16 Ways to Celebrate New Year’s Eve With Kids

Gone are the days of going out for New Year’s Eve or having a house party with a group of friends. Now, our New Year’s Eve festivities involve our kids and while it is a big change from the past, I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, celebrating New Year’s Eve with kids is the best way to bring in the New Year.

I love coming up with new ideas to make the night exciting, and it’s also fun to continue with old traditions. A mix of both together make for the perfect New Year’s Eve with kids.

How to Celebrate New Year’s Eve With Kids

1. Don’t overwhelm them early in the night.

If you throw every activity or event at them right in the beginning of your evening, they’ll quickly become burnt out. Instead, try to spread out all of the fun and introduce new activities one at a time as the night goes on.

2. If you want them to make it until midnight, plan a fun activity for each hour.

This goes along with not overwhelming them, and it gives them something to look forward to each hour. Simply decide what time you want the fun to start, and create an activity for each hour.

In the past, we have used bags and written a time on them (5:00, 6:00, …. midnight) and put an activity inside of each bag. If the activity wouldn’t fit in the bag, we would just write the activity on a slip of paper and put it inside of the bag.

Each hour, on the hour, the kids get to open one and we spend the next hour doing that activity. If it doesn’t last the full hour, we just find somethin else to do until it’s time to open the next bag.

3. Offer simple, child-friendly food, snacks and drinks.

While it is fine (and encouraged!) to have adult treats to indulge in, it is even more important to have child-friendly foods for New Year’s Eve. Pigs in a blanket, milkshakes, s’mores dippers, homemade pizza, punch or sparkling soda, and whatever other treats your kids will be excited for are all great ideas!

4. If you are having champagne or wine at midnight, offer sparkling soda or punch to kids.

The kids will want to celebrate, too! If they see you toasting the New Year’s with your husband or friends, they’ll want in on it. A few years ago my sister just put orange juice in a plastic champagne flute and the kids were so excited!

5. Do a countdown.

Even if you send your kids to bed early on New Year’s Eve, you can still have a countdown with them! There are YouTube videos that do an early countdown to “midnight” as well as a Netflix show that does it.

If you keep them up until the real event, turn on the Times Square countdown or another countdown that you can find, or just have your own countdown complete with shouting, screaming, and celebrating.

6. Watch fireworks.

If there isn’t a fireworks event that you can see from your home, you could always go to an event in your city that has them, or you could buy a few small fireworks to set off yourself. Sparklers are an easy firework option, too!

If none of those options will work for you, you can find a firework show on the internet that you can watch with them.

7. Have a photoshoot.

Use a tablecloth or some wrapping paper as a backdrop, add streamers and balloons, and a New Year’s banner. If you’re feeling extra celebratory, you can get photo props to go along with it.

8. Get dressed up.

Use this night as an opportunity to get our your fanciest clothes and dress up. Just think, it’s going to be the 20’s, after all, so make sure you look your best.

9. Have a dance party.

Create a playlist of your family’s favorite songs and have a dance party in your living room. You could even have a dance contest and give out prizes such as candy or party favors.

10. Set New Year’s resolutions.

Talk to your kids about setting goals and resolutions and what it means to do so. Then, have everyone in the family set one or two resolutions for themselves. Help them to make sure that the goals they are setting are realistic. You could even set a resolution for the entire family to accomplish together.

11. Build a fort.

Kids always love to build a fort, so why not make it part of your New Year’s Eve with kids celebration? You could eat snacks, watch movies, play games, or even watch the countdown inside of the fort.

12. Play board games.

Pull out a favorite board game or two, or grab one that they got for Christmas and haven’t gotten to play yet. Spend some time playing games, bonding, and laughing during your New Year’s Eve with kids celebration.

13. Do a New Year’s craft.

There are SO many options for this New Year’s activity! One of my favorites is New Year’s firework craft with card board tubes. Another idea is to have them put 4 handprints on a piece of paper (with paint), then when the handprints dry paint or write a 2 on one hand, a 0 on the next, a 2 on the third, and a 0 on the fourth hand.

14. Prepare in advance a ‘Year in Review’ photo slideshow to watch on NYE.

Spend some time in the days before New Year’s Eve going through photos from the past year. Choose your favorites and put them together in a slideshow to watch with your kids on New Year’s Eve.

15. Play dodgeball with marshmallows.

How often do you let your kids throw food in the house? Never? Me either. But, this is New Year’s Eve and we have to make it fun for them! You can make your own rules or use traditional dodge ball rules.

16. Choose a New Year’s printable to fill out.

A quick Pinterest search will bring up tons of New Year’s printables. There are some that review the year, allowing your kids to list out all of their favorites from the year past, and there are also printables that allow your kids to start looking ahead at the New Year and deciding what they want their 2020 to look like.

Final Thoughts on How to Celebrate New Year’s Eve With Kids

New Year’s Eve with kids can be just as fun (if not more fun) than the crazy New Year’s Eve of times past. With a simple mix of activities, crafts, and yummy treats, you’ll give your kids a New Year’s Eve they’ll always remember.

What are your New Year’s Eve plans? Tell me about them in the comments!