Celebrating the New Year with children 2024

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Celebrating the New Year with children 2024

Published: 29th December 2024

Celebrating the New Year at Home!

Ring out the old , bring in the new, a new years wish to share with you! We don't need a crowded ball room everything we need is here! (sorry I got a little carried away there!!)

Go out? Stay in? Go Out? Stay in? Shake it all about?

For the past few years the husband an I have celebrated NYE at home just the two of us anyway (no baby sitters on NYE it seems and the last attempt to take them to a friends house with us was pretty unruly), however for many of you perhaps you are not used to spending at home so we will have to be a bit more creative than usual to make New Years Eve and New Years Day feel different to every other day. The lovely part about staying at home and not being able to have guests is that there is absolutely no pressure to do anything at all. No one will know if you stay in your pyjamas or if you are all tucked up in bed before the clock strikes 12 - and that's OK!

Once again Jane (Mum's Guide to Romford) and I have got our heads together to brain storm some ideas.

So here are some of our ideas below.

Get dressed up! (If you want!)

All bets are off, if you want to get dressed up and see the New year in in style then do so. If you want to see it in in the matching Reindeer onesies you got for Xmas that thats also totally cool!

Plan a party!

My little ones love a party. We are planning a buffet style tea around 5pm with a few party games afterwards and a mini disco and then a faux countdown with some New years fireworks via youtube!
We will then be putting them to bed by 9 so that we can enjoy a takeaway and a bottle of fizz and binge on Netflix!

Selfie Station

Creating a selfie booth is really simple - all you need is a suitable background which could just be a white wall. Maybe the kids could create something out of old boxes? While you can buy props, you could also make some stick props. Raid the kids dressing up box for some ideas, add some hats, scarves, glasses or some superhero accessories. When we were children we loved dressing up in our mum and dads clothes! Don't forget to take a last family selfie of 2024 and first family selfie of 2025. Theres some links to free printables for a selfie station here.

New Years Eve Scavenger Hunt

For a kid friendly activity theres a free download here.

Treats

Last year we made up a treat basket of mostly things left from Christmas and enjoyed nibbling during the evening.

Let's not forget New Years Day - you could plan a special brunch or maybe you already have a tradition of having a Christmas dinner style lunch?

Activities

To make sure you can relax, its important to have lots of tasks to keep the kids busy. We have a few suggestions and ideas for the kids and the whole family.

Firstly our wonderful The Wonderden still have their craft packs FREE to Download. Why not set up an arts and crafts table?

A TEEPEE sleep over/ family lounge camp out. You could create something at home if your children have play tents, or just put blankets on the floor and all snuggle together to watch a movie.

2024 achievements - its easy to focus on the negative elements of this year but we have all achieved things. Have you mastered a new recipe, learned to ride a bike without stablisers, learned a new skill?

Things to do in 2025 - Make a huge wishlist of things you want to do in 2024, whether that be a big thing like going on holiday or a little trip to the seaside, or having a move night.

Time Capsule - In 20 years time what will we remember about 2024? Why not create a time capsule with memories, photos and momentoes of this unusual year. Ask everyone in the family to write a letter about their year. Hide it in the loft or under the bed and forget about it for a few years!

New Year traditions around the world - do some research and find out what happens around the world on NYE. Did you know that in Spain they eat 12 green grapes in the 12 seconds leading up to 12 o'clock and it will bring good fortune for each of the 12 months? You'll find this and other suggestions here.

Balloon Pop- I've seen this online a lot where by they are used as a countdown and on the hour every hour you pop a balloon (you could put confetti inside if you wanted too!)

Countdown bags - I've seen this idea on various websites and it would take some planning. The idea is that every hour during NYE evening, the kids get a bag that has a task or activity to do. It could be a puzzle, crafts, a game etc.

Sparklers - if you have some sparklers left over from Bonfire night you could all have some sparkly fun in the garden at midnight.

But of course if you'd rather just stick the TV on for NYE then heres some suggestions for whats on below:

New Years Day Ideas

We have always celebrated New Years day with a long family walk, usually at Panshanger. Although there are lots of other local walk suggestions here .

We usually follow this with a roast dinner though again you could get a takeaway?

Want the best of kids Tv on new years day? See below.