One of the great pleasures of working on the internet is faking the holidays so I can post about them in time for the actual event. I have enough trouble planning real celebrations, so thankfully, my friends at Little Miss Party do all the work.
After all, planning fake celebrations is their full-time job!
Are you ready for New Year’s Eve???
Me neither. But there I was, counting down to 2016 with my kids and sweeping up confetti.
In all honesty, the kids had a blast at this “Project Playdate” and seem pretty familiar with our “holiday before the actual holiday” shtick at this point.
Here are some simple ideas for a New Year’s Eve themed play date, to use on the big day or leading up to it. We’ve incorporated a bunch of items from Little Miss Party’s New Year’s Eve in a Box, which I am giving away in the comments below.
THE DECOR:
1. New Year’s is most fun when you’re feeling festive. We laid out top hats and shutter shades on the table for the kids to get in the mood.
2. Create some 2016 signage.
3. We put a big balloon in the center with confetti inside for the kids to pop at the end.
4. Set the table with placemats for each child to craft on. This will make for easy clean up! We found gold letter stickers at the craft store and put each child’s name on their own place mat.
the Craft: DEcorate your blow horn
What you’ll need:
Gold Blow Horns
Dixie cups filled with rhinestones, jewels and sequins
Glitter!
Glue
1. Set each place mat with the items they need for crafting. This way each child has their own craft station and there is no fighting.
2. Let the kids have at it. They can decorate their blow horn, glitter their place mat, spruce up their New Year’s accessories.
Yes, it’s a mess BUT c’mon…it’s New Year’s!
The SNACK: Cupcakes and Hot Cocoa
Sure you can put out some healthy snacks like cheese and cucumber slices, but it’s not really a celebration unless there’s some sweets.
1. Give each kid a mini cupcake (pre-bought will do just fine!) and mini cups of M&Ms to decorate them with.
2. Give each child a festive 2016 cupcake topper to stick on the top for the finishing touch.
3. Set out mini marshmallows for each child to thread onto star swizzle sticks.
4. Set out cups of hot cocoa and let the kids stir and sip with their marshmallow sticks.
Don’t forget some champagne punch for the parents!
Happy Fake New Year’s Eve!
Giveaway: Little Miss New Year’s Eve in a Box
Today, I’m giving away a Little Miss New Year’s Eve Party in a Box ($69 + tax and ship) which is the perfect way to have your New Year’s Eve delivered straight to your door with no babysitter required.
You’ll get everything you need for a festive party for 12 (cups, balloons, napkins, party horns, cupcake toppers, etc.) with party blueprints to make sure you ring in the year in style.
To purchase a NYE in a box, click here.
To enter to win a box, you must be a Mommy Shorts subscriber. Then leave a comment below telling me about how you celebrate New Year’s Eve with your kids.
“Leave them at home” is a perfectly acceptable answer.
We hang up a string of balloons, representing each hour. Each hour, they get to pop the balloon and there are little prizes inside. They love it, although they’ve never made it all the way to midnight – they get sleepy!
We het in our jammies and make smored and watch the NYC celebration on TV
Yes, I think leaving the baby at home would be perfect ha! But we’ll probably celebrate at home by 7 p.m. (bedtime) then eat our dinner in peace.
A few years ago I spent NYE in labor, so New Year’s Day has a whole other meaning now! Since it seems mean to go out without her and she’s too young to appreciate a nice meal out, we usually prepare a dinner at home or get take out 🙂
We had an early (to keep bedtime) mini dance party with glow sticks last year, plus some sweet treats.
Chinese food and a dance party!
we all gather and stay at my in-laws so that the kids can be part of the party and celebrations, they love the fireworks at midnight!!
We usually have snacks and play games at home or at my parents with friends and family, while we watch the ball drop on TV. This year we’re thinking of going to the local “crab drop” celebration (you may have seen in on TV last year…)
Since our first is only three and our second is a week old, probably with them asleep in bed while we try to stay awake long enough for a kiss.
