HAPPY NEW YEAR! Our ANNUAL New Year's Eve PARTY Countdown - Kid friendly activities! Balloon pop - painting, magic show, silly string fight

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


 Last year I started this BALLOON COUNTDOWN and it was a huge hit. 


The kids loved it so much so we are making it an annual tradition. We originally planned to let the boys invite some friends over for a New Year's Eve sleepover but we had a GINGERBREAD DECORATING PARTY right before Christmas. Maybe next year. So when I say NYE party, I mean just the four of us. 

The boys woke up to a giant collage of photos to look back on our awesome 2013. I can't do anything small {{cue husband shaking his head}} :) These numbers are huge!! I love how they turned out and would be so cute for a birthday or anniversary. 

The boys LOVED it!  220 photos of everything we did during 2013....everything! A few unfortunate things were included as well. (BOTH kids breaking teeth and emergency root canals. UGH!!!)


It made me realize that I take all the photos but sometimes forget to show them. They spent the entire day looking at this collage. 

Instead of using a sharpie on the balloons for the times, I printed tags this year. 
I'm getting FANCY!


 I rolled the paper strips of activities and put them in the balloon before blowing them up. 
Used double sided tape to add the times to the outside before hanging. 

It went from one end of the living room to the kitchen. So hard to get a full photo.


They were so ready and waiting under the first balloon. 

We didn't end up making cookies but dipped and decorated them. I wanted something easy and since we were just finishing dinner and this worked out perfect. 

We used edible HOLOGRAPHIC glitter. 

Ooooohhh AAhhhhh! These pictures don't even come close to showing how amazing the glitter looked. 

Time to make miniature masterpieces.


 I found cute mini canvases with little easels at Micheal's craft store. Awwwww! So cute! 
Then I turned to another isle and found even smaller tiny canvases. 

The boys decided to paint the mini canvases because of the easel. 

Had to put their mini masterpieces on display.

He couldn't even wait until I took the picture to start eating. He LOVES shrimp!

Pictures speak for themselves. They had so much fun and the silly string was glow-in-the-dark! 

 The boys received a huge magic kit for Christmas and learning all these cool trick. I thought it would be fun to have them put on a magic show for us. I told them a couple days in advance to practice three tricks for the show. 
It's 9:05 -TIME FOR A MAGIC SHOW! I ended up videoing the entire thing so no pics.
It was really cute.

After the magic show we had fun with our DIY photobooth



The boys love this game. 
Next year they asked to play Monopoly. Haha! I told them we would only need one balloon for the entire countdown. Lol!

We did a series of Minute to Win it games for a sleepover that was a huge hit. We did a smaller version for NYE. This was one of their favorites and mine too. 
FACE THE COOKIE: Place a cookie on your forehead and with only facial expressions (no hands) try to get the cookie into your mouth. 

 I don't think the video is even watchable with me laughing so hard. 

We planned to light fireworks a little earlier but when planning the countdown times, I didn't leave enough time between activities. We went outside after our toast.

The boys had apple cider and glasses dipping chocolate and sprinkles.
I kinda went a little overboard on the chocolate so they had LOTS of sprinkles. 

This was a great idea to make sure they didn't confuse our glasses with their glasses.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Now for the FIREWORKS!!! 

They were ready!!!

I love the next photo. OH MY!!! These roman candles were AWESOME and HUGE!!!!

BIG AMERICAN WHIRLWIND CANDLES

Awesome, right!?


Hubby in the action too.

SO MUCH FUN!

Doing this countdown makes the evening fly by so fast. Definitely no chance of anyone falling asleep or even speaking of sleep. The boys didn't even get in bed until 1:30am!!! 

We all slept until noon the next day. Perfect lazy day to start the new year!

Happy New Year from Rolo! 
Don't be fooled by his "help me now" look. He had lots of treats during the evening and tried to photo bomb most photos. He was even howling (his singing) while we sang Auld Lang Syne or while we tried to remember all the words. I'm sure he was howling in protest of our poor rendition. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!


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15 comments

  1. This is such a cute idea! I will have to do this when my little one gets a little bigger.

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    1. Thank you! It's always so much fun. What I love it each year I can change it up to fit their age. Great family time for sure. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy New Year!

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  2. Ahhhh! I love what you did this year!!! The ideas and the photos you captured of it all are fantastic.

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    1. Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time and wonderful comments! Happy New Year!

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  3. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!

    I LOVE that it's the same tradition every year but that you can adapt it to the ages of the kids and even the circumstances of where you live, the current weather, where you are financially... everything! We're very low on cash this year so can't afford anything fancy but this can really be inexpensive if we want.

    My kids are 6 and 9 and I think this will work great this year!! I'm looking forward to adding it to our family traditions and doing it every year :).

    Just wanted to comment on your dislike of Monopoly... I feel the same!! I absolutely dread the game because it ALWAYS takes forever!!! And your comment on your cat in 2012... ha, ha, ha... I thought I was reading about my cats!!

    Your dog is adorable :).

    Thanks again!!

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    1. You are so sweet to take the time to comment. Thank you! I agree. Each year I change it up according to ages, likes, dislikes, and sometimes things we don't have time for on a regular day. I don't buy much really. I even used a few things we had on hand at the house. This year left over confetti eggs from Easter. The boys loved it! I think the excitement of whats next and the family time is the best. I asked them if they wanted friends over this year and they just wanted it to be our little family. Totally love that! Hope you had a wonderful NYE. Thank you again for your sweet comments.

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  4. Hi Elena! Thank you so much for sharing this idea!! I read your 2012 post and love the update to the clocks on each balloon for 2013. I wish my daughter was old enough to do these activities, but since she's just a few months old, I'm gonna tweak the activities for the adults in the house to do. So fun!! I wrote about your idea in my blog post! I really hope you don't mind that I used one of your images and included a link back to your site. I just think this is such a fun activity for New Year's Eve! Thanks again!

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    1. I appreciate you stopping by and commenting and even sharing on your blog. Thank you! So fun you tweaked it for the adults. Best that was a blast. When my kids were much much smaller (not as young as your daughter) I would do a countdown to NOON instead of midnight so they could have some fun too. They had no idea the difference. :) Thank you again!

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  5. I used your balloon idea last year, and my girls are asking for it again! They loved it. The printable clocks are genius! I had a hard time writing on them. THANK YOU!

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    1. I'm so glad! Yay! Thank you for taking the time to comment and share how they loved it too. I really appreciate the feedback. I did the printable clocks again this year. Saves so much time and no ink on my hand. Plus I thought a balloon would pop in my face any second writing on it. Lol. Hope your NYE was a blast.

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  6. These crafts are absolutely genius! I love the numbers created out of photos!

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    1. Thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment and the kind words! Thank you again!

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  7. adorable! thanks for sharing. what lovely family time you created and amazing memories for your boys.

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  8. Thank you so much for all of your great ideas! I did this last year for my boys and friends, and plan to do it again this year as their cousins are coming over. :)

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