New Year's Eve

This is a little late, but I wanted to share the fun we had on New Year's Eve. My kids love celebrating everything. For the last few years, they've been able to stay up until midnight to see the ball drop.


Our dining room table decorated with party hats, plates, napkins, and confetti.



Our activity bags/gifts ready to go. This idea was in Family Fun magazine and I've also seen it on the Five in a Row message boards. We've done it the last few years and the kids really like it. Most of the stuff is similar to what we did before, but they find it exciting to open stuff. Each one has a clock on it with the time to open it. They also have a little rhyme on each one so the kids can guess what's inside before opening.



Ready for the party

One of the bags had these 2012 glasses in it.

Decorating cookies

 Clock cookies

This puzzle ball was one of the gifts they got.

They also got Disney Headbandz. They have the regular one and really like it. They thought this one was really fun too.

Fun with sparklers

When midnight came, Molly decided she had to kiss Caleigh and chased her all around until they both ended up on the ground.

So Colin decided to do the same thing to Molly.

She didn't run from Daddy though.

The girls made Goodbye 2011 and Welcome 2012 signs.

Inside our bags:
1. Bubbles to keep the kids busy while waiting for pizza
2. 2012 glasses and party blowouts
3. Cookie decorating supplies
4. Globe puzzle
5. Disney Headbandz game
6. Zookeeper movie and popcorn
7. Sparklers and poppers
8. Wine glasses for a toast

Our New Year's Eve Celebration

I've had an idea for New Year's Eve in my planning stuff for at least a couple years, but never managed to find the time to do it. I think it was in Family Fun magazine and I've seen several people on the Five in a Row message boards do it. I didn't think I was going to get to it again this year because I still hadn't gotten the bags ready at 2:00, but I decided to just go ahead and quickly get them together. I had already gathered things for us to do and my hubby helped me come up with rhymes for them.

Here are the bags with clocks telling the kids what time to open each and a little rhyme about what is in the bag.  

Bag #1
Today is the last day of the year.
Get ready to have fun and cheer.
Let's make some friends to help celebrate the day;
Be careful though, sometimes these friends try to run away.

Inside the bag: candies, icing, and gingerbread people

Bag #2
Attention girls and boys,
Use things in this bag to make some noise.

Inside bag: paper plates, markers, beans

Since we had the markers out, we went ahead and decorated a Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011 sign

Bag #3
Now that you've had some food,
Use this stuff to get into the party mood.

Inside bag: necklaces and I gave them their party hats

You can see pictures of them below.


Bag #4
We've traded victories through the year,
Open this bag and the final champion will appear.

Inside bag: games

I was gone for a few minutes and came back to find them playing blackjack and betting beans.

Molly was the big winner

Then it was time for Uno, one of the kids' favorite games.

Molly was too worried about the cookies to play much.

Bag #5
It's dark now so there isn't any sun.
That's okay because we're just wearing these for fun.

Inside bag: 2011 glasses

Game playing continued with Hedbanz, a game Molly got for Christmas. They all really like it. You try to figure out what you are by asking everyone else questions.

Molly trying to cheat and see what her card is

Bag #6
With all this fun going on, the house is probably a wreck.
Let's not worry about that and sit down to watch Shrek.

Inside bag: Shrek movie and popcorn

Kids in our theater with popcorn and drinks ready for the movie

Bag #7
The end of the year has come at last,
Open this bag to have a blast.

Inside bag: sparklers, poppers

Colin's lego ball drop he made

Bag #8
Snuggle up with the ones you love most,
It's time for the New Year's toast.

Inside bag: plastic wine glasses

Happy New Year!

Even though we did pretty much the same things we always do on New Year's Eve, the kids really liked the bags and have already asked to do them again next year. I'm going to really try to get them done ahead of time next year.

Happy New Year

On New Year's Eve, we had pizza, fruit, punch, and cupcakes for dinner.

Everyone had party hats, necklaces,



and noise makers.







There was also dancing







and sparklers.



Colin made his own ball drop from Legos.



The kids were determined to stay up until midnight. At 11:00, it didn't seem like the girls would make it.





They did make it to midnight and got to see the ball drop. I should have a picture to put here, but I was tired and forgot to take one. Then we watched fireworks for a little while out our windows.