How to Create a Unique New Year's Eve Celebration

New Year's Eve and Day can be festive times for families. If you are running out of ideas, why don't you celebrate it this year by experiencing the customs and traditions of other countries. You do not have to travel to the country of your choice but a two hour research in the Internet will give you tons of ideas. This is the best way to create culture-filled memories for your family this New Year. It might even guarantee good fortune for your family.

If you are crunched for time, the following overview gives you the top Filipino family practices during New Year's eve and day. Each activity for New Year's eve in the Philippines symbolizes wealth, prosperity, blessings and good luck. Ultimately, the New Year's traditions usher in strong positive feelings among family members. Do not hesitate to try it. The enjoyment of the activities surpasses the quirkiness of the customs. Who says you can't have a wacky memorable New Year's eve celebrations?

1. Food and Meals

Prepare meals that have noodles and eggs. The noodles represent long life while the eggs symbolize "new" life. Find a dessert that is sticky (perhaps glutinous rice) to symbolize good fortune "sticking" all year round.

Do not serve fish and chicken for these animals are known to scrounge for food. Fish represents scarcity. Chicken symbolizes hunger. You do not want to beg for food this coming year.

Bring the children to the grocery and start hunting for 12 round fruits to represent a month in the year. The challenge is to get as much fruit that is circular. Remember, circle and round objects represent money. Note that grapes are counted as one round fruit if you are planning to cheat. Other round fruits include oranges, cantaloupes, watermelon, apples, cherries, blue berries, plums, peaches, apricots, honeydew, and grapefruits.

For recipes, try Pancit Bihon (noodles) and Biko (sticky rice).

2. Attire

Wear clothes that have polka dots and deep pockets. Polka dots in shirts and dresses represent "money". The round shapes in your clothes will attract money to you throughout the year. If the boys in your house do not want to wear polka dots, buy them "polka dots" tie, underwear, or socks.

Remember, the deeper the pockets of your pants, the better. Shove in lots of coins in your pocket. Don't you want your pockets to be filled with lots of money this coming year? Keep your hands in your pockets and jangle the coins when midnight comes. Do not forget to put dollar bills inside your wallet too.

3. House

All clutter must be gone by midnight. The house should be immaculately clean. However, you must be careful to stop sweeping the floor by midnight. On New Year's day stop doing major cleaning. Do not risk "sweeping" all your good fortunes and hard-earned money away.

You must open wide open all windows, doors, drawers and cupboards at midnight to allow all the graces to come inside your house.

You must turn on all the lights in the house so the coming year is very bright.

Scatter coins around the house, on the table tops, inside drawers.

4. Children

Start a countdown and at the stroke of midnight do the following:

Children are encouraged to jump up and down. The higher you jump, the taller you grow. Do this for the first 60 seconds of 2010.

Bring out the pots and pans from the kitchen. Let the children make music and rhythm by banging these pots and pans with wooden spoons. Make loud noises while they are jumping up and down. It serves the purpose of removing (or scaring) evil spirits and negative feelings that have been harbored in your house the past years. It encourages a merry attitude and the removal of resentments within family members.

5. Do's and Don'ts

An hour away from midnight, you can also tie together empty soda cans (perhaps 12 cans or more) behind your car. Let the children inside the car, open the windows and enjoy the car ride while dragging the soda cans dangling behind the car around the neighborhood. Bring in some horns and whistles and let the children blow these in the opened car windows. Shout "Happy New Year" to all bystanders. Wish everyone good luck and happiness.

Fireworks are the major component of the New Year's Eve celebration. Like the July 4th celebrations, you must go all out with firecrackers and fireworks. While the children are making noises, dancing and singing, the adults are setting off the fireworks in the yard.

Do not spend anything on New Year's day. Do not buy something from the store. It is like starting off the year not saving your money and that means you would always be without money for the rest of the year. Remaining frugal on New Year's day is said to bring in wise money management thoughts for the coming year. You can put all your day's work in a piggy bank and make that your "investment" for the year.

When all the noise-making in welcoming New Year have calmed down, close all the windows and do not open them up again until the sun is up. You want all the good fortunes to settle down as well inside your house. Gather your family for a midnight dinner feast. Offer some prayers for peace in the world.

Remind your children to smile a lot, never frown and to be energetic. This positive attitude sets the tone of the New Year.

Conclusion

With all these New Year's practices of prosperity, children might ask you if the Philippines is richer every year?

The fact is the Philippines remains to be classified as a developing country. Poverty abounds. However, Filipinos are known for their "everlasting" smiles, hospitality, hope, and resilience amidst natural calamities. What came out of these New Year's eve traditions for the Philippines are people with a strong faith in God, tightly-knitted families bonded together by these odd, seemingly superstitious holiday rituals, and an unequalled optimism for the future. Filipinos are known to attain happiness effortlessly no matter what the circumstances surround them.