Blog

Celebrating New Year’s eve with your kids can be a wonderful activity since it strengthens your bond and allows you to have some special family time after a long day at the office.

So many of us miss out on this very special day due to a variety of reasons, mostly due to work. In case you want to spend the last day of the year with your kids but don’t have any preparations, don’t worry.

There are lots of last-minute ideas that can be executed to make your kids squeal and laugh with joy. Read on to know some of the best last-minute party ideas for celebrating New Year’s eve.

1. Balloon pop

Buy a bunch of balloons from your nearest store (24 should be ideal) and hang them up all over your house, or in the living room. Number them from one to twenty-four and keep counting the hours until midnight, that is, the first of January.

When each hour is up, pop one of the balloons. Keep doing that until the clock strikes 12 am! You can even buy a big, sparkly balloon to pop on 1st January, or a pinata filled with candies and glitter.

If you want to make it even funnier, write down one fun activity on a piece of paper and stick it to every balloon. Some of the ideas can be “wear your t-shirt backward during this hour” or “speak only in gibberish”.

2. Organize a small entertainment show

This will work especially well if you have toddlers. You can contact and invite a last-minute magician or juggler to liven up your house on the 31st. In case you’re confused about where to look for professional entertainers, search no more! Yabadoo is an agency that allows you to hire magicians, Santa Claus, pirates, jugglers, and whatnot.

Every single entertainer is highly skilled and has graduated from the Yabadoo Children’s Entertainment Academy. In 2020, nearly 40% of the bookings made here were through word-of-mouth, so you can understand how popular yabadoo kids parties are.

3. Year wrapped

We all love Spotify wrapped, isn’t it? Then why not have something similar too? This activity will work best if you have a camera and projector at home, but your laptop will also do just fine.

Put together as many pictures from 2021 as possible, and make a slideshow out of them. Include pictures from trips that you all might have taken, or any special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. Wear matching PJs, cuddle up, and watch 2021 in flashbacks!

4. Cook something together

If your young ones are teenagers or love cooking, you can prepare a scrumptious meal right at home. Cooking together promotes healthy bonding and lets your children learn some basic skills too. Make a three or five-course meal and enjoy feeding it to each other! You can prepare almost any dish that you would like.

Fancy dishes like roasted duck or turkey are lovely options, but if your culinary skills are limited, you can bake a simple cake or make some cheese fondue with marshmallows. As long as you all enjoy doing this activity together, it doesn’t matter what’s brewing in the kitchen!

5. Glow-in-the-dark games

If there’s one thing children absolutely love, it’s glow-in-the-dark parties! There can be lots of ideas to play games in the dark, provided you maintain safety.

Ring toss is a fun game where you can place bottles taped with glow tape and throw glow-in-the-dark rings on them from afar. You can even buy some backlight pong balls and throw them into buckets wrapped with glow-in-the-dark vinyl.

6. Plan a picnic

It might be tough to get last-minute reservations in restaurants, but what are parks for? You can easily plan a picnic for your children on New Year’s eve. There are lots of parks to choose from, starting with the Royal Botanic Gardens to Alfred Park. Pack a basket and some games, and get going!

You can even include a bit of birdwatching or stargazing to really connect with nature. Teach your kids the names of the local flora and fauna to spark some interest in them.

Over to you…

These were some of the last-minute ideas you can execute if you want to light up New Year’s Eve this year. The most important thing is to connect with your children, have fun with them, and make sure you all step into the brand new year all healthy and happy!

Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels