10 New Year’s Eve Activities for Kids

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Need some fun ideas to entertain your kids on New Year’s Eve?

I’ve compiled a list of all the things my girls and I did this past New Year’s Eve. I had such a great time making this a special holiday for them and watching them have fun celebrating it.

And my girls may be just shy of 2 and 4-years-old right now, but these activities will be a part of our traditions for many years to come since they are great for all ages.

1. Make a “New Year’s Eve Activity Bag” (or Box)

I filled a gold bag with some of the party supplies we’d be utilizing on New Year’s Eve, which included noisemakers, glitter hats, silver bead necklaces, gold balloons (not yet blown up), and a couple of LED light-up wands I picked up at the dollar store.

Since it was only a few days after Christmas, I felt that getting a “present” of activities would be a neat way to start the day.

2. Champagne Bubble Balloon Toss

Speaking of balloons, I find that they are a sure way to make any day special. So, naturally, they make holidays extra special.

In the spirit of the holiday, I picked up a package of gold balloons at Walmart (for a buck) because they were the color of champagne. I told the girls they were like bubbles and we kicked and bounced and tossed them around throughout the day and night.

3. Make Giant Numbers for Photos and Decoration

I always have construction paper on hand (especially for our alphabet activities) and so that’s what I used to make the numbers. I chose 4 colors and cut each of the numbers from a different sheet. And I did it by hand. I’ve learned that my kids aren’t perfectionists like me, so I don’t have to kill myself over the details.

We used the numbers first to pose for a few photos. Next I asked my oldest daughter what the numbers were and asked if she could trace them each with her fingers. Then we taped them to the TV hutch, just under the television, so that they would be visible while we watched the ball drop. (They actually fell asleep before that, but we left the numbers up for a few days anyway, since they looked so cheerful.)

4. Practice Counting Down

Okay, I don’t know if older kids would get a kick out of this, but my girls certainly found it exciting.

Throughout the day, when discussing New Year’s Eve and how the ball would drop at midnight, I would announce, “Let’s practice counting down!” and we would shout out the numbers from 10 to 1 followed by a shout of “Happy New Years!”

My oldest daughter loved the counting and my littlest one enjoyed all the noise.

5. Celebrate with Fireworks

We let the girls handle a couple of sparklers, and I was surprised at how quickly and excitedly they went through a whole box of snappers. Then we lit a fountain-type firework in the street and did our many ooooohs and aaaaahs.

Many people set off fireworks at midnight, but we did all this just after the sun went down.

6. Dress Up

A great way to ring in the new year is by getting all dolled up – even if you’re just hanging out at home. Whether you’re throwing (or attending) a party or just riding out the ball drop on your couch, adding a little frill to your outfit will make it extra special.

My girls got dressed up in twirl-worthy skirts and party bead necklaces. Let girls paint their nails in fun colors. Let boys try on silly neckties or style their hair in Mohawks. Have fun with it.

7. Eat Party Food

You may actually be throwing a party, but even if you’re not, celebrate the holiday like you are. This goes along with #6. Serve appetizers and tapas instead of a large meal. Set out chips and dip, cheese and crackers, hot wings.

You could make regular food special, like serving hot dogs that have been cut in spirals and turned into “confetti ribbons.”

And eat grapes. You’re young ones might not be able to stuff a dozen grapes in their mouths in a minute like the traditional Twelve Grapes of Luck, but you can still snack on them throughout the day. It helped to sneak some more fruit into our day by announcing that they were good luck.

8. Make a Giant Cookie Clock

Make a cookie cake into a Cookie Clock by adding chocolate numbers. And, sure, I talked about numbers and counting with my daughter with this clock as inspiration, but really, we mostly made it for the sake of the chocolaty, gooey goodness. Read about it here.