We were the first to have a baby out of all of our friends, and we couldnt find a sitter, so we started a new tradition where the party came to us. Our closets friends would come over and we’d celebrate together after the kids went to bed, that continued on until last year when my 2 kids were big enough to not want to miss the party and stay up . So this year we are mixing things up and having a more G rated party until fake new years and then a sleep over for any kids that are over, and the parents can stay on and party with us.
This is the first year my daughter now 2 will be staying awake until midnight to celebrate with us! We are very excited to start new traditions and fun ways to count down the new year.
New Year’s Eve is also my birthday and this year my husband will miss it again due to work travel. The girls and I will celebrate both events with cake, horns, tiaras and a dance party before we all crash from exhaustion!
We usually just stay home with the kids, but this year we are actually going out for a couple hours!
Even though we live in Texas we always watch the New York count down to New Years! That way we can all still go to bed at a decent hour! 😉
My family has been celebrating NYE with my best friend’s family for as long as I can remember. We’ve struggled to adjust the traditional plans as we’ve had our own children, but I think we’ve finally figured it out this year. We are having a slumber party at my parents’ house … all 18 of us. We’re going to order Chinese food, hang out in our jammies and just enjoy each other’s company. I cannot wait!
We have a big family get together and all the kids kind of have their own thing going on so the adults play games, drink champagne, and have real fun. lol
We are having a mid day play date with a group of friends who all have kids in the same age range. That way the adults can still get out of the house and visit with friends and the kids can all play together while still making their bedtime!
Last year we planned to toboggan on the driveway with the kids. I had visions of lighting the way down with homemade lanterns. My kids and I crafted up dozens of them – I was envisioning how amazing and magical it was going to be. NY eve came around, we put candles in them, took them out, set them up… and it was as blustery as it could possibly be. Could not keep one lit. Too windy to enjoy sledding, too.
This year? I think fancy dress up and a movie. Inside.
This will be our first New Years Eve as parents. We are planning on having some friends over and having fun in the living room while the baby snoozes (hopefully ????) in the bedroom!
We have a 2 year old (this Thursday!) and a 3 month old – we’ll be staying in and playing games with the family. I hope to make it to midnight… 🙂
We go out to dinner usually at a Japanese Steakhouse and then we all come back to our house to hang out, play card games and let the kids watch the ball drop on TV.
Now that we have kids, we congregate at someone’s house. Kids all go to sleep at normal bedtimes but all of us adults stay up until we can’t keep our eyes open anymore, whether that is from drink or lack of sleep.
We usually just watch the ball drop in NYC on TV and have non-alcoholic grape juice in wine glasses. My son usually never makes it so we wake him up with some kisses and he goes back to sleep.
Honestly, we haven’t celebrated New Years in, well, years. But now that the kids are getting bigger, I can see us doing a little mini celebration with them, balloons, streamers, confetti and sparkles, fun snacks.
This year we will actually be going out with adults only. My best friend’s husband turns 30 on NYE so we will be having a double celebration!
We get a babysitter for our kids and their friends for a few hours while the adults go out for dinner and drinks. We come home around 11 to celebrate and ring in the new year all together.
Our kids are too young to celebrate NYE so if my friends and I can all find sitters we want to get together and celebrate and maybe be home before midnight! We said whoever can’t find a sitter can host so this party in a box would make our night even more fun!!!!!
My parents used to send me to a local gymnastics studio for a sleepover with my friends every New Years Eve – genius! They would hit a few parties that night and just pick me up by 9am the next day. I’ve been looking for something similar in Fort Worth and just found out that the zoo offers a sleepover for kids age 6-11! Just a few more years and we can send Henry there for a great night with his friends! 😉 Until then, we’ll just have a small celebration at home and celebrate early with New York.
Our 15 month old will be in bed by 7:30. Our last three NYE’s were spent at home, along with this one. Two years ago I was prego, last year I had a barely 3 month old baby, this year my ego is prego again. We’ll try to stay up till midnight, but most nights I can barely make 9:30 pm, so it’s doubtful lol.
We usually hang out at home and do an early countdown with my 4 and 1 year old. It includes games, glow sticks, balloons and junk food. Then cocktails and midnight kisses after the little ones are asleep.
we are doing a family bbq cookoff this year so the kids can attend, small ones should be asleep but they probably won’t be
We put the kiddos to bed and record the ball drop. Then we watch it the next day with them and have a Happy NOON year celebration with friends or cousins.
Our local moms group does a noon years countdown party that is super cute. Since kids, we usually do a late dinner of appetizers and champagne ( by late I mean after the kids go to sleep) and go to be ourselves earlier than I’d care to admit. We’ve had a tradition of a few years now is to have a pajama day on 1/1 with a family of close friends. We switch off houses and have brunch and drinks. You’re only allowed to wear pajamas and we all sit around and watch the parades. It’s super special to know we have it to look forward to and it’s a great way to wind down the holiday season.
we normally end up snuggled in the bed watching the ball drop, with a glass of sparkling grape juice to make it even more special!
We have an annual Noon years eve party for my son’s friend with our own homemade balloon drop, lunch, and champagne for the moms. I love all these ideas!
I’m pretty sure we had a movie marathon last year to help us stay up. It didn’t work for my son. He passed out around 10. We’ve also celebrated next door with our neighbor, who also has kids.
Party all day like a toddler and go to bed at 8 lol n
Put them to bed at their normal 7:30 bedtime because the worse New Year’s celebration involves a cranky, belligerent 4 year old.
We have been celebrating at a friends’ house with the kids for the past 3 years. We have potluck dinner, bonfire with smores, and watch the ball drop on TV. Simple and fun!
This is our first year with 2 kids – a 3 year old and an almost 1 year old (her birthday is the first week of January) – so honestly I have no idea what we will be doing, which is why I read this post. Looking to involve my 3 year old in the festivities but still unsure if I will let her stay up to watch the ball drop. I highly doubt she will be able to make it anyway. Would love to have friends over to celebrate but considering everyone has little kids – I don’t think many would stay til midnight. So I am pretty undecided…. Happy new year all!
MY BOYS ARE 4 & 2.5. THIS WOULD BE OUR FIRST TIME DOING SOMETHING REALLY SPECIAL. WE HAVE BEEN GETTING REALLY CLOSE WITH A NUMBER OF NEIGHBORS AND THEIR KIDS AMD IT WOULD BE A LOT OF FUN TO HOST A LITTLE NYE PARTY FOR THEM ALL! THE PAST FEW YEARS WE’VE JUST SPENT THE EVENING TOGETHER WATCHING MOVIES. (sorry for the caps..accidentally type it in the website box. Doh!)
We go over our brother in laws house and we play with the baby until his bed time. Then he goes to bed and we have a feast at home. Sushi, and champagne…. Yum
We may end up babysitting haha
We usually watch football games and eat appetizers for dinner. When the games are over, we flip over to whoever is Rockin the New Year on the network channels and is least obnoxious (always a struggle 🙂 )… But this year, with a toddler, we may just have to do something exciting like count down to 8:30 and have a party!
We are lucky enough to have my mother in law watch our almost 3 year old so we can have a nice night out with friends. We are getting all fancied up and going to a masquerade party!
We typically let our boys stay up a little late and enjoy sparkling grape juice and confetti. Sometime we take the trip down town and watch the fireworks. This year we more then likely will celebrate with some friends since she is watching my boys that day as daycare is closed. A little party.
We go to grandma’s house for dinner, all the cousins and aunts and uncles wear silly party hats and last year we had cascarones – hollow eggs with confetti in them that we cracked over each other’s heads. We don’t usually last much after 8pm and then we drive home with the kids passed out in the back seat. Makes for a fun night for all!
