When I was a kid, I remember waiting for the day my parents would let me stay up until midnight on New Years Eve. I don’t know if I thought something magical happened at midnight or if it was just the excitement of it all, but I could not wait to find out! My parents were not party people and many times my Dad even worked on New Years Eve, as he was a manager and computer programmer for a large oil company. He was either at work or on call should anything wonky happen when the clocks rolled over to the new year. I remember when Y2K rolled around and he spent most of the New Years Day and night at work just to make sure the “world didn’t come to an end” when the clocks rolled over to the new century. He and his team had spent months working on it and doing scenarios so they were prepared for anything they could foresee happening.Thankfully it wasn’t the end of the world and the computers kept on ticking as the clock struck midnight. {image} When we had kids I was so excited for the day they would get to stay up and “party” at midnight.
As our oldest approached an age we thought he would enjoy it, we let him try to stay up. He had fun waiting, but was sadly disappointed when there weren’t fireworks and huge party at our house as the clock rolled over. Then, he woke up at his normal 7am time and was a cranky mess the rest of the day! I was so sad for him that it wasn’t what he expected and the next day he was pretty miserable due to his lack of sleep that night. So, we have not allowed him to stay up on New Years since. I know…I’m a horrible mother. And truthfully, in the 9 years of our marriage (at that point), my husband had only been home on New Years Eve probably 3 times. He worked most New Years Eve’s, so I was home alone. Not that I minded all that much, but it really wasn’t worth me fighting the kiddos that late at night and then dealing with tired and cranky kids the next day by myself.

First, I raided the dollar store, the dollar spot at Target and the party favor bins at Wal-Mart. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, but wanted some fun items for the kids as we “celebrated” the new year. Then I bought a pack of brown paper sacks to fill with the items I bought. Each one was marked with the hours of our party, leading up to noon when we would open the last one. Here’s what I included in each sack:





Last year, we didn’t do this, but I fully plan to have a wonderfully full-blown party this year!!! I’m still “brainstorming” all my ideas, but I think we will do a 3- hour party (10am – 1pm) at least and maybe do bags every 30 minutes instead of just every hour. I might also do it with a larger group of kids to make it more fun, but we’ll just play that part by ear and see how it goes.
So what’s your favorite New Year’s Tradition?
Check out my lovely friend and fellow IAHE blogger, Hillary over at Our Homeschool Studio, sharing about her own Family Holiday Memories and Traditions.
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Hi, I love you idea of a noon-day party. We have always taken celebrating the New Year in a different direction. We arise to watch the sunrise on New Year’s Day. We usually have to drive to a good location, we pick up doughnuts, that is a special treat, and usually have homemade coco. Sometimes we go for a walk along the beach, sometimes it is sitting in the car on the mountain top. We discuss all that has happened in the past year and what we would like to happen in the coming year. My husband and I started this before we had children and our children now 11 & 12 have seen the sunrise every New Year of their life. Then we usually go home and start preparing for a big New Year’s Day southern style feast.
What a wonderful idea to see the New Year sunrise!!! You are making wonderful memories with your kids!! Sounds like a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by Paula!
Blessings ~ Annette