With the New Year quickly approaching, people are looking for exciting ways to celebrate which can include the whole family. After a few years of celebrating as a couple my husband and I decided we would rather celebrate and ring in the New Year as a family. Although the parties were enjoyable, it seemed more fitting to be with our daughters to pray over and simply enjoy them. Of course our children love the idea. If you are searching for great ways to celebrate the New Year with your family, here are a few suggestions:
Attend A Watch Night Service. There is no greater way to bring in the New Year than with prayer and gratefulness.
An Overnight Hotel Stay. If your children are anything like ours, they simply love staying in a hotel. Whether it’s in another state or down the street. There is something about being away from home. My husband and I have done this for a few years now. Our girls feel like they are on a mini-vacation. There is normally a little shopping during the day, the hotel pool in the late afternoon, dinner in the evening and a fun celebration and countdown in the room.
Host a Party for Families. Invite your friends and their children over for an evening of food and fun. Plan fun activities for the adults but also make sure the children are entertained. If there are teenagers in either of the families, give them the responsibility of creating activities for the children. They would love being involved and being in charge of something.
Allow The Children to Plan the Night. Children always want to feel included. Giving them the option to plan the evening would do just that. Surprisingly they do have great, feasible ideas. In fact our youngest daughter recommended we have a dessert party, where we make and decorate holiday cookies and cupcakes.
Dress Up and Go Out. There are certain kid-friendly restaurants (like Rainforest Café) that have celebrations just for the children with a countdown included.
While I know the adults need their time to enjoy one another and have adult activities, you’d be surprised how much joy a family celebration will bring. Children value this time together and we’re creating memories that will last a lifetime. Also keep in mind, the children do eventually fall asleep and then it’s all mommy and daddy time! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
BMWK, how will you celebrate the New Year?
You must have been reading my mind! I have already planned a family Game Night and invited other families. I thought it would be great for the children and adults to bring in the new year together…
Game night sounds great! Enjoy
We’ve planned a gathering in our home with another married couple in the family, including our daughter and their children. We will celebrate Kwanzaa, and play instruments, sing, and sit around the fire. We’ll have food and special treats to eat, and let the kids make some kind of sweet treat. We consider the children such a blessing that we include them in the celebration. It adds to the fun, as the kids have many creative gifts that make the celebration more joyful. They are well behaved children who enjoy the company of their parents, and we want them to know that family is a blessing. This requires that we keep them with us in celebrating so that they can see that for themselves.
When I’m old and gray, I’d like to think I taught them that they’re valuable, loved and appreciated. They’re more likely to treat their own kids like that, and continue this generational blessing. Then when I die, I can die happy knowing I’ve had some fun and done some good!
Pat, I completely agree! Your celebration sounds like a lot of fun!
My family and I live in Brooklyn, NY. Since my kids are 11, 9, and 5; I would never bring them to times square for the New Year. I never went before I had kids because I felt the crowds were just too big. For the last couple of years, we’ve been going to the fireworks show at our local park. We leave the house around 11:00. We walk through the park. When we get there, around 11:25 there is live entertainment. The kids are able to play while I listen to the music. The crowd there does a 30 second countdown. At exactly midnight the fireworks begin; it lasts for about 10 minutes. We walk back home. The kids and I talk about what we’ve seen. It’s usually around a quarter to one.I always pre-planned by having the children take a shower with their pajamas under their clothes. Since my kids never go to bed that late any other time of the year, they just shed their clothes and go directly to bed. And Tiya you’re right the kids eventually fall asleep.
I like doing the fireworks because it still allows all of us to be together; without spending our time sitting around eating until 4:00 in the morning. Where I use to go with the kids before, friends and some family bought food, some of the kids who had a talent performed it, we would sing, tell stories. All the while we were sitting in one room from 7:00 at night until the wee hours of the morning. I felt that was too much time to sit around, let alone be eating at time of the day. For January 1st, my family basically couldn’t do anything because, we were so tired from going to sleep so late. With the fireworks, my children still get to ring in the New Year, and we all go to bed a reasonable hour. Now for January 1st we actually get to enjoy it. I go to my sister’s or mother-in-law’s for some soup. Then the kids and I get to go ice-skating. When we get back home we watch the parades and football games on television. We started off the New Year with a prayer, visiting family, exercising and relaxing without the constant all you can eat attitude that people tend to have during the end of the year.
But all is not well with our family; since I’ve chosen to lead a more healthy lifestyle for me and my children and break away from the grip that his family has on him; my husband unfortunately has decided to stay behind and eat until the morning hours. I understand this is what his family has done ever since he was young. But when you have your wife and kids you have to set boundaries for your first family so that they can respect your own. No matter how much I tell him about the benefits of bringing in the New Year in a more positive light; he chooses to not move. A lot has to do with the fact that this is the way he grew up and his family refuses to let him form new traditions with his family. But at the end of the day he is an adult and people can only control you, only if you let them. I’ve explained to my children the benefits of a healthy lifestyle; and I hope they truly understand the benefits; but I know they don’t understand why their dad is not their with us. It’s two days before the New Year’s and it does feel like a double -edge sword because I have the dilemma of being with my husband in a toxic environment or starting the New Year healthy. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m definitely open to it.
Marilyn, thanks for sharing. It can be challenging when your husband’s family has traditions they are used to and you have new ones you would like to create as a family. I am curious if there is a way to do a little of both. Family is important and I love the values you are establishing for your family. Is your husband’s family open to the idea of you contributing healthy options to their meal and is your husband open to not spending the wee hours of the morning at his family’s home and maybe coming home a little early to share in those new traditions with his wife and children?
This is a more common problem than you think, dear. We handle it in our home by having my husband visit with his family during the earlier part of the day (on New Year’s Eve). While their celebration continues into the night, he homes home to us around 9 pm., and partakes in the festivities in our home. This is not a problem, as he needs time with his family, but we need healthy boundaries in place so that the primary family (ours) is allowed to function in a way that’s important to us.
Be positive about finding your solution to this problem. Over time everyone will get used
to the new solution, and a new tradition will have been established.