Adult and Kid-Friendly New Year’s Eve Party Ideas

Looking for New Year’s Eve at-home ideas? Want to throw a new years eve party for kids? We’ve got you covered from decor to food to ways to celebrate midnight with little people who can’t stay up that late!

>> Find Kid-Friendly New Year’s Eve Events Here

>> Things To Do on January 1st

first, what are you going to wear?

If you’ve got kids at home, let them choose the dress code. Maybe they want to wear those matching Christmas jammies to their kids New Year’s Eve party, or maybe they’re looking for a great reason to get all fancied up? Or even dress each other in silly outfits or give those Halloween costumes one more rotation!

Either way, why not let the kiddos choose the dress code for New Year’s Eve at Home?

New Year’s eve at Home Ideas: decor and more!

Step up your kid-friendly new years eve party decor game with a theme or colour combination. I love getting the kids involved in this one because you can offload almost all of the work on them! And don’t worry about having to go to the massive party store, you can make so many great things with the stuff in your house.  These are some of my favourites from Pinterest, and you can find them all linked here. Highly recommend the New Year’s Tree!

plan your new years eve at home menu

Whether you’re supporting a local restaurant with take-out or whipping up meals at home, plan something special for New Year’s Eve. Let the kids help plan and prep this one, too. My kids think finger foods and charcuterie board nibbles are super fancy. Add in a sparkling non-alcoholic punch like this one and you’ll be dining like high society!

New Year’s Eve at Home activities for kids

There are a few hours to kill on New Year’s Eve, and these are some fun ways to make the evening more fun. An hourly countdown may sound daunting, but it’s easy and the rewards are worth the effort! First, decide what time “midnight” will be and then decide how many hourly activities you want to do. As an example, if 8 pm is the “kid midnight”, you can plan 4 activities starting at 4 pm. 4 activities are easy-peasy!

I love the idea of having a gift bag or wrapped box for each hour. Who doesn’t love opening more presents? And a brilliant way to reuse that leftover paper and tissue. In each hourly box/bag put in an activity like a puzzle, a deck of cards or a board game, a craft idea, or s simple instruction card (Call Grandpa, watch a movie, bake cookies). The fact that you’re doing it together is what will make the ordinary special.  Here are some inspiring ideas to help even more.

teaching kids about gratitude and goals at the new year

The last day of the year is a great time to reflect back and be grateful for what we have. The smallest parts of the past year – birthday parades, Halloween, a white Christmas – are all parts we can be grateful for. Teaching kids gratitude will help them see the positive in the last year, and help them make the most of 2024.

I found this printable reflection and goal-setting worksheet that I love. My kids will be able to use this to easily reflect on the past year – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and we can plan some great goals and activities for next year at the same time.


Happy new year!

I hope these new years eve at home ideas help inspire you to throw a fun and easy kid’s new years eve party! No matter how you celebrate, or when you celebrate, I wish you nothing but love and family fun in the coming year.

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