New Year's Eve 2014

 Early New Year's Eve morning, I wrote different activities on little strips of paper, put one strip in each balloon, and after inflating them, I wrote a time for popping each balloon and starting the activity.  The first balloon had a 9:00 AM time.  That was much too early; we started to fizzle out around 3:00.  Next year, I will start after lunch at the earliest.

 Each child had their own balloon to pop at midnight.  I let them fill the balloons with confetti and draw on them.

Collin, Reagan, and Katelyn took turns popping the hourly balloons.  Kate was the balloon popping champion; she had no fear, just went right at it with a push pin!

The first activity was races.  We began with a race to put on the most clothing in ten minutes.  Collin won.

They also raced to blow marshmallows across paper.

The next activity was decorating.  Collin opted out.  I had taped Happy New Year onto three pieces of watercolor paper.  The girls made watercolor tape resist art.

I also cut out contact paper numbers that the girls covered in confetti.

Some of our other activities included going out for lunch, baking cookies, making popcorn, making pizza, making ice cream sundaes, and playing games.

 Above is our spoon and egg race.  Kate dropped her egg on the very first step.  Reagan won.

 I figured cookies with kisses were perfect for New Year's Eve!

 Reagan and Kate had a glow bath.

We followed that up with a glowing dance party.

Kate went to bed after the dance party.

We watched Ryan Seacrest and all of the televised craziness for a little while, and then Collin decided to go to sleep a little after 11:00.  Reagan was still going strong, but at 11:50 she couldn't keep her eyes open and decided to just go to bed.  She was SO close!  I went to bed with intentions of watching the ball drop, but I fell asleep too; it must have been only a minute or two before midnight since I had just tucked Reagan into bed!

It was a fun day, but I learned that next year I should start later, have fewer food activities, and maybe plan something active for the 11:00 hour so that we don't fall asleep!

New Year's Eve 2013!!!

We started our New Year's Eve party with a dinner, some fancy beverages, and brownies for dessert.

My kids don't really drink soda.  I don't buy it, and they rarely drink it out.  Reagan claims to like it, but really only sips a little.  Collin doesn't like carbonation, and Kate had never had it until tonight.  I thought this fancy sparkling all natural juice and soda would be a little easier on them, but Reagan ended up with a stomach ache.  It passed quickly though.  The other two didn't drink much.  The cherry vanilla soda with maraschino cherries looked pretty though and I made it with more cherry juice than soda!!!  Next year I will just make milk shakes!  Not sure what I was thinking.  Oh well, Tyler will happily drink the leftover soda!

We had a bit of a dance party for a while.  These fun, blinking 2014 glasses were a big hit.

Here is a short video:

Tom has a better video of everyone saying, "Happy New Year!"; I'll have to post that one tomorrow.

Reagan has a VERY loose tooth that was bothering her earlier.  It was kind of funny listening to her say, "It's coming.  It's coming.  It's coming out.".  She was actually hysterical for a bit.  An ice pack seemed to dull the pain, and the tooth is still in her mouth.  Maybe tomorrow.

Kate was in bed around 9:00.  Tom went to bed around 10:00.  Tyler is at a friend's house in the neighborhood.  The new year is less than an hour away, and I'm trying to stay awake with Collin and Reagan.  They are both on the couch trying to keep their eyes open, but I think we'll all make it.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

New Year Snack

This week we are reading The Night Before New Year's by Natasha Wing.  We are big fans of Natasha Wing's books.  In this one, the family is determined to stay awake on New Year's Eve to ring in the new year, but after fun and games and sweets, the little ones are sleepy.  


I remember the first year we let T stay up until midnight.  We had told him that the ball was going to drop in New York City and we were going to watch it drop.  It was almost midnight when T asked when we were leaving for NY!  Ha - we were just watching it on television!  Well, then we stayed up and watched the ball drop and wished each other "Happy New Year!".  After all was said and done, T said, "That's it?  Now what?".  That's it!  All of those years (not that many) of waiting to stay up and it really isn't all that exciting!


Anyway, it always takes a while to get used to the new year, so we are writing, saying, and even eating 2012!

I made this snack with vanilla yogurt, sprinkles, granola, kiwi, and bananas.  The fancy toothpicks for dipping the fruit made it extra special.

Another Noisemaker Craft for New Year's Eve

This noisemaker is so easy to make.  It only takes a few minutes.

First, I gave C and R clear plastic cups (we have quite the stash from hosting Christmas).

I told them to fill the cups a little more than halfway with bottle caps, buttons, and beads.  I wanted to add jingle bells too, but I have no idea where they are right now.

We decided the filler needed a little sparkle, or New Year's Eve bling, so we added sequins.

I hot glued plastic lids onto the top of the cups.  They are bigger than the cups; that is fine!

I knew we would forget which noisemaker belonged to which child (that would end up in an argument or two), so I pulled out the puffy paints and had them decorate the lids. 

I didn't have to tell them how to make noise though; they figured that part out on their own!

Happy New Year!

Easy New Year Art

C and R were itching for an activity, and I was in full post Christmas clean up mode, so I set them up with something they could do (mostly) on their own.  This was more than just a fun activity though; it taught them how to write the new year correctly and included some fine motor skills work too. 

I gave them each a piece of dark blue card stock, silver and gold tissue paper, white glue, and silver and gold glitter glue. 

First, they had to tear the silver and gold tissue paper into tiny pieces.  R is not fond of this task.  She always complains when this is part of an art project.  She did it though.

Next, I asked them what year it is now and what year it will be in a few days.  They both knew it was going to be 2011, so I asked them how to write the number.  Once we all knew how to write 2011, I had them use the white glue to write the number on the card stock.  I had to help R (age 4) with this, but C (age 6) was able to do it on his own. 

Then they covered the glue with the tiny pieces of tissue paper and added glitter glue all over the paper.  This is when I was able to get back to my cleaning and leave them happily creating their art. 

This week we are reading The Night Before New Year's by Natasha Wing.  C and R are big fans of Natasha Wing's books.  In this one, the family is determined to stay awake on New Year's Eve to ring in the new year, but after fun and games and sweets, the little ones are sleepy.