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Advent and Christmas are over and the New Year’s fun is coming up! What’s a grandparent to do? If you’re like me, you may occasionally (or often) find yourself blessed with the happy laughter of little cherubs while mom and dad enjoy a special date night. I have as much fun on New Year’s Eve as my grandkids! Granted, that could partly be due to the fact that at least part of me is still a bit of a “kid at heart.” 🙂
Soooo, what do we have fun doing on New Year’s Eve? We’ve done everything from miniature golf to bowling, from crafts to movies, from sparkling apple cider and 7-up to playing brand new family games bought just for New Year’s Eve. Some things remain constants. I always try to get cute party hats, party balloons, party blowers, and party poppers. Sometimes I’ve even thrown in some streamers or Silly String. (That I do NOT highly recommend! Very messy!) When I am blessed to have the grandkiddies, we have a fun and noisy celebration around 7 pm! Then they head for bed and I enjoy a peaceful, quiet rest of the evening til bedtime. Sometimes I’m awake at midnight, many times I’m not. But that’s OK because our real celebration was earlier.
In case you are having your grandchildren over to celebrate, here are some fun crafts to help with your New Year’s Eve grandkid party:
- Since we’re all looking for ways to save money, how about helping them make their own party hats, and one for you as well?
- Here are directions for making fun party noisemakers.
- Amazing Moms has some really cute ideas including one suggestion to use party balloons to play “volleyball.” Then, when you are ready to ring the New Year in, whether at 7, at midnight, or whenever, have everyone sit on their own party balloons and try to pop them by bouncing on them.
- Once the loud noisemakers are done, and you’re looking for a good project to help them settle down before bedtime, it’s time to bring out the washable markers, crayons, and paper. Family Fun has several interesting ideas for holiday traditions. My favorite idea is to make a calendar to help usher in the new year. Many stores, including the Dollar store (one of my favorite ways to save money 🙂 ), have blank calendars, often with stickers, that your grandchildren can decorate. Alternatively, you can search the internet for and print out one of many cute craft calendar printables that are often available for free. Then turn your grandkids loose on them with fun markers and stickers and let them have fun decorating a calendar for the New Year. I think we may be giving that a try this year!
- If they’re spending the night, a bedtime story or two is a must at my house, including a Bible story. A good one for New Year’s Eve would be the creation Bible story for kids. If you don’t have that story handy, you can use these Bible coloring pages to print out and read to them. Then they can have fun coloring them as well, perhaps the next morning while watching a parade.
Have a delightful New Year’s Eve with your grandchildren. And to make sure you don’t miss any fun holiday ideas for Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents…
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Looking for fun plans for kids / grandkids for New Year's Eve? http://bit.ly/6wJ9bo
I used to spend every New Years Eve at my grandparent’s home while my parent’s went out to parties. My grandmother would make an oven pizza and we would eat the pizza and watch the NYC Ball drop. I remember my grandparents giving me pots and pans and big silver spoons, and at midnight after the ball dropped we would all go outside and hit the cookware as loudly as we could and yell and scream! Sometimes my mom would drop-off the party hats and noise makers as they came home from their parties, and my grandmother and I would celebrate until the early morning hours over pizza, juice and puzzles!
These were great memories. New Years Eve with my gram and pap–puts a big smile on my face and tears in my eyes as I yearn for the past.
How fun and sweet, all mixed together! 🙂 I don’t think I ever spent New Year’s Eve with my grandparents, but I remember we always went over on New Year’s Day for ham and sweet potatoes and the Rose Parade! I, too, miss them so much. Definitely delightful memories! 🙂 🙂 🙂