Ringing in the New Year

WRITTEN BY FLORA MCCORMICK

Want to throw your own kid-friendly New Year’s Eve party? Here are some ideas for a family-friendly countdown to 8 p.m. that is fun for all who attend.

1. Make a photo booth with items from the dollar store.  I bought two large sheets of poster paper (two for $1.50), and some gold garland ($1 each). Last, I got some fun hats and glasses. I set half of the items in a basket next to the photo booth area. The other half I had at the front door, ready to give to partygoers as they arrived.  This helped everyone get in the party spirit.

2. Potluck for the Food: I am a fan of making a party easy to throw. So don’t overburden yourself by thinking you have to provide everything. Plus, it adds fun to the party to see what people bring. I missed getting a picture of our beautiful spread, so I took this photo after the fact. I promise there were tons of great goodies. I like to give guests a category of food to bring, so you don’t end up with five cheese/meat platters. I asked one friend to bring a fruit appetizer, another to bring a dessert item, etc.  Bonus tip: If you haven’t before, you should purchase some of this awesome chalkboard fabric at Michaels or Walmart. Lay it on your serving table and people can easily write a note to describe their dish. * There had been shrimp where the hat is in this picture.

3. Have a New Year’s Eve-themed drawing/coloring table for kids ages 4-12. Get some plain construction paper and set out crayons, chalk pens or chalk. Stencils are a great addition here too. It’s fun for the kids to color white/pastel on a black surface, and you don’t have to worry about your walls getting marked because all these items clean off walls easily.

4. Play “Pop the balloons!” This game is easy.  Blow up enough balloons for every partygoer and tie a foot-long string to it. Then ask each person to tie the opposite end of the string to their ankles. Everyone needs to have shoes off (or all with shoes on). Mixing does not work.

The object of the game is to pop everyone else’s balloon while not getting yours popped. Last person with a balloon wins. *Or in our case, we just called the last three with a balloon finalists.  All the finalists won a punch-balloon from Target.

5. Enjoy the fun of snow and the dark night: The kids will likely have a blast outside (or even in the garage) with sparklers and glow stick necklaces. If the weather is nice enough – perhaps try a “New Year’s snowman” contest.

6. Take a group picture at “midnight.” We held our party from 5-8 p.m. since most of the children were under 2 (and have bedtimes around 7 or 8 p.m.). We just decided that 7 p.m. would be the countdown to midnight. I gave everyone sparkly noisemakers ($1.50 for a 20-pack from the dollar store), and asked them to pose in front of the “photo booth.”

7. Clear the floor for a dance party! Kids of all ages (especially me) love to dance. So, pick some upbeat music that’s appropriate for kids (pop stations on Spotify work well), and get the room moving! We had a bit of a hard time getting some of the guys involved, but that’s where the fun glasses came in handy. One of my guests was being shy, so I brought over a pair of the glasses and once she had them on, she said out loud, “Somehow these help me not be as nervous to dance.” Yes! Mission accomplished.

Can’t wait to hear how your party goes!

Flora has been poaching Bozeman for 13 years and a mom for 11 years. She’s a big fan of making parenting and all things parenthood more sustainable. Check her out at www.SustainableParenting.com.