New Year’s Eve at Home with Kids? Lucky You! Really!

Everything is more fun with kids! I think so, at least! Having kids has helped me *create* the extra fun in life and I love it, too! So here are some ideas to make the day more fun! The family memories are worth it! You don't even have to spend any money if you don't want to!

Explain the Holiday to Your Kids

Explain it to them to the best of their understanding. I think explaining things to kids on their level is like an A+ parenting tip! It makes them feel important and worthy. They are!

My kids know months of the year song so I explained this year was 2023 so January Februrary March, etc alllll through December -  is all 2023… now it starts over like the song starts over and now it’s 2024!

Maybe even play that song a bit on NYE or New Year's Day! – It just feels relevant! :) Click here to hear the version we like!

"And we like to do a "countdown" all the way until the New Year starts! Like a rocket blast-off! We'll countdown the last few seconds of the year, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then we say, "happy new year!"

And we all say, 'yay! Or even blow horns and pop poppers to celebrate!"

You can also explain the word "eve," if you didn't get that point across during Christmas. "New Year’s Eve is kind of like Christmas eve, eve means the day before! New Year's Eve is the day before the New Year!"

Make Resolutions, Goals, Prayers, Bible Verses, and/or Bucket-Lists for the Year

Talk about how people like to have New Year’s resolutions. Explain that a resolution just means a new goal to set for a new year since it’s a fresh start! You can pick anything fun! Like, I want to move my body more in 2024 so I’ll either go on a walk or do jumping jacks every day! Or, I want to read more books in 2024, or one book per week or whatever is age appropriate. Or, I want to do one extra nice thing per month for a friend or neighbor in 2024.

Or you can pick a word of the year- kindness. Or determination. Or whatever.

But it’s fun for kids to hear YOU tell them about things, they may hear teachers or friends say "new year’s resolution" and instead of feeling like they don’t know what that means, they’ll know! And have already had that fun talk with you!

Another fun thing to do for a new year is make a bucket list- like make cookies for a neighbor, participate in a fun run or 5k, travel to a new city, learn how to prepare a new meal for the family, anything like that. You could pick 12 things like one per month loosely and let that be a fun thing to do as a family this year.

You can have a specific prayer for the year, or you can pick a verse of the year to memorize and pray and declare over your year. I save mine in the notes app on my phone and I love to look back. My notes are titled "Lundeen Prayers for 2022" or whatever the year is and my husband and I will pick a verse and write out a few intentional prayers. Now that my kids are getting older I will probably include them in this part too! 

Take a Trip Down Memory Lane 

You guys know I love Chatbooks! I print these $7 books off each month and we LOVE looking at them! (Click here and use code CourtneyLundeen-Y7WM for one month free and 1/2 off your second month!) You could take a few minutes on New Year's Day to look through all the Chatbooks from the year to refresh all the memories from that year and talk about your favorite things. Or if you don't do Chatbooks, just talk about all the things you did this year! And thank God for such an amazing year!

Celebrate!

Order a New Year's kit from Amazon. Or pick some up from Walmart or Target or Hobby Lobby or the Dollar Store. Kids think anything is fun! Poppers, horns, confetti! You can do this for just a couple of dollars! 

 $22 Balloons, Banner, Blow Horns, Glasses, Tiaras (a lot of this is reusable)

 $1.50 Blowers from Walmart

Decorate! 

Especially if you are having a party, you could get a sparkly backdrop for a photo opp, or a DIY balloon arch (investing in a balloon pump is so worth it if you are someone who likes to celebrate with balloons!)
 $6 Backdrop from Target

 $3 Balloons from Target

 $6 Reusable Banner from Amazon

 $10 Party Light from Amazon

  $15 Balloon Pump from Amazon

Set the Table

You can set the table with a sparkly table cloth, use fancy glasses/cups, use those little sparkly flags or pom poms in the food to make it more fun and sparkly.

 $4 Plastic Flutes from Target

 $5 Plastic Cups from Target

 $5 Firework Food Toppers from Amazon

Dress for the Occassion

Wear something special- sparkly clothes, or maybe dressy clothes and bow ties, or maybe everyone wears PJs! You can find some fun themed headbands, eyeglasses, etc. Some can be reusable year after year!

 $3 Headbands from Target

Create Your Own Tradition

You may have heard me say it before but my #1 tip on how to create a tradition for families is - 1. do the same thing a few times and, 2. give it a name! It's that easy!

So your tradition can be literally anything!

"On NYE we always eat breakfast for dinner and have chocolate chip pancakes!" Or "New Year’s Morning we make our own cinnamon rolls"! Or, "We eat black eye’d peas!" Or anything.

Your tradition could also be an activity, "On New Year's Day we always go see a movie as a family."

But do it, name it, celebrate it! Whatever it is! These are the memories your kids will have of their childhood. 

Set a Timer! 

If your kids are old enough, let them stay up until midnight! If they aren't, you can celebrate at any time, even letting them stay up a liiiittle bit late! YouTube has some kids countdowns that you can play at 7:30PM instead of midnight so the kids can celebrate the New Year. Either way, kids feel so special when they get to stay up late so make sure you mention it! "Wow, what a special day to stay up late! Look how dark it is outside!"

Remember, YOU are the fun for your kids!

Honestly, you could make the evening so special and spend $0! But putting your phone down, looking at your kids in the face, and doing a few extra things to make the day special for them is something they will remember! So, do it! 

Thanks for being here friends! Until next time, let's Elevate Motherhood!

-- Courtney