as kids mature. You can:
- Print out the words to Auld Lang Syne (times long past) from the
Internet and learn to sing it as a family. You can get the words and hear
the tune at http://wilstar.com/xmas/auldlangsyne.htm - Put into a box all the ticket stubs, souvenirs and photos you've saved
from the year that's ending. Take turns pulling items out of the box and
sharing fond memories. - With adult supervision, let kids make home-made party snacks.
- Rent funny movies or old sitcoms to watch together. Maybe Abott
and Costello or The Honeymooners will tickle your family's funny
bone. - Invite everyone to write down on a strip of toilet tissue events from
the year that they want to put behind them. Then ceremoniously (or
unceremoniously!) flush away. - Play an old-fashioned game of charades. You might want to print
out the special charades sign language from www.answers.com/topic/charades-2 - Invite family members to write down hopes and intentions for the
coming year on slips of paper. Each person can seal their paper in an
envelope, to be opened the following New Year's Eve if desired.
After your celebration, consider saving your noisemakers and
decorations to use again. Kids enjoy rediscovering their old favorites
from year to year.
And maybe you'll rediscover the kid in you.
Happy New Year!
Norma Schmidt helps busy parents create peaceful, connected, spiritually well-fed families. To download Norma's FREE report, 55 Free and Low-Cost Ways to Have the Best Holiday Season Ever, click here.