Dance party, glitter, and cake!
We have four kids, 11 years and under, so we never go out at night! On New Years Eve we invite my nephew over who is one year older than my son (who is our oldest). We put our two youngest to bed, then watch a movie, eat popcorn and ice cream, and then wait to see who is still awake when the ball drops (hint, it’s not me!). Maybe this year we’ll get fancy and throw in some confetti and decorations 🙂
This party is adorable!! And could t be more perfect for the party we have planned this year. Our girls are 1 & 3 so this tear we are planning a little kids party. The ball (or balloons) will drop at 6pm! And I’m not gonna lie, I’m totally fine with being tucked into bed by 10pm these days! Thanks for the opportunity!
Cutest party ever!!! And those kids are too darn cute. Can I also get them shipped to me? It can’t be a party without Harlow’s moves.
Before kids, we’d always go to a club and dance the year away. He even formally asked me to be his girlfriend 12 midnight NY 1996. Now, we make a cheese & cracker spread from Trader Joes, open up a bottle of champagne for us and apple cider for the kids and watch Dick Clark’s Rockin Eve.
We will recreate early in the evening. The worst start to the new year is January first with cranky kids.
watching the ball drop on tv!
Get together with friends that have kids and let the kids entertain each other!
My husband (who is a stay-at-home dad) took our son to the Nature Center for a New Years party in the late morning. They celebrated it at noon because their mascot is an owl and noon is like midnight for owls – very cute! At night, we let our son stay up a little late, but put him to bed way before the ball dropped.
Sleep. Lots and lots of sleep. We have a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old. No partying for us.
Keeping her up as late as she can make it
We have a family game tournament and make fondue with dippers.
This is perfect for our kid friendly “block party”… So fun! We are in California and will ring in the new year east coast time so the kiddos can make it!… And the parents too! Ha!
Every year we try to do something different. This year we will be with our friends that have twins as well. So that is four, six year olds!! Your ideas are perfect! Much better than letting them have the run of the house. My girls want a “fancy party” and out friends boys want a “pj party” so we are thinking of a fancy pj party. Complete with tutus and tiaras…even for the adults!
We watch the Madagascar countdown (at around 8pm), have our “Shirley temples” and then bang pots and pans on the deck to celebrate “midnight”. Then I rush them to bed and start chugging my wine ????!
We celebrate when family comes to visit, playing games and snacking until midnight. Oh, and the root beer floats. There are always floats!
We watch the new year come in with our kids early by watching another country’s countdown online (like France). We always toast with sparkling grape juice. They go to bed and we stay up to celebrate.
Our local science museum does a balloon drop at midday for the kids. We might do that this year. Our kids are still too young to handle the late night countdown and we are total lame-o’s…Netflix and a bottle of wine sounds good to me! 🙂
Ohhh how I love you, I do wish we could leave our kid at home and celebrate New Years Eve! Maybe next year…we always have a fun dinner (pizza, wings, little snacks) and we wake our son up when the ball drops, which we normally regret when he’s still up at one thirty AM, but hey…it’s only once a year 🙂
The kids may or may not stay up, and we usually place card/board games till its time to count down the last seconds. Hubby & I have our New Years kiss.
My sister and I are both single moms, with three kids between us. We do something different every year, but no matter what, we are always together…we haven’t missed a year in nine years since the first child was born! Depending on the age of the kids at the time, we have gone to Family Fun nights, First Night events, had game night at home, watched the final round of Christmas movies…always with noisemakers and poppers of course!!
I have a just turned two year old and am pregnant with number two- I’m pretty sure New Years Eve will be exactly the same as any other night!
Last year my 4 year old convinced us to get dressed up “fancy” for dinner so maybe that will become an annual tradition. Then we do an early countdown with the kids and toast with fizzy grape juice before they go to bed. My husband and I rarely stay up until midnight.
