It's New Year's Eve - Party with Your Kids!

Having a New Year's Eve Party that includes the whole family is a great way to usher in the New Year. Invite a few families, or relatives, that want to take part in a fun filled family evening. It could even be a sleepover - just have guests bring sleeping bags! Providing the right entertainment, food and drinks will keep all your guests, regardless of their ages, busy and happy. Make sure everyone has a party hat and a noise maker. Other great things to provide are party blowers, feather boas, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, bracelets or wands and party poppers.

A fun party activity is having everyone make their own party hat or noisemaker. The noisemakers can be made of empty plastic cups or bottles and dried beans. Simply cover the top with colored paper and decorate with stickers, crayons and ribbon. Elaborate hats are important on New Year's Eve - the fancier the better. Provide a plain painters cap for each guest and let them decorate their own. Supply colored permanent markers, gel pens, sequins, feathers, buttons, beads, glitter and glue sticks or glue guns. Kids of all ages will have fun making their own New Year's Eve party hat. You can even have a contest for the silliest, funniest, most exotic and most creative party hat.

Creating a time capsule on New Year's Eve is a great way to keep kids and adults entertained. Use an empty cookie tin, a tennis ball cannister, a glass jar or a metal box for the "capsule". Have everyone bring one item to put into the capsule. It could be a picture, a small memento, a newspaper story or some special news about their family. Put the title and date on the outside and let each person put their item inside. Seal the container and bury it in the backyard and plan on opening it at a specific time in the future.

Provide board games, cards, movies and crafts for your guests. For something different, play "Board-game Mix-up". Take parts and pieces from different games and invent your own game with them. Another fun activity that both kids and adults will enjoy is playing charades. Use people, events and songs that were popular during the past year as the subjects. "Name That Tune" is another game that kids and adults can enjoy together.

Food and drinks should be kept simple. Kids like snacks such as potato chips and dip, popcorn, a vegetable tray, crackers and cheese, olives and pickles. Pizza is always a hit with both kids and adults. Dessert can be cookies, ice cream or a simple cake. Put candles on the cake and have the kids blow them out to celebrate the birthday of the New Year. Make a special New Year's punch that can be enjoyed by everyone. One of my favorites is Holiday Punch. It is easy to make, festive looking and delicious! In a punch bowl, combine a 1 48-oz can of pineapple juice, 2 40-oz. cans of cranberry juice, and 2 large bottles of ginger ale or sparkling water and a large jar of maraschino cherries. Float your favorite flavor sherbet on top.

As midnight approaches gather everyone for the final countdown. Whether you are watching the New Year's Eve ball drop on television or watching your own clock ticking the seconds away, make those last few seconds of December 31st memorable. Everyone shout out the count down of the seconds and at the stroke of midnight greet the New Year with a joyous "Happy New Year"! Run outside to shake your noisemakers and bang your pots and pans. Sing Auld Lang Syne together. Celebrate and Have Fun!!