New Year's Eve with kids. How do YOU celebrate?

[Woodland_Mom]

I woke up this morning and realized that it's NEW YEARS EVE and I have made no plans or preparations to celebrate with my family!

 

I'm wondering if any of you have fun, unique ideas to ring in the New Year with your children. I'd love to read about any family traditions you may have.

 

New Year blessings to you!

[Deanna in TN]

We go to the grandparent's house and eat pizza, play games and shoot fireworks. My husband bought a Karaoke machine, so this could be part of the fun too. This could be fun with just your family or invite one other family to join in.

[sgilli3]

When back in Oz, we used to get together with our neighbours and a group of friends and have a themed party.

We put a gate between our 2 side fences.

The children were all left sleeping in my house( anywhere up to 25 of them,) and the party would happen next door.

At the start of the night, we drew out of a hat, the shift we would have to sit in the house with the sleeping children ( 40 min slots).

At 5 to 12pm, the person left with the children would run across for the countdown.

 

It worked soooo well for us all.

 

Here for us tonight- all celebrations have been cancelled ( along with celebrations in many Gulf countries) as a mark of respect for the Palestinians.

 

We had no plans anyway, and we will be here watching Indiana Jones set with kids...eating copious amounts of junk food, and just relaxing.

Edited December 31, 2008 by sgilli3

[klmama]

No traditions, but there are several places locally that have special events earlier in the evening for families with children. You might check your local event listings to see what's available.

[KJB]

together (?? don't ask, I don't understand it either) and whoop and holler. If there are local fireworks to be seen, we go outside and enjoy.

 

We make fondue for dinner. We talk about what we're going to try to improve in our lives in the coming year. We enjoy each other and especially our children since time with our kids is fleeting and the new year always reminds us of that....

[Woodland_Mom]

Several good ideas already! Thanks for sharing! I love the fondue idea and fireworks. We have a ton of sparklers left over from July 4th. It would be great fun to pull those out. Board games are always a hit in our house, too.

 

I'll check back a little later this morning!

[dirty ethel rackham]

We had hoped to get together with another family and have a homemade dinner, play board games, etc. But, with our illnesses, they made other plans:(. Seriously, we are okay with that. We will play some board games, pop pocorn and watch a movie.

[WTMindy]

We get together with two other couples that have kids our kids ages. We'll eat good food and play some games together. Some games will be for the whole family and some games will be for just the adults and the kids will play on their own.

[Alice]

We're making pizza and having chocolate fondue for dessert. We'll play board games and let the kids stay up a little later than usual.

[Jen in PA]

We're making pizza and eating lots of goodies, and that's about it. If the weather had cooperated, we would be doing First Night, but it's just too cold to be out that late with little ones. I think we will make some paper chains today to decorate -- we did that last year using white paper and aluminum foil, and the chains looked sort of wintry and stayed up until it started to get warm outside. Tomorrow we will have a special holiday meal and probably watch some movies we received as holiday gifts.

[Mommy22alyns]

We have sausage, cheese, crackers, and spreads with sparkling grape juice and watch a movie.

[laughing lioness]

My dh will be sharing sparkling cider with us at 10 and going to be (he's been sick and is NOT a night owl!). The older 3 and I are going to stay up, have a glass of wine and watch a flick. The littles will be "sleeping" under the tree and I think I'll add a homemade pizza to the mix :)

 

Any good movie recomendations??

[swellmomma]

We are having a family "party". It is basically a blizzard out right now so most of my plans have been scrapped, but we are going to play our new board games, eat popcorn, make the gingerbread house we haven't had time to get to etc. I also bought a New year's eve "party" kit from the $ store, that has party hats and blowers, so we will do our count down at around 9 so they can blow them etc before bed.

[Heather in Neverland]

We are getting together with a few other families for food, worship and fun!

[BMW]

During the day the children and I will either list or write out our favorite memories and I might get them to write someone a letter, either expressing thanks for the memory or event... I've got mine written. My new tradition is to make a page with some photos and written favorite memories of events shared with dh. This was our first year together and I hope I will continue and add the pages to our wedding album each year.

