New Year's Eve: A Family Event

New Year's Eve is an exciting time for everyone to celebrate the year past and welcome the new year ahead. When I was a child New Year's Eve was always spent with my family. My mom would fix a fabulous "fancy" dinner for all of us to enjoy together and my brother and I would sip our sparkling cider while mom and dad enjoyed the bubbly stuff. We would spend the night together and most of us would make it to see the ball drop at midnight. Looking back, I am so appreciative that my parents included us in their plans on New Year's Eve. It left me with wonderful memories! Since my husband and I had our first child 7 years ago, our New Year's Eve celebrations have always included our children as well. This year we will be celebrating with some wonderful friends and neighbors AND all of the children. I can't wait and neither can the kids! Here are some ideas to help make your New Year's celebration as kid-friendly (and FUN) as possible!

What better way to get the party started than with a great Party Hat! Provide the kids with craft paper, sequence, stickers, markers, string, and any other fun supplies that could be used to create their own hat for the party. For directions on how to make this party hat and others, click here.

photo from Martha Stewart

Provide party guests with confetti and noisemakers to help celebrate when midnight arrives. Fill small glassine bags with confetti and use double-sided tape to attach a noisemaker to each bag and seal shut.

photo from Martha Stewart

While you're toasting the New Year with champagne, let kids celebrate with a Spanish custom: eating 12 grapes at midnight for good luck all year long. Fill a champagne flute for every child older than 3 with a dozen grapes; they can eat one for every chime as the clock strikes midnight.

photo from Martha Stewart

Keep the memories alive from your New Year's celebration by creating a photo booth for your guests. By hanging a festive backdrop and purchasing wooden numbers from the craft store (or even cut some out of card stock) to use as a prop, you can create a fun and simple way for your guests to look back and remember what a good time they had celebrating the New Year with their friends and family for years to come.

photo from Family Fun

Happy Celebrating!