Tips on How to Plan for a Kids New Year's Eve Party for 2010

Planning a party for New Year's Eve is always a difficult task, but when you have to plan that party for children it makes it a tad bit more frustrating. I have a few great tips that will help your planning for your kids New Year's Eve party. Tips that will make ringing in 2010 easy as baking a cake!

Tip 1: Party Decision
First and foremost you need to decide if the kids New Year's Eve party you are going to be throwing will either be a party that will end right after midnight or either a sleepover party. By making this decision you are giving your parents of the children of the party an idea on how long they will have for the nights events they will be attending.

Tip 2: Invitations
Send out your invitations at no later then a week prior to December 31st. In your invitation you will need to state what party you planned on having. If you are having a sleepover make sure you include a list of items each child will need for staying the night at your house including any medications they may need to have. Make sure if they do need any medications that they right down on a separate piece of paper what those medications are and at what time they need to take them. Another great tip with the invitations is to spice up the invites by adding a noise maker to them or even have some confetti attached to the invitation.

Tip 3: Food
Kids are very picky, however at the same time they can be very easy to cook for. Most kids enjoy finger foods so a selection of appetizers will do far better then actually having a big meal. Some of the food items you may use are pig in a blanket, bagel bites, pizza rolls, mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, veggie trays, pretzels, cheese and crackers and even a fruit try will work great. You will need to contact with the children's parents to find out if there are any known food allergies their child may have and if there are, then ask that parent to bring a specific snack their child will want to eat.

Tip 4: Decorations
Your typical decorations will do just fine for this party. Happy New Year Banners, noise makers, confetti, blown up balloons tossed all along the floors and streamers hanging from the ceilings. Kids will love anything colorful and bright. They do not have to be expensive decorations, just make the place where you are having the party look fun and loud!

Tip 5: Games
As you are all waiting for the clock to hit 12 am, you need to have games to keep the kids entertained. Make sure the games are age appropriate. Some great game ideas can be decorating your own noise makers. Have each child get a empty plastic bottle and have them fill it up with either beans, rice or even small rocks. Put out paint, markers, craft paper and glue so they can decorate the outside of their bottles.

Other great games can be freeze dance, silent ball pass, any board game that can be broken down into four players. If you have more then 8 kids coming over then my idea is to set up different game stations. Set a kitchen timer for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off then they can switch stations.

Tip 6: Food Time
After a few hours have passed allow the kids to eat. Make sure this time comes around 7 pm and no later then that. Allow the kids to either do a buffet style line to where they can fix their own plates or if you have a messy bunch then have each child sit at their places and you serve them with what they want to eat.

Tip 7: After Dinner Expressions
After the food has been served and eaten, allow the kids to clean up their own messes and make sure you have another game ready to go to get out a little of their energy before you start to settle these children down. This game can be a resolution game where each child writes down what their New Year's resolution will be, put all the pieces in a hat and then have each kid draw a piece of paper and try to match up the resolution to each child.

Tip 8: Movie Time
About an hour or so before 11:45 pm, have the children all gather around the television for a Holiday movie. If you can not think of a movie for them to watch, then turn on the Disney Chanel or Nickelodeon to allow them to watch some of their favorite shows. Pass out popcorn or chips in plastic cups and juice boxes for a TV time snack.

Tip 9: The Countdown
At 11:45, pass out the noise makers, hats and their noisemakers they made earlier. You can also have each child blow bundle as the countdown to 2010 starts.

Tip 10: Settle Down Time
If you are sending the kids home, make sure you have each child packed up and ready to go and already have had their potty breaks before their parents come. If you are having a sleep over then set the timer for ten minutes and have a race to clean up the New Years mess that was just created with confetti. After the timer goes off and the mess is now cleaned up, have each child set up their sleeping bags, take two children at a time to go to the bathroom and get dressed for bed, and then have each child get comfortable in their sleeping bags. Once each child is tucked in their bag, read them a long story and with a little patience they will be soon asleep.

Tip 11: Avoid To Much Energy
To have your child not be bundles of energy all night, make sure you keep the sugar content low as possible. Either make sure you have no sugar snacks, or sugar substituted snacks. If you do not tell the children the snack have no sugar in them, then they will never know the difference!

Tip 12: Emergency Contact
Make sure you have the child's parents numbers written down and taped near the phone or where you will know where it is in case of an emergency. Remind the parents what time to pick up their child and to check their phone throughout the night to make sure they did not miss a call!

Enjoy the party and make it a night these kids will not forget!