 

For tonight we will have dinner and play games around the table... sometimes we are a pan banging group, sometimes just a watching fireworks outside group... sometimes just go to sleep...

[ereks mom]

We (dh & all his siblings & their children & anyone else we've invited) gather that afternoon at MIL & FIL's house. We watch football, eat, talk, and/or play games, and the kids run around outside. Sometime after supper, we all assemble in the living room and exchange gifts. (It's a big family, so this takes awhile. MIL & FIL buy 3 or 4 presents for each person, and everyone gives them gifts too. In years past, the rest of us exchanged names, but this year, each family --dh & his siblings' families-- will give a small gift to each other family.) After the gifts, we turn on the television to watch the ball drop, and we toast the New Year with Sparkling Cider or Sparkling Grape Juice.

 

The ones who live nearby head home around 12:30 or 1:00 PM, and those of us who came in from out of town either stay with MIL & FIL or at the home of one of those who live nearby. The next day, New Year's Day, we gather again to celebrate the New Year, eating black-eyed peas and collard greens, and watching football.

Edited December 31, 2008 by ereks mom

[Rich with Kids]

Obscene amounts of fireworks, fizzy drinks in champagne glasses for the kids, Times Square on the TV, lots of noshing. We're having meatballs, cheese/crackers, veggies and dips and a lemon cake. :party:

[OnTheBrink]

Our church has a potluck and talent-optional show tonight, which is always a TON of fun. My dd is singing in the show.

[HappyGrace]

Then we have shrimp cocktail, bread dip, and a movie, then Times Square and sparkling cider at midnight! Then teatime! ;)

 

I suppose we'll have to change things up a bit when kids get bigger-then it'll probably be snax, a family movie, and some games like Pictionary or Charades. Some year when they're older, if we get a warm night, I'd like to do First Night.

[LaMere Academy]

my dh has to work and usually does each NYE so it's me and the kids most years.

We just eat good food (tonight I'm making several appetizers for our dinner) watch movies and play games. Usually as soon as that ball drops I'm exhausted and we go to bed. One year I bought the silly hats and noisemakers but not this year. Daddy will be home right before midnight and he's going to bring home the sparkling grape juice as I couldn't find the right kind the kids like yesterday at the grocery store. That's about it!

[3lilreds in NC]

We celebrate by going to bed. :lol:

 

I don't know if we will do anything else. Making pizza sounds like fun; I will ask dh if he would let us get pizza tonight, maybe, instead of Friday like we usually do.

 

Last year we did have friends over and we tried very hard to stay up until midnight, but we were all snoozing in our chairs by the end.

[Colleen]

Most of our friends tend to be occupied with extended family on New Year's Eve, so it's just us. That was the case for me growing up and since we never really did anything to make it special, I was always let down. I do want it to feel like something fun and special for my boys, not just same ol', same ol'. We always go to the museum in the afternoon and listen to a couple of free concerts from wonderful local bands. The marimba music in particular is like one big celebration.

 

Then we go next door to the nifty little indepedent movie store and choose a few movies to watch throughout the evening and following day. Since we normally don't rent movies, this is a treat for my guys. We buy the fixings for our special raclette dinner that we eat only on New Year's Eve, along with other once-a-year goodies.

 

At home, we enjoy a nice meal, talk about our highlights from the past year and hopes for the year ahead, play games, watch movies, and ring in the New Year by jumping around on the front porch banging pots and pans and so on. We've done a variety of different things over the years on January 1. This year I'll probably be doing a resolution run followed by a polar bear swim; we'll see which, if any, of the boys is willing to join me.:)

[fshinkevich]

We made a ton of snacks yesterday and will make a couple more today. I bought a face painting kit and some noise makers. We are just going to stay home stuff ourselves, play outside, watch movies, play video games etc.

