Ringing in the New Year— This is How We Do It

Ringing in the New Year is one of my yearly highlights.  Even before we had kids, my husband and I were not big on “going out” on New Year’s Eve.  I’m not a fan of being on the road after lots of people have been partying hard.  So we began hosting smallish gatherings in our home.  Over the years, kids have grown and needed to be “entertained,” more families have joined in our traditions, and it just gets better each year.

This year, we hosted a party for about 25 adults and about that many kids.  Some were friends who have been coming for years, and others were first timers at our party.  One of the things we do to keep the kids engaged and having fun throughout the night is hourly activity bags.  Thankfully, some of my friends help me come up with these activities because over the years, I start to run out of ideas!  Some of the activities do remain the same each year too since they’re big hits with everyone.

My personal favorite of these is the “Year in Review” skits.  This year, the boys and the girls split into two groups to perform for us.  The boys enjoyed reliving events with death and destruction as the centerpiece, though both groups threw in the Cardinals big World Series win.  The girls focused a bit more on things like the Royal wedding and the lack of progress in Congress!  We definitely have some actors among us!

Another mainstay bag includes all the things needed for the big countdown to midnight; holiday “crackers,” party hats, blowers and noisemakers (why I bought all those noisemakers is still a mystery to me)!  Once everyone had their party gear on, the kids received their sparkling cider, the adults their champagne, and everyone headed to the TV to watch the ball drop in Times Square.  Seems like everyone found their significant others to kiss, so we’re all going to stay together for another year.

We then headed outside at midnight to make some noise and watch the skies fill with color.  What a beautiful evening too!  We remember years where it was all we could do to run outside, yell “Happy New Year,” and run back in to warm up.  Not this year though.  We all lingered around a fire pit until the wee hours of the morning.

My favorite parts of the night were many.  Watching the older girls laugh themselves silly playing games.  Watching the boys, and some of the girls, run around outside making up new games and wearing themselves out!  Seeing the kids run in every direction to achieve different challenges placed before them in the 10:30 bag.  Seeing couples having some time to be all alone in a crowd. Capturing moments on film so we can relive this night again and again.  Trying pickled herring for good luck, a tradition shared by some new friends (actually not a favorite- I'll stick to black eyed peas), and sharing laughs, hugs, and special times together.  If this night is any indication, 2012 is going to be a good year!