Simple, Last Minute NYE Ideas for the Whole Family

My family and I are hosting a New Year’s Eve celebration today at our  cottage in Michigan. My brothers and their clans are all here to ring in 2014 with us. Our cottage has no TV, no internets, and can feel pretty isolated…which is what we love about it.  The challenge of New Year’s here is that the one thing you can sorta miss is the big ball drop at midnight over Time Square.

So, this year I wanted to have lots of fun things to do throughout the day and night to make it as rockin’ as possible.

The centerpiece of our celebration is this garland of activities that will guide our evening party starting at 7pm. Each hour the kids will open up a bag to celebrate a country that is hollering “Happy New Year” at that very hour.

We will start with England at 7pm and move through the world until we land at New York City, USA at midnight.

The bags hold simple ideas like “a temporary tattoo party”, “playing a new party game” (this year we’re trying Reverse Charades), “making a Family Time Capsule”, “a table shuffle board tourney”, “visiting the photo booth for New Year’s Pics”, and wrapping up with “a fireworks show in the backyard”. This garland helps guide the night and keeps kids and grown-ups interacting and having fun.

Here’s a look at our photo booth using a chalkboard wall in the dining room, a burlap banner, and some NYE props.

We will also be making Family Time Capsules to help remind us of some of the best parts of 2013.  I found inexpensive cardboard containers and stickers at Hobby Lobby and attached a label for each fam. Everyone will fill out a time capsule questionnaire to place inside their family’s capsule, plus add a few souvenirs that help represent the best parts of the last year.

We can keep these to look at again next year or ten years from now. Simple, reflective, fun.

So there ya have it, a few simple ideas you can pull together in a snap, if you’re still trying to figure out how to keep the troops entertained and engaged until midnight tonight.

HERE are few more ideas for an unplugged NYE, too!

Happy New Year, friends!!!!

(now to get off my Hot Spot and back to the festivities!)