[mom2abcd]

We usually celebrate at Grandma's house, but she's not hosting this year.

 

We'll continue with our traditions...

 

Worship service at 7, then home for Little Pizzas, punch, veggie tray, and all the appetizer-type goodies and desserts we come up with.

 

Next on the agenda is games, games, games.

 

As it nears midnight we sometimes turn on the TV and catch they hype. Sometimes we just keep playing games:o)

 

At midnight we gather together and countdown, shout and hug and the husbands and wives all kiss. LOL

 

Then we usually keep on playing games. If kids are crabby, they have to go to bed at that point.

[stephanie]

We do chili, hot dogs, chips and dips and all kinds of junk food. We also have a contest every year with our neighbor as to who has the best firework display in our cul-de-sac. All the neighbors come out and watch the small show....until the police show up. This is the only time in our lives that we are law breakers! I know, bad example. We try to keep it as safe as possible though. It ends up being a great time with our family and neighbors! Then we try to stay up till midnight to watch the ball drop on tv....

[joannqn]

My son was born at 11:30pm on New Year's Eve. He's 7 today. Our new tradition, as of last year, is to stay the kids stay up to celebrate his birthday and then the New Year. We play unlimited video games to help the kids stay up.

 

This year, we invited some friends over to join the fun. They'll get here about 5pm and the kids will be spending the night. We're going to have pizza, cake and ice cream, and presents. Then the kids will play, play on the Wii, and stay up. They'll wake up to homemade cinnamon rolls in the morning.

 

ETA: If you feel so inclined, visit my blog to wish my son a happy birthday. Leave your city and state in your comment. He likes maps so we are tracking where everyone is from.

Edited December 31, 2008 by joannqn

[Only me]

We stay up late playing games. This year it looks like we're going to have an Uno tournament. We usually get my ds the newest version of Uno for Christmas.

 

We usually order a pizza and have appetizers. At midnight we "toast" in the new year with bubbly grape juice (non-alcoholic) and eat chips and dip.

 

Our sectional couch in the family room has a pull out bed. I sleep on the bed with one dd. DS sleeps on the chaise lounge part of the section and other dd sleeps on the other couch part of the sectional. Dh sleeps upstairs and gets the bed all to himself. When the kids were younger they wanted to sleep in sleeping bags by the Christmas tree one night before we took it down but now that they are older and none of us can sleep in the same room with the lights on it has turned into sleeping in the family room. This may be our last year of doing this though because the kids are getting too big to all fit.

[Wendi]

We'll probably rent a couple of movies to watch on our new HDTV. I'm going to make homemade pizza and popcorn shrimp. I bought a bottle of sparkling apple cider, too.

 

Wendi

[Kristiana]

We always have root beer floats (I have no idea why or how that got started) and just stay home watching movies and playing board games. This year though, our neighbor is having his wedding reception tonight from 9 p.m. until 2009! We'll probably drop in, but I'd like to watch the New York City ball drop (10 p.m. our time), say "Happy New Year" and put the kids to sleep at a semi-decent hour. So we'll see. They were also promised a sleepover in the living room by the Christmas tree with their new sleeping bags.

[Jenny in Florida]

It's an annual tradition, very informal. We've been going pretty much every year for the last eight or nine.

 

Those who show up bring food to share, instruments and

games to play, etc. My husband always brings (legal) fireworks to set off at midnight. This year, we're also bringing party hats and horns. Gwen is

bringing the karaoke machine she got for Christmas.

 

I'm spending the day cooking. So far, I've got channa masala going in the

slow cooker, and I'm planning to bring the rice cooker and a bag of basmati. Currently, there's a batch of pumpkin muffins in the oven, after which I'll do a batch of cookies. And I've got (store-bought) hummus with pita chips and crackers to go, too.

 

How we're going to fit all of this, plus sleeping bags and such, into my

teeny Mini Cooper Clubman is an open question . . .

[Stacey in MA]

Go to the town "Family First Night" from 4pm - 8pm (games, food, music). Then from 8pm -12am we have a board-game-marathon (to keep the kiddos awake if they want to be)!