Ha – fall asleep well before the new year rings?
we do noon year’s eve because the kiddo is in bed by 7 (heck, we’re lucky if we make it to midnight ourselves! ;))
Crossing my fingers that he’ll be asleep and we’ll be on the couch watching Ryan Seacrest in NY!
This is the first year my daughter I think will actually care about NYE. I definitely can’t stay up that late since her brother is always up at 5:30am on the dot, so a fake early countdown is a must this year. This box is perfect! I think confetti is going to be a must . . .and glitter . . . I don’t care how messy they are. NYE=sparkle!
We are all asleep by 10 usually but we try to do something fun like sparklers
We have a pajama party with other neigborhood families. We play, laugh, have a few cocktails and count down!
My daughter loves to dance so dance party is a must but we probably won’t make it past 9 so I’ll be celebrating East coast New Years on the West Coast.
We take the kids to the bowling alley for a couple of games! They have prizes, glow necklaces, hats, sound makers, and all the pizza they could ever eat. It’s a great way to keep them occupied and by the time we get home it’s a short wait to midnight!
Last year we did a balloon drop and had cookies and milk in “fancy glasses” at 10 pm.
Date night with the hubby in sweats with wine, take- out, and dessert once the kiddos r sleeping!
With a 4 y/o and 1 y/o we celebrate by putting them to bed and then stay up to watch the ball drop!
We have an early cookies and milk toast, and watch a little of the celebration on TV. Then everyone passes out before midnight
quarter cake! Wrapping a quarter in foil, baking it into a cake. Whoever gets the quarter has good luck for the upcoming year!
The last couple of years we have gone with our boys to our friend’s house (they have girls) and done an overnight. The kids watch movies and stay up as late as they can and then the adults attempt to stay awake for the ball drop and drink champagne. This party box would really kick it up!
let the kids stay up until the ball drops! And by this, I mean, we played the “on demand” version of the previous year’s ball drop at about 9:30. As far as my little ones knew (ages 4 and 6 so they can’t tell time), it was the new year. Then we enjoyed champagne and a grown up movie until the real new year.
NYE will be our 8th wedding anniversary. This year we will be celebrating with our three boys so this party in a box would be awesoooooome! Thank you for all the great ideas..xoxo
We have a family friendly party with lots of friends – totally going to have a craft station this year!!
We take the kids to a local restaurant that hosts a kid only NYE party. The kids have dinner, dance, wear hats. The balloon drop and count down is early. It’s perfect. We are home and the kids are in bed by 10:00, and then my husband and I can enjoy an adult snack and ring in the new year with champagne!
I put my kids to bed as if it’s a normal night! Yeah I’m that mom
I’m so lucky to have a friend live so close who has two kids the same age as my own 4,2. We don’t let our kids stay up too late unless its a special occasion. New years eve as special as it is no way are we keeping them up till midnight on purpose lol. So last year was actually our first year to all celebrated together. Netflix had a cute countdown that we put for the kids and the pretended to countdown while it was only 8 oclock 🙂 They thought it was the greatest thing since they got to have noise makers. We probably let them countdown 4 or 5 times and then ended up with a dance party before bed time. This year we plan to do the same and try to invite more friends over with kids.
We need this NYE party in a box! we have 3 kids under 6 and the past 3 or 4 NYEs we’ve just watched some Times Square activities on TV and all fallen asleep before midnight – including my husband and I. Kinda sad! I feel like this party in a box would inspire/motivate/kick our butts into having a few couples over, putting the kiddos to bed early and having an in home shindig – in other words, something to stay up past 10pm for!
My little one is only 16 months and still goes to bed at 6 p.m., so none of us stay up until midnight. My husband and I plan to make a bunch of appetizers as though we were at a party, drink sparkling wine, and watch Transparent in our pajamas. It sounds divine.