Spending New Year’s Eve with kids this year and looking for some festive and fun ideas? Here are five family-friendly ways you can ring in the New Year together, while staying cosied up at home!

1. Make everything together

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not exactly the crafty type, but most kids enjoy doing crafts, and you can make many of the things you need for a fun New Year’s Eve easily, even if you haven’t been blessed with the arts and crafts gene. For example, you can make a New Year’s Eve hat pretty easily by cutting cardboard into cone-shaped pieces, having everyone decorate it however they like, then stapling or glue-gunning it together and topping it with a cute pom-pom. 

And you can put that new robot vacuum you got for Christmas to good use by making your own confetti poppers to ring in the new year. You just need a few empty toilet paper tubes, balloons, some tape, and confetti (homemade is fine) to do this simple craft. 

2. Host a game marathon

If your little ones struggle to keep their eyes open past 9pm but are insisting on staying up until the clock strikes 12, set up a game marathon to keep everyone’s interest. Look for board games that take some time to finish, and then let the kids decide the order in which you’ll play them. If you’ve got some extra time (and that’s a big “if” at this time of year!), you could make your own themed games like NYE Bingo or Scattergories.

You could also play fun family games like Mario Party or even host a dance-a-thon with your favourite tunes to keep everyone moving. And if you’ll be bringing glow sticks into your festivities, you can play lots of fun games with the lights out as well.

3. Have a slumber party

Since everyone is probably staying up way past their bedtime anyway, why not make an overnight event out of it by throwing a family slumber party? I’m all in favour of having everyone wear pyjamas to complete the theme – no worries about staining cute dresses with all those fun party snacks! Get out a tent if you have one, or lay out some sleeping bags, blankets and pillows in your living room for a fun family slumber party. At least that way, you’ll all be together when the clock strikes 12, even if some of you happen to doze off earlier!

You can make your morning smoother by prepping a make-ahead breakfast in advance. You’ll be glad you have that overnight French toast casserole or overnight oats ready to go when the kids inevitably wake you up way too early the next morning!

4. Make it formal

I’m a big fan of the pyjama party idea, but if you were hoping for a classier affair, why not go all out and have a super elegant New Year’s Eve theme? Everyone can get dressed up in something fancy (whether it’s their own clothes or a costume). If you have a little girl, let her complete the look with some of your jewellery and even gloves. 

Serve fancy finger foods and fill some champagne flutes with sparkling cider, and use lots of shiny and glittery décor in metallic tones to up the elegance factor.

5. Reflect on the year together

The end of the year is a great time for reflection, so why not take an hour or two on New Year’s Eve to look back and think about what you want to remember? You might write down everyone’s highlights and proudest accomplishments from the year and make it into a scrapbook with photos later.

But there are other ways you can reflect, too. For example, you can write down some questions and put them in a bowl and have everyone draw a slip and take turns answering. There are some great family conversation starters for New Year’s Eve here. 

Whatever you decide to do, being intentional and planning some fun stuff will get the kids excited – and if the kids are happy, well, so are we!

I hope your New Year’s Eve is a huge success! 🥳

Love,

Nakita