Kids Fun New Years Eve Party Ideas 2011 - 2012

Childrens New Year's Eve Event Planning, Tips & Easy Cool Activities

Dec 19, 2007
Janienne Jennrich

Pink Twister by Hasbro - Photo Courtesy of Hasbro

Happy New Year party themes for families with children for New Year's Eve 2011 - 2012. Fun decorating, food, games and activity ideas for kids & pre-teens!

Happy New Year 2011! So long 2010!

Kids old enough to stay up for midnight New Year's Eve want to have fun like the older children and adults. With planning ahead, a safe New Year's party can be planned for kids or families with children with easy ideas and activities.

New Year's Eve Decorating, Planning & Safety Tips for Kids

Allow younger kids to have their own special area to decorate with streamers, balloons, and pre-made decorations.
Get washable markers and a tablecloth for the kids to decorate.
The more balloons the better! Make children aware of balloon choke hazards and have older kids blow up balloons.
Consider covering furniture in the kids area with sheets.
Set up the area with kid-safe DVDs (Disney Pixar movie Up, The Polar Express, and How to Train Your Dragon, perhaps), games, and interesting toys. Have lots of pillows and blankets for sleepy kids.
Consider hiring a baby sitter so parents can relax and party!

Fun Pre-teen Activities for New Year's Eve

Older kids and tweens may like video games, Parker Brothers game Guestures (a fun high-speed charades game), and a dance floor with cool music.
Dance Dance Revolution for Playstation is a popular game, as is Guitar Hero. Guests can be asked to bring their favorite party games.
Lots of snacks, sodas, and water are good for this age, as well as something substantial like chicken hot dogs or cheese and crackers.
Good DVDs for this age will help in the later hours. Possibilities include the Harry Potter films, Star Wars, or favorites of the particular group.

Family-Friendly Food and Drink Ideas for New Year's Eve

With kids around, alcoholic beverages might be avoided or limited.
As an alternative to champagne, pick up bottles of sparkling cider, make a festive punch, and have sodas, sparkling water, and juices on-hand. Remember the ice.
Offer a permanent marker for each guest to use to label their plastic cups.
Good snacks for most guests are cheeses, meats, small sandwich rolls, bite-sized cookies, chocolate anything, chips with dip, and other finger foods. Offer low fat snacks such as fresh veggies and a light dip.
Leave snacks in various areas, but be careful about toddler choking hazards, if little ones will be at the party.

Party Themes for Kids, Pre-Teens, Girls, and Boys

For Kids:

A Safari Party: Use animal party goods, animal cookies, have a scavenger hunt, and watch an animal themed movie.
A Girly-Girl Party: Pick pink as the theme. Decorate in the most feminine ways, have girls wear fancy party dresses, play girly-games like one of Hasbro's pink games (see Pink Twister below), and have a pillow fight.
Boys Pirate Party: Pirate themed items are easy to find. Have a treasure hunt with gold (chocolate) coins, watch a vintage pirate flick, wear pirate garb, and eat fish and chips. Encourage saying "aarrr" a lot.

For Pre-Teens and Tweens:

Raise the age level of the pirate themed ideas above. Make a harder treasure hunt, for instance. have pirate costumes on-hand for trying on.
Have a disco party: Pull out the BeeGees records, a mirror ball, and empty a dance floor area. This age can entertain themselves, so don't work too hard on planning activities. Simply have some games, music, and movies on-hand.
Girls might like a glamour party: Provide or ask guests to bring make-up to try, tiaras and jewelry to wear, fancy dresses and scarves to swish, and elegant snacks to try. Make this a princess party and play "The Princess Diaries" move, I & II.
Too Girly? Other girls may prefer just hanging out, gossiping about boys, and playing cards.
Many boys and girls would love a video game all-nighter. Have kids bring game systems. Add some beanbag chairs and pillows and a party is born.
For teenagers, see Teen New Years Eve Party Ideas.

Cool Family Parties with Adult Time

With kids busy, parents have more time to relax. Make available lots of seating with conversation areas.
Some simple activities for adults to enjoy as they celebrate, talk or drink include cards, checkers, party games (try Parker Brother's terrific fast and fun word game Catch Phrase) and puzzles. How about dancing?
Make sure every has a copy of the New Year's Eve Auld Lang Syne Words.
Have a secure place for coats and purses to keep them safe from children and to keep children safe from medications and such.

New Year's Eve is a time for celebration and renewal. For more ideas, read <a data-cke-saved-href="http://href=" href="http://href=" http:="" janienne-jennrich.suite101.com="" best-new-years-eve-party-themes-a37464"="">Best New Year's Eve Party Themes</a>. Feel free to invite families with children to a New Year's Eve party or have a party just for kids so weary parents can have a romantic night out on their own.