25+ Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Ideas to Do at Home

Are you planning to spend New Year’s Eve at home with your kids? We’ve rounded up the Ultimate Ideas to Spend New Year’s Eve 2022 with your family. Read this post for the best Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Party Ideas. We are sharing some easy family friendly New Year’s Eve ideas that will help to create a memorable celebration!

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>> If you are looking for New Year’s Eve Printables for your family, head to The Shop to get your New Year’s Eve Family Printables Bundle. <<

 

What can I do with my kids on New Years Eve? 

Are you ready to ring in 2023? The New Year is just around the corner! Ever since having kids, our New Year’s Eves have been spent at home. Many parents are in the same boat on New Year’s Eve. It is a lot easier and safer to stay home with your family then to head out on the town.

We take turns hosting the kid friendly celebration with our friends.  It’s a win win as the kids have friends to play with and the adults get to socialize too! Over the years, we’ve gotten more and more festive as the kids have grown and want a fun celebration. So, today I’m sharing ideas to plan a family friendly New Year’s Eve party!

How can I make New Year’s Eve fun at home?

There are so many fun ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve at home with your family! I am sharing some of the best ways to make New Year’s Eve special for your kids!

1. Make a Festive Meal and Fun Drinks

One of the first elements to a family friendly New Year’s eve party is good food! In years past, we have always fed the kids an earlier, separate meal from the adults. Then when we put them to bed, we made a more grown up, fancier meal.

Kids love finger foods and lot of snacks! We opt for simple, kid friendly bites that are just ‘dressed up’.

Kid Friendly New Year’s Eve Food Ideas include:

• Mini Pizzas
• Fruit kabobs
• Pigs in a blanket
• Quesadillas cut in triangles
• Cheese and crackers
• Little sandwiches: PB & J, ham and cheese, cream cheese and jelly
• Cheese fondue and veggies
• Mini quiches
• Mini waffles and chicken nuggets

Bite size foods of anything can look fancy!

Similar appetizer toothpicks here and here

If I’m being honest, the kids’ favorite part of the meal is the dessert!

Some New Year’s Eve dessert ideas include:

• Sundaes in fancy glasses (with festive toppers)
• Chocolate fondue and fruit
• Mini cupcakes
• Chocolate covered strawberries
• Mini ice cream cookie sandwiches

Plastic champagne glasses 

2. Have an Early New Year’s Eve Countdown 

It is tough for little ones to stay awake until Midnight (let alone some adults)! So you can celebrate the NYE countdown early with some special activities! Even if you are kids are old enough to stay awake for the ball to drop, they will still appreciate these countdown ideas!

How to celebrate the New Year’s Eve countdown:

Have an activity for every hour leading up until midnight. These NYE countdown bags from Keri Lynn Synder are so fun!

New Year’s Eve Countdown Basket for Kids

Another idea for the New Year’s Eve countdown is to make individual treat baskets! These New Year’s Eve Countdown Baskets are a HUGE HIT! Kids love to get their own container of snacks that they can choose to eat when they want.

Start by getting some of these colorful handled bins. Then, fill up the bins with snacks and treats for the kids to enjoy while they want for the ball to drop.

Use the snack printable Snack Bin Labels (available in the Family New Year’s Eve Fun Bundle)

We call it the New Year’s Eve Survival Kit because they need a lot of snacks to last all night long:) Fill the basket with some water, glowsticks and a fun straw!

3. Make Kid Friendly New Year’s Eve Drinks

A kid friendly New Year’s Eve toast is a must! For a festive idea, put a little bit of cotton candy in a cup and pour sparkling juice or sparking water on top! Be sure the kids are around to watch the colorful fizz action! You can find cotton candy in the candy section of Target  or Dollar Store.

Last year we used these LED Champagne Glasses–SO FUN!

4. Set up a Balloon Drop

Once the kids have had their dinner, it’s time to PARTY! We set up a balloon drop ahead of time and when dinner is over we have our own (early) countdown.

Balloon Drop Supplies

• Masking tape or painters tape
• Disposable tablecloth (This is really key…sheets can often be too heavy to stay held up by tape!)
• LOTS of balloons. This Balloon Pump is a MUST!

 

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Tape the tablecloth to the ceiling and fill with ALL the balloons. Begin the countdown and release! The kids go WILD!

5. Have a Family Dance Party

When in doubt, dance it out!  When you are short on an activity, you can always turn on some music and just dance!

It’s a great way to work off all the sugar they just consumed!  This fun disco ball makes you feel like you are at a wild party!

TIP: Don’t wait until the last minute to look for noise makers, balloons and New Year’s Eve decor as places like the Dollar Spot and Dollar Store sell out early! I start looking for items during the month leading up to NYE.

New Year’s Eve Essentials

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6. Play Games with the Kids

Of course, all family friendly New Year’s Eve ideas must include fun games!  you need some fun games!

Once the kids have boogied for as long as they can, we play some family friendly games! Last year it was all about playing Speak Out.  This silly game requires you to wear a mouthpiece and “try” to have your team guess what you are saying. It is absolutely hilarious seeing the kids (and adults) attempt to speak while wearing this mouthpiece! Too much fun!

This post has a whole list of games to play on New Year’s Eve. There are games for kids and adults. 

We also love the game Not Parent Approved. It is a great game for kids ages 8 and up!

RELATED POST: FAMILY FRIENDLY NEW YEARS EVE BOARD GAMES

If you are looking for some friendly competition, consider a Mini Olympics!

Create challenges with things you already have on hand including:

Air Hockey

Ping Pong

Indoor Trike Race

Board Games

Red Solo Cups (Check out these 12 Solo Cup Games to Play)

New Year’s Eve Charades Printable

 

The key is to make the games easy and fun for everyone of all ages. As a bonus, you could award prizes or trophies. Each year, form the same teams and pass on the trophy to the winning team.

 

7. Create a Time Capsule

Spend some time as a family or with friends, creating a time capsule. You can include a newspaper from the year, trinkets and photos from the year’s vacations and notes from each of the kids. This is a great way to look back on your favorite memories of the year.

8. Fill out an End of Year Questionnaire 

Last but not least, you can really remember all the best things from the year with End of Year Questionnaires.

We like to fill these out at dinner. So you can keep the kids busy before the meal is ready and have them each fill out a Year End Questionnaire. You can download our Year End Questionnaire in the Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Bundle!

9. Set Family Goals for the New Year

New Year’s resolutions can be hard to stick to. But I have found that the New Year’s goals that we set as a family are the ones we work on the most. Here is a whole post on setting Family New Year’s Goals.

 

Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Ideas

Holidays are a special time to make memories as a family! So, make this New Year’s Eve really memorable at home with these fun activities.

There are so many ways to create a festive, yet easy celebration. Whether it is just a party with your own family or you celebrate with other family and friends, you can do a few things to add some pizzazz to your  own family friendly New Year’s Eve party celebration.

New Year’s Eve is a great way to celebrate the end of a year and welcome in a new one! It is so fun to include the kids in the New Year’s Eve celebration. I know it is a tradition that they will always remember.

Get your Family New Year’s Eve Printables Pack today!

 

Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Party Supplies

Here is everything you will need to have a New Year’s Eve Party at home with your family!

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Looking for more Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Ideas? Check out this New Year’s Eve Pinterest Board:

Looking for a free New Year’s Eve Printable? Download the New Year’s Eve Family Charade Game!

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