Celebrating New Year's Eve with kids is a scary proposition.
Who thought it would be a good idea to take tiny children barely coming down off a Christmas adrenaline bender, fill them full of party food, and let them stay up way past their bedtime? With noisemakers??? Not me, my friend. Not. Me.
In my house, when the kids go to bed at 8pm, they get up at 6am the next morning. When the kids go to bed at 1am... they get up at 6am the next morning. They have exactly one sleep setting. So we have to get a little creative for New Year's, because they can't stay up that late without coming completely unhinged. Also, neither can I.
So. Here's how to party (sort of) hard with your littles... and still be in your fuzzy jammies and in bed at a reasonable time.
🎉 Celebrate around town during the day
There are a few places around Denver where you can do fun activities during the day to celebrate, instead of staying up late.
The Denver Children's Museum is hosting a countdown and ball drop every hour from 10a-4p, along with bubble wrap fireworks, noisemaker crafts, and cool science experiments.
The Downtown Aquarium has family celebrations at 11a and 2p, where kids can take a photo with Sharkey the mascot, participate in a beach ball & balloon drop, toast with sparkling cider, and more.
Closer to home, the Columbine Library will be hosting a Noon Year's Eve party from 11:30a-1p with music, dancing, crafts, and a countdown to noon (just in time to be home for a nap!)
🎉 Celebrate at home with a craft
We always have fun making our own noisemakers! Ours are pretty basic, but lemme tell you a secret...kids don't care how simple they are as long as they make noise! Simply take a paper plate and let kids decorate one side with markers or crayons and stickers - whatever you have on-hand. Fold it in half. If you have extra Christmas ribbon, you can tape some along the edges so it hangs over the side of your plate. Fill the middle of the plate with dried beans and staple or tape the edges shut. That's it! Shake, shake, shake!!
🎉 Celebrate at home with special food
Our tradition is always New Year's Eve fondue, which explains why, when my kids were little, they were shirtless in every NYE picture. Don't even fight it. Strip them down, let them have a blast dipping marshmallows, fruit, or graham crackers in chocolate fondue, and make sure you have your camera handy. You don't really need a fondue set, either. You can melt your chocolate on the stove, let it cool a bit, then put it on the table where it should stay melted long enough for you to have your dipping party. This recipe from Chelsea's Messy Apron is super-simple... you can even do it in the microwave! And I know she advises against using chocolate chips, but I do that anyway and it works out fine.
🎉 For the love, do your countdown early
The key to a special New Year's Eve countdown when kids are little is to let them stay up just late enough for it to be exciting and fun... but not so late that everyone including you is losing their minds and crying on the floor. About an hour past normal bedtime works great for my younger kids, which means we have celebrated Nova Scotia New Year for a long time (9 pm, baby! I'm asleep by 10!) You can find countdowns around the world here. Netflix also has 14 different kids' countdowns available - you can start them a few minutes before whatever hour you choose to celebrate.
🎉 Spend a few minutes reflecting
We started this tradition a few years ago, and it's one of my favorites. While we're all cramming our faces with chocolate fondue, we talk about all the things we did over the past year. We list everyone's "firsts" - first time riding a bike, first lost tooth, first time running a 10k (seriously - don't forget the parents! You get a pat on the back, too). We also take turns sharing our favorite activity from the last year. It's funny, some of the things my kids have listed were things I thought were mundane when they could have picked much cooler stuff we had done. But those little things are what stayed with them, and it's a great exercise to see what your kids consider important. Finally, we talk about the things we want to do as a family in the coming year - everyone names at least one and we try our hardest to make it happen. It's a really good way to reflect on the year before and to make some goals as a family for the year ahead.
However you choose to celebrate the new year, I wish you and your family a wonderful one!
Peace But Not Quiet
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