New Years Eve Balloon Countdown
I posted about our New Years Eve tradition on our instagram stories and got a bunch of requests to save it to a highlight. I thought a blog post might be even better!
First of all, I can't take credit for this idea! My sister first did it in 2015, and we've been doing together or separately every year since! It's a great way to pass the time until midnight if you have little kids. The adults come up with an activity for every hour (we start at 5:00pm, but you could do earlier or later), then put one activity in each balloon. You blow up the balloons, write the hour on it and then pop one each hour! We try to have enough balloons for each kid to pop at least one. Some years, we let the kids each pick a "walk-up song" that's played when it's their turn.
Tips for Activities
- It's ok to keep some simple. You don't want to put too much work on yourself!
- Have snack-related activities every couple hours
- Some activities may fill the whole hour, but some can be short so your kids have time to play!
- Mix in high energy activities and restful activities (like movie and popcorn)
Activities We've Done Over the Years
- Silly String War
- Play a Board Game
- Sparklers
- Glow Stick Dance Party
- Make Cookies (Bonus points if you have cut-outs with the year!)
- Trail Mix Bar
- Make Noise Makers
- Pizza Bar
- New Years Eve Pictionary or Jeopardy game
- Ice Cream Sundae Bar
- Snowflake Contest (hang them on the wall and use post it notes as votes)
- Scavenger Hunt
- S'mores Bar
- Minute to Win It Games
- Saran Wrap Ball
- Best YouTube Videos of the Year
- Limbo Competition
- Toast the New Year (for the kids, sparkling grape juice with gummy bears at the bottom of the glass!)
