12 Easy New Year’s Eve Activities to do with Kids

Looking for some fun and easy New Year’s Eve activities to do with kids? Here are twelve ideas you’ll all get excited about!

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Once upon a time, New Year’s Eve meant staying up until midnight, celebrating with a big party, and kissing someone you love as the clock struck twelve.

Now, New Year’s Even means convincing your kids that 8 o’clock is actually midnight, celebrating the New Year with some yelling and cheering, putting them to bed, and then falling asleep on the sofa at 10:30pm watching Netflix while trying to make it to midnight.

Parenting changes things.

And yes, it’s true that New Year’s Eve with kids is different, but that certainly doesn’t mean New Year’s Eve can’t still be special and exciting!

No matter how little your kids are, there are fun things you can do to make New Year’s Eve a night to remember. I searched the internet for fun ideas, and narrowed it down to twelve easy New Year’s Eve activities to do with kids. I haven’t included any crafts or games or things that are too complicated for young kids, because there are other blog posts for that. This one is focused specifically on activities for younger kids!

All twelve of these ideas are ones I actually would like to do with my kids, and ones that I think they’d enjoy, so hopefully, you’ll want to do them, too!

12 New Year’s Eve Activities to do with Kids

1. Enjoy sparkling cider or another kind of sparkling juice.

My kids don’t ever get soda, so when they get something bubbly, they’re jazzed about it! If you trust your child to have an open cup, these plastic champagne flutes are a cute idea! Or you can just use a sippy cup!

2. Milk in a champagne glass with cookies.

How cute is this idea? If you don’t want your kids having a drink that might stain your carpet, serve milk and cookies in this fun way, instead! (source)

3. Watch a Netflix countdown.

One fun thing you can do with your kids is watch a New Year’s Eve countdown on Netflix! They create fun little countdown videos featuring characters from their favorite shows. Here’s the landing page for the 2019 videos (as of writing this, they aren’t up yet, but I’m sure they will be in the next few weeks). This is especially helpful if you’re trying to convince your kids that midnight is actually a few hours earlier.

4. Set up a balloon drop.

How fun would this be? I found this easy 5-step tutorial from Miss Mae’s Days that uses dollar store materials, so you’ll only spend a few bucks! My kids would LOVE to do this, and it could easily become a family tradition!

5. Watch a picture slideshow of your year.

What kid doesn’t like looking at pictures of themselves and people they know? I know there’s a slideshow feature on most phones that allows you to sit back and watch pictures saved to your phone. I’m sure there are also probably online resources that allow you to make slideshows, too. And bonus, you could even save the videos and have yearly videos to look back on in the future!

6. Set one goal or family resolution for the new year.

I know that babies or toddlers may not be super into this one, but as a family, it would be fun to come up with one goal or resolution that you want to do in the new year, even if it’s just take a trip or be kinder to one another.

7. Talk about your favorite memories from the year.

My kids love talking about things we’ve done together, so what better time to reminisce on the last year than on New Year’s Eve! It’s fun to look back and hear what everyone remembers!

8. Have a sleepover together.

My kids ask to have a sleepover with us every few weeks. Usually they involve lots of pillows and blankets and everyone falling asleep on the floor watching a movie. It’s not a big thing, but it’s fun because it’s different!

9. Set up a New Year’s Eve photobooth.

Get a tripod and your camera, or just use the self-timer feature on your phone, and gather around to take some fun pictures! These photobooth props from The Life of Jennifer Dawn are cute and would be easy to make!

10. Take down your Christmas ornaments and decorate a New Year’s Tree.

Use paper stars, balloons, ribbons, streamers, and any other fun party decorations you can round up. These 2020 swirls would be fun to add to the tree, as would this black, silver, and gold paper circle garland.

11. Pompom poppers.

I know fireworks would be doable in some places, but in most places, fireworks aren’t available (or doable) for New Year’s Eve. These kid-friendly pompom poppers from The Crafting Chicks are a fun alternative! And they’re a lot easier to clean up when you use pompoms rather than confetti like some poppers!

12. Draw pictures for a 2020 calendar.

I love doing personalized calendars, and what cuter way to get the kids involved than to have them draw the pictures for the calendar! You can have them draw whatever they’d like, or even have them draw according to the month. I’m planning on doing this and then scanning the pictures and making our calendar through a site like Minted (they have really nice, stylish calendars).

Celebrating the new year can still be a lot of fun when you have little kids! And while you may not make it all the way to midnight (#momlife), at least you can say you celebrated with your favorite people!