New Year’s Eve celebrations don’t have to include alcohol, loud music, revealing outfits and colorful language to be fun and exciting.
If you are a parent, tomorrow night’s festivities will likely be G-rated, especially if you are partying with a young crew. To ensure your last shindig of the year features good, clean fun, consider the following kid-friendly activities:
New Year’s Word Scramble: This game can be tailored for kids of varying ages. All you need to do is come up with a list of words associated with New Year’s. Possible choices include: December, January, resolution, fireworks, balloons, noisemakers, confetti. Scramble the letters of your chosen words and challenge your young guests to figure out the correct spelling. The first child to successfully unscramble the words is the winner.
Homemade Noisemakers: You don’t have to spend a ton of money purchasing holiday noisemakers. Instead, let your young guests design their own. One way is to recycle paper towel rolls. Have the kids decorate the outside with wrapping paper, paint, rubber stamps, markers or glitter. Then, poke a few holes in the roll, roughly an inch apart. Finally, use a piece of wax paper to cover one end of the roll and secure it with a rubber band. Kids can get the noisemaker to work by blowing through the uncovered end. Another option is to place dry beans on a paper plate. Next, place another plate on top of the beans and staple the two plates together. Kids can then decorate the plates in festive colors before taping a wooden chopstick to the noisemaker to create a handle.
Cupcakes and Confetti: Create a cupcake bar for kids to enjoy. Simply provide plain cupcakes and allow the kids to decorate them with various toppings, including frosting, sprinkles, crushed candy canes, cookie crumbs and pieces of fresh fruit. Then, have them make their own confetti by cutting up leftover Christmas wrapping paper and old ribbons.