How to Decorate for New Year's with Your Kids
We often consider New Year's Eve to be more of a grownup holiday, with late night celebrations and champagne toasts. Getting your kids involved in decorating can help make this a more family-friendly celebration. Whether you're going for store-bought options or prefer the DIY approach, your child's input can add a little sparkle and whimsy to your New Year's party.
Planning and Shopping
One simple way to get the kids excited about decorating is to sit down and pick a color theme together. You might start out with some suggestions of your own, like gold and white; black, white and red; or silver, black and white, then brainstorm together and see what you come up with from there.
Let them work with you to make the table pretty. Even if your party won't include a sit-down meal, you'll want to set out some snacks and drinks for your guests. The centerpiece is a great component to work on with kids. You can decide what to look for while you're shopping, or try out the crafty centerpiece idea later in this article.
Shopping for supplies can help engage the kids even more. The key to not letting this get out of control is to make a list of what you need in advance and talk to them about it. If you're looking for a tablecloth, a centerpiece and dishware, make sure the kids know that up front. This is also a good time to remind them about the color theme.
To make decorating extra fun for those little ones, you can get crafty with your New Year's Eve decorations. If you're going to have a lot of kids at your party, you might even consider a craft table where they can make themed art projects. Let's look at a few fun crafts for kids.
Make and Hang Streamers
Paper streamers are a simple New Year's craft project that you can do in advance or set out at the craft table. All you need is some heavy paper, string or fishing line, glue sticks and materials to decorate the paper. You'll also need some circle templates, like the lids from peanut butter jars, that the kids can trace.
Kids can embellish the paper with stencils or draw freehand. You can also set out stickers, glue sticks and New Year's Eve confetti. Let them cut out circles and decorate them. Once they're all embellished, you'll sandwich the string between two circles, using a couple of colored staples to secure it. You can hang one pair of circles from your string or do a whole row. Hang the kids' creations from the ceiling, across doorways and along the mantle. They'll be so proud of their addition to the party!
Handmade Tiaras
This can be an excellent project either before or during the party. If you're doing this as a craft table project, you'll want to use materials that dry quickly, like markers, stickers and glue sticks. White glue and paint may be too messy. You'll also want to set out an example of a finished tiara and cut a set of template numbers that the kids can trace for their tiaras.
Cut the numbers of the year (such as 2-0-1-1) out of medium-weight cardboard, like a cereal or frozen pizza box, and let kids decorate them with paint and glitter. Set them aside to dry. Once the numbers are ready to go, measure your child's head circumference and cut a 2-inch thick strip of construction paper that's that length of the child's head plus 1 inch. Use colored staples or glue to attach the numbers to the construction paper, and close it off with one more staple, overlapping the ends of the construction paper.
DIY Centerpiece
Make a glittery ice sculpture to spruce up your New Year's Eve dinner table or buffet! Find uniquely shaped ice cube trays at your local craft store to make fun ice cubes. Before freezing the water, float glitter and even sparkly New Year's Eve-themed confetti in each cube. You can also color the water with food coloring. Help your child arrange the frozen mini sculptures in a pretty glass bowl or on a decorative tray.