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Community Corner

Throw a New Year's Eve Bash for the Little Ones This Year

Seven o'clock makes a perfect midnight for the under-10 crowd.

When I was little, I remember trying stay up with the adults and watch Guy Lombardo (yes, there were New Year’s Eve TV hosts before Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark) help America ring in the New Year, but I don’t ever remember actually making it to that magical hour.

Kids love any excuse to party, and seeing how big people celebrate New Year’s Eve on TV and in the movies is a thrilling and always elicits a “Mommy, Daddy, I want to get dressed up and wear a hat and blow noisemakers just like those people!”

Fast forward 30 years, now I am the “adult” and have little ones of my own. Rather than watching them rub their eyes for hours upon end and desperately try not to fall asleep, we decided to get together with some other friends and have an early New Year’s Eve for our children.

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You don’t have to go to the point of renting tiny tuxedos or formal gowns for five-year-olds, but if your kids like getting dressed up, this is a perfect opportunity for them to put on their Sunday best on Saturday (at least for this year, anyway).

Visit the local party store and get the most colorful New Year’s Eve decorations and you can find – banners, balloons, signs, confetti, streamers, paper top hats and tiara, those “2012” glasses, and most importantly, horns, whistles, blowers and any other noisemakers you can find. Also, don’t forget to grab some plastic champagne glasses.

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Parents spend 364 days a year reminding their children to “use their inside voices,” or that they need to “quiet down, the neighbors can hear you!” A kid’s New Year’s Eve party is a great chance to let them really express themselves vocally – get them excited by letting them know that this party is an appropriate place for them to yell (“Happy New Year!”) blow their horns or noisemakers and make as much of a cacophony as they can!

Starting in early December, the ubiquitous champagne commercials saturate the airwaves. Sparkling cider is a great kid-friendly substitute and those plastic flutes you picked up at the party store will let them “act sophisticated” without the risk of broken glass everywhere.

Start the party around six o’clock, giving the kids a chance to eat, play around and enjoy time with family or friends. Around 6:30, announce that it’s “thirty minutes to the countdown!” Then repeat a few times to build their anticipation.

Once 6:55 p.m. rolls around, start to get the kids together for the big countdown.

To do the actual countdown – you can simply gather around a clock, and follow the sweep of the second hand until it is ten seconds until 7:00 p.m. There are also a number of videos on YouTube from past New Year’s events on TV, but also a number of generic countdowns with fun fonts and backgrounds. If you are really ambitious, you can create a personalized Powerpoint presentation to do the countdown, including photos of family and friends and even the kid’s names.

When you get down to “1” make sure to set the example – be loud, be proud, and be joyous. Honk your horn; toss your confetti hug everyone in the room! If you make a big deal about it, so will they.

If all the parents chip in, you can usually clean up in just a few minutes and be home in plenty of time to get the kids into bed at a reasonable time, allowing you to focus on you and your significant other’s New Year’s Eve celebration plans.

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