New Year’s Eve celebrations change once kids are in the picture. Champagne toasts and all-night parties are often replaced with a cozy night at home. Whether the New Year’s celebration involves only your immediate family or includes other families with young kids, a list of themed games keeps the entire group entertained as the clock approaches midnight. If your kids are too young to stay up late, adjust your celebration schedule to welcome the new year at noon instead of midnight.
New Year’s Eve celebrations change once kids are in the picture. Champagne toasts and all-night parties are often replaced with a cozy night at home. Whether the New Year’s celebration involves only your immediate family or includes other families with young kids, a list of themed games keeps the entire group entertained as the clock approaches midnight. If your kids are too young to stay up late, adjust your celebration schedule to welcome the new year at noon instead of midnight.
Top Song Review
The top songs of the previous year become the focus of this New Year’s Eve game. This game works best for older kids who will be familiar with popular songs. You can also adjust it to include your family’s favorite songs, even if they weren’t hits in the last year. The players divide into two teams with one team performing the song and the other guessing what the song is. The performers use party horns, coffee can drums, kazoos and any other instruments you can create around the house to play one of the songs from the list. They cannot sing the lyrics as they play. The other team gets one minute to guess the name of the song being performed. Switch roles after each song so both teams get a chance to perform.
Charades
Charades is a classic party game that easily fits the New Year’s theme with a little modification. Choose words or phrases that relate to events that happened over the past year. You can choose activities that you did as a family, local news events, national news events or a mix of all types. Disney Family Fun suggests dividing into teams to let the players create the list of events. Write each event on a card. One at a time, the players draw a card and act out the event without saying any words. This game is an entertaining way to relive the highlights of the last year as it comes to a close.
Prediction Hunt
Looking forward to what the new year holds is another theme that works well for a New Year’s Eve game. Before the party, write several creative predictions that could happen in the new year, each on a separate note card or piece of paper. You can choose to be serious or completely off-the-wall with the predictions. Hide the predictions around the room. The party guests search for a prediction, which becomes their fortune for the new year. Let each guest read her prediction to the group.
