Kids NYE Party

 A couple of years ago I was trying to figure out how to make New Years Eve a fun event for my kids. I knew they’d never make it to midnight though (nor did I want them to, no way I want to deal with the consequences of letting them stay up that late right now 😂), but I still wanted some way to make the night fun and exciting and have a “Happy New Year” moment with them. 

After brainstorming a while and searching Pinterest, I decided I wanted an hourly countdown. But it still left the problem of it being just too stinkin late for my kids…so I thought why not change the clocks? 😂 So for the past 2 years, sometime on NYE my husband and I go through and change all our clocks when the kids aren’t paying attention. It’s usually during nap time, while my daughter’s sleeping and my son is playing quietly. Then suddenly, midnight is really 9:00 and my son’s tired but not delirious. He thinks he’s doing something big, though! The last 2 years he’s laid on the couch and said “Oh, gosh, I’m just sooooo tired!” over and over. 😂

Once we change the clocks it’s time to start the party! I have balloons for each hour, and I put an activity on a piece of paper in each one before I blow them up. We pop one on the hour, and then do that activity! Right before our last balloon, I pull up the previous year’s ball drop on YouTube. 😉 We watch the countdown, then pop our midnight balloon! 

Some things we’ve had in our balloon pops:

Snacks and a movie (Happy New Year, Charlie Brown is a perfect one!)

Glow stick dance party

Board games (always a favorite!)

Dinner and desserts 

Fire pit/s’mores 

Fireworks

Flashlight hide-and-seek (last year’s favorite!)

Make bucket lists for the new year 

It’s such a fun night, gets us some good quality time together as a family, and still gets us to bed at a decent time. 😉 Feel free to steal ideas!