Best New Year's Eve Ever (so far)

With a few options of places to go and people to be with on New Year's Eve we were pretty sure we would be busy doing something. Then it snowed. Like 5 inches (at least that is how it seems). We did NOT want to leave in the snow and drive on back roads to get to parties, and we certainly didn't expect anyone to come here.

So with a change in plans we had our own little New Year's Eve party for our own little family.  We didn't have a lot of food or decorations, but we still had a lot of fun.  I think the girls especially enjoyed it even if they were just with us. Eli would have had more fun, but he was ready for bed by 8.

After dinner, I let them dress in their "party outfits." They also had little New year's crowns I had bought earlier.

We had super yummy artichoke dip, pizza, and chocolate fondue.  The fondue was a new experience for the girls. Before Bria realized it was chocolate she informed me, "We do NOT like to stick fruit in random things," but after they found out, they enjoyed it, especially with gummy bears. Nadia even realized she could stick two gummy bears on her fork at the same time!

And then their were the activities. I set up a little countdown for the girls with some balloons and little slips of paper with fun things on them. Then I wrote times on the balloons and set a clock in front of them (got to work learning in there somewhere right).  They were so excited each time they realized an hour had passed, and they could pop a balloon!

You could put whatever activities your kids enjoy in the balloons. This was a bit last minute, so I just came up with stuff we had here to do! The first two balloons were popped with toothpicks! We all played a game of Dixit and then we watched the newest My Little Pony episode!

Nadia chose scissors for the next balloon, and they got to put together a couple new Lego sets with their daddy. 

Amazing how quickly the time was passing! Bria followed Nadia's lead and popped the next balloon with scissors. A fun experiment! Fireworks in a Jar. I had no idea how popular this would be especially at 9 pm, but we emptied and filled our jar 4 times!

Nadia got really brave and wanted to use a fondue fork for the next balloon!

Glow sticks! The girls love glow sticks, and this was a perfect time for them since it was a dark.  Then they turned off all the lights and watched a movie.

Because Nathan had wanted to wind down with a movie, I made our 11:00 balloon just confetti filled.  When the girls could see stars through it they both wanted to pop it! So I made a second one, and at 11:00 we took a break from the movie and got stars all over the kitchen floor!

Once the movie ended the girls were super tired and got into PJs. Just before midnight we popped our last balloon and got our noise makers! I saved the noise makers for last just in case they woke Eli up!

Watching the ball get ready to drop!

This was a great way to make it through the evening! I think it helped keep them awake and out of trouble, and allowed us all to enjoy each other's company.

Of course we started 2013 with Sparkling Grape Juice!  In the past the girls didn't care for it, and they still don't! Nadia said it was kind of sweet, but she didn't want much.  Bria still doesn't like the bubbles!

Brush teeth, quick story (yes they still wanted a story), and into bed! Not what Nathan and I had planned, but to me it was the best New Year's Eve yet! Here is hoping 2013 brings even better things then 2012!

 

Happy New Year!!!