Games for kids, families to play on New Year’s Eve
Don’t forget the kids on New Year’s Eve!
Here are some things you can do with kids to make New Year’s Eve special for them … then put them to bed so you can have some adult time when the clock does strike midnight!
Celebrate the New Year with a Hershey’s Kiss
Some kids are weird about “kissing” at midnight or might have friends over to celebrate, so let them all eat a Hershey’s Kiss Candy at the stroke of midnight and leave the kissing to the adults.
Ring in the New Year with Ring Pops
Depending on the age of the kids, you can ring in the New Year with Ring Pops candies for everyone.
Decorating station
Have a decorating station where kids can decorate their own party hats.
Make a 2015 Time Capsule
Have a premade form for the kids to fill in showing what they enjoyed in 2016 as they look forward to 2017. The time capsule can be made inside a recycled tin can, and you can use duct tape or tin foil to cover the top after their can is filled. The form might include some of these: favorite color, dinner, treat, book, movie, game, toy and friend. Also you can include: This happened to me in 2016, what I want to happen to me in 2017, a favorite memory, what I want to be when I grow up.
“Minute to Win It”
Play some “minute to win it” games. There are tons on the internet!
Sparkling Cotton Candy Drink
Put cotton candy (found in most dollar stores during the year) inside a special clear plastic cup and loosely fill the glass. Let the child pour sparkling water into the cup, the cotton candy melts and add the flavor and color so the drink tastes just like real Cotton Candy!
Family Games
Here are two great family games to enjoy New Year’s Eve or any other day.
Psychiatrist
One person is chosen to be the “psychiatrist” and leave the room. The rest of the group decides on their ailment that they all share. For example, maybe everyone says a color somewhere in their sentences or everyone touches their head before they speak or maybe when they speak their first word always begins with the same letter of their first name.
When the group decides on a “disease,” the “psychiatrist” comes back in the room to start their diagnosis. He/she can ask 10 questions or whatever number you agree on. He/she goes around the room asking people different questions to try and guess the ailment. If he guesses it, he wins, and if he does not, then it is another player’s turn. (Other ailment ideas include: everyone says “um” twice when they speak, everyone answers the questions asked to the person before them, everyone answer what they think the person next to them would say, everyone’s answer starts with a certain letter of the alphabet, everyone lies.)
The Candy Bar Game
You need as many candy bars as people playing the game. Several extra candy bars will make your game even more fun. You need at least one pair of dice, but if you have a big group, you may wish to have more than one set going at the same time.
Sit in a circle around a table. Select one person to start. That person rolls the dice. If she/he rolls a seven or an 11, he/ she gets to select a candy bar from the pile in the center of the table. Then, the dice is passed to the person on their left. Keep playing so everyone can get a turn rolling the dice.
Once all the candy bars are taken from the table, players who roll a seven
or 11 can then take a candy bar away from another player! For example, if I would roll a seven and someone in the game has an Al- mond Joy candy bar, I would tell them to give me the Almond Joy candy bar and that person would have to give it to me. You have to be careful and pay attention to who has which candy bar. If you call a specific candy bar and that person has a dif- ferent one, they do not have to give you their candy bar — only if you know the specific candy bar they have on their lap.