 

Happy New Year!

- Stacey in MA

[FO4UR]

We will be staying home. We'll play games, eat cookies and popcorn, and watch the ball drop on TV (if the dc make it that long:tongue_smilie:).

 

I put up our new calendar today. Does that count as a celebration??:lol: The dc thought it was fun to watch me write in everyone's B-days for the new year.

[Bonnie in VA]

We have a "Stooge-fest" and watch lots of episodes of the Three Stooges while enjoying some good snacks. (A cable tv station used to do this; now we have our own dvds.) Also, we read through my notes on what happened during the year. (Background: each morning I write very brief notes about what happened the day before.) It's interesting to look back on the fun things we did, the animals that we spotted in the woods, field trips that we took, etc.

 

Happy New Year!

[Mabelen]

Our New Year's Eve traditions are a little unique to our family, but this is what we do:

 

At 6.00pm we celebrate Spain's midnight. We connect to live Spanish TV through the Internet and we partake in the tradition of eating 12 grapes to the chimes of midnight. We do this because I was born and raised in Spain and loved this silly tradition as a kid; now my kids love it too! I also love feeling connected to my friends and family overseas just by following the tradition.

 

Then at 7.00pm we celebrate the U.K.'s midnight with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne. This comes from the fact that we lived in the U.K. for a big chunk of my husband's and my adult lives and that our oldest was born there too.

 

Not sure how we will incorporate our European based traditions into our festivities when we move to sunny San Diego. Somehow doing this when it is only 3.00 and 4.00 in the afternoon, sunny and warm outside doesn't sound as fun or authentic. Here at least, it is already dark and cold just like it is in Spain and the U.K.!

 

Then, we have dinner, we play somes games and wait for our local midnight here.

[Tess in the Burbs]

we usually do nothing. maybe movie/popcorn night, but usually nothing. we are going to a friend's house tonight for games but not staying the entire time...just a few hours. then hoping to have some quiet time with dh after the kids crash ;-)

[orangearrow]

My parents are coming over. we'll probably play charades or some other game. We went to the grocery store and the kids each picked out one item - whatever they wanted (things I don't normally buy, lol). So, we wound up with mozzarella sticks, individual sized deep-pan pizzas, and pizza rolls. Plus some baklava and ice cream. lol

 

This is the first year we're home and letting the kids stay up til midnight. I doubt my parents will stay til midnight, so we'll probably wind up watching movies and eating popcorn past 10 pm. :D We'll toast with sparkling grape juice. :)

[Tree House Academy]

Well, usually at midnight, we snore in harmony together in our beds. LOL

[mom2mea]

I've enjoyed reading this thread! For the last few years, our tradition has been to have a pizza party, play games, and watch a movie. Tonight I was planning on making a pizza but feel rather lazy, lol. So we'll pop in two frozen pizzas in the oven!

 

Happy New Year everyone!!!

 

:party:

[newbie]

Someone mentioned ordering chinese take out. So that is what we are doing.

 

The kids are watching the Disney Channel marathon til 12:30 and I will doze off around 10.

 

Happy New Years everyone.

[Brindee]

We used to have a group of friends from church that would get together. One family had a big house kind of out of town, so we always went there. We'd play games, eat lots, laugh lots and watch the ball drop at midnight--and toast with sparkling apple cider. Well, those families have moved away now! :( So we had to start new traditions last year.

 

Last year we ordered pizza, watched a couple of movies, played some table games and watched the Seattle countdown at the Space Needle. The music didn't work (a computer glitch), but the fireworks were pretty cool!

 

This year maybe we'll do the same (no set plans), and we got dd's fave drink (the boys don't care): Martinelli's sparkling apple-cranberry juice. She just ate a Hershey's chocolate bar because it's New Year's Eve Day--great reason, right? Maybe that'll be her new tradition! :001_smile: We'll also have some good ol' :lurk5:!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!