New Year’s Activities for Kids

Counting down: 3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR! We all look forward to this highly anticipated annual moment. 

Party poppers, sparkling toasts, fireworks- every family strives to make the evening memorable and full of fun traditions. 

So, how can we make an eventful, memorable, and connected evening for our families without reverting to screens and technology? Here, we hope you find some exciting ideas for all your family’s New Year’s Eve activity needs. 

Follow this list of activities, or use it as inspiration for your own unique and creative hourly pastimes. 

Games are the highlight of any New Year’s Eve party. For your kids and the entire family, you’ll want to have plenty of fun games and prizes prepped for the night: 

Hourly Balloon Countdown Game 

This is a great way to break down the night by the hour and provide the kids with one fun-filled project at a time. Blow up balloons and pop one every hour leading up to midnight.

Guessing the Resolutions

1. Have each family member write their resolutions on a slip of paper. 
2. Pull one slip of paper out of a basket at a time and read it out loud. 
3. Everyone has to write down who they think made each resolution. 
4. At the end of the readings, the person who guessed the most correctly wins a prize. 
5. Read some of the wrong guesses out loud for fun!

Two Resolutions and One Lie

Have everyone tell the group two honest resolutions and one made-up resolution. Everyone guesses which is the fake resolution!

New Year’s Eve Scramble

1. Write a bunch of different “New Year’s” theme words on a piece of paper. 
2. Cut up the individual letters and scramble them. 
3. The person who guesses the most words correctly wins a prize.

Fun Photos

1. Take a picture of each of your guests with a phone or digital camera. Make sure they give their best funny face, as the best face will win the prize. 
2. After capturing all the pictures, download them to your computer or laptop and ask everyone to gather around the monitor. Determine the winner by the biggest laughter response to their photo. 
3. You can also use an instant polaroid camera and display the prints on a board for all the participants to see. 

Naming of Candy

For this, you need about six different candies that have given names like M&M’s, Crunch, Reeces, etc. One dye (or two dice for a larger crowd). 

Everyone is seated on the floor in a circle. Place the packaged candy bars or candy in the middle of the circle. The game starts with everyone saying their name. If you already know each other, use an animal name or celebrity name to make the game more challenging. The leader then clearly lists the candy options in the middle of the circle.

Someone begins by rolling the dice. If the player rolls a six, they can take one of the candies from the middle. The dye continues to go quickly around the circle while people keep picking up candy. 

When all center candies are gone, people can then take candy from another player. 

To get their candy, they must state the person’s name and the name of the candy they hold. If they forget either name, they miss their turn, and the dice go to the next person to continue rolling. 

One person can get more than one candy, and people can hide the candy behind their back to make it more fun. 

This is a great game to get to know people and steal your favorite candies!

Indoor Treasure Hunt

The kids will have a blast following the clues to get their treasure. If it is warm where you live, send them outside for parts of it.

Create Your Own Time Capsule

1. Collect anything you want to remember about the previous year: photos, ticket stubs, souvenirs, etc. 
2. Write a copy of your resolutions for the new year and put everything in a container. 
3. Hide your capsule until next year. 
4. Open the capsule on New Year’s Eve to see if you have achieved any of your resolutions!

Yarn Necklace Game

You can also play this game using clothespins, bracelets, or anything else easily worn by the players and visible to the competitors. Players try to win as many yarn necklaces as they can. 

Give each player one necklace. The idea is to get the other players to say “No.” If someone says it, then you get their necklace. Play this game for the duration of the party. The player with the highest necklace count at the end wins a prize. 

Guess how Many Objects in the Jar

1. Fill a clear glass or plastic jar (with a secure lid) with a known quantity (yes, you have to count them!) of candy, marbles, pennies, tiny toy cars, or some other item that ties in with the theme of your party. 
2. Decorate the jar and lid with stickers and a bow and place them on the arrival activity table. 
3. Provide slips of paper for guests to write their names and their “guess” and a small basket or box to collect the entries. 
4. At the end of the party, award the jar of goodies to the child with the closest guess.

Scavenger Hunt

Some scavenger hunt search-item ideas are party hats, streamers, noisemakers, plastic champagne glasses, clocks, “Happy New Year” cards, “Happy New Year” balloons, drink stirrers, coasters, chocolate coins, or calendars. Hide all of the items around the party space. List all of your items on pieces of paper for each player to refer to as they find them and check them off the list. At the end of the night, the person who has found the most items wins!

We hope the new year brings more joy and memorable times for you and your families. Continue to build a greater bond with your children as you strive for balance and healthy tech habits in your homes. And above all, we hope you continue to see our kids thrive as you encourage them to live beyond the screen! 

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Gabb is here to help families make the holiday season meaningful and memorable- encouraging real connection and quality time away from our devices.