9. Make Confetti Poppers

This was a New Years craft for us, because my kids helped. We made confetti and made “poppers” that showered the confetti on us. It was a fun addition to our celebration. Here are our Confetti Poppers:

10. Serve Sparkling Grape Juice

But not just any sparkling grape juice… if you want to make it really festive, add in some cotton candy!

What New Year’s Eve traditions do you have? How do you celebrate it with your kids?

6Jan2014

New Year’s Eve Confetti Poppers

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

New Year's Eve Confetti Poppers

Confetti is always a fun way to celebrate holidays and special occasions.

Until it is time to clean up.

So, to find a way to incorporate confetti into our New Year’s celebration, I decided upon Confetti Poppers that were designed much like a pull-string pinata. And, like a pinata, we put them outside.

For the confetti, we used construction paper cut into tiny pieces. My 3-year-old was very excited about this part. I did some of the confetti, but it was mostly her job while I constructed the poppers and her younger sister giggled about the tissue paper.

New Year's Eve Confetti Poppers

I’ve seen a few varieties of things like this online, but I chose my materials based off of what I had on hand.

You’ll need:

toilet paper rolls
tissue paper
pipe cleaners
construction paper
ribbon or string
scissors

Cut the construction paper into tiny pieces for the confetti. Take the pipe cleaners and wrap one end into a kind of ball or loop. The bigger the loop the better, because the smaller loops I made (like the one pictured below) didn’t break the paper enough for all of the confetti to fall out, and those poppers had to be shaken a little.

Also, if your pipe cleaners are “kid-friendly” like mine were, you’ll need to un-bend the end so that the pointy metal piece is straight, and not tucked over.

Take a piece of colorful tissue paper (ours was used tissue paper from previous birthdays – yes, I’m that person), and wrap it around an empty toilet paper roll, gathering the extra. With small scissors, poke a teeny, tiny hole in the center of the paper that’s wrapped around the roll – see photo.

New Year's Eve Confetti Poppers

After poking the hole, very, very gently push the pipe cleaner through it by inserting it in the top of the toilet paper roll and pushing it through the hole and pulling it all the way down. If you do this roughly, you’ll rip the paper. The loop in your pipe cleaner should be resting on the tissue paper covering the bottom of the toilet paper roll.

Pour a handful of confetti into the top of the toilet paper roll and gather the tissue paper together to close it. Tie a long ribbon or string around the gathered paper. Use the other end of this string to tie the poppers to something high, or just to hold them over your kids if you don’t have anything to hang them from.

New Year's Eve Confetti Poppers

We hung ours outside, mostly so we wouldn’t get confetti all over the house. Unfortunately, it began to rain just as I tied the last popper on the branch, so we rushed a little more than I expected. But the poppers achieved their goal: smiles and giggles.

New Year's Eve Confetti Poppers

Roaming Rosie Signature

5Jan2014

Cotton Candy Champagne or Sparkling Juice

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Cotton Candy Champagne or Sparkling Juice

I gotta be honest here: I’m not a fan of sparkling grape juice.

But a shot of whiskey was not going to be how my girls were going to ring in the new year. Not for another 18 or 20 years, anyway.

So sparkling grape juice it is.

I wanted to do something a little different, tho, and so I picked up some cotton candy at the dollar store, since I’ve read that people sometimes add it to champagne.

The result?

I loved it!

And so did my girls, which is the important part.

Cotton Candy Champagne or Sparkling Juice

It’s such a simple concept, too: put a little cotton candy in your glass and pour the champagne / sparkling grape juice over it. Watch it fizz, and enjoy!

The fizzing happens quite quickly, but it’s still fun to watch. And listen to. But the best part? Your sparkling grape juice now tastes like cotton candy. Yum!

Cotton Candy Champagne or Sparkling Juice

As you can see in the above photo, the cotton candy disappeared almost the instant the sparkling juice hit it, so it was hard for me to capture the actual process on film. Although the “after” is kinda pretty.

I used pink cotton candy above, and then I tossed some blue cotton candy into it, which you can see below. The result was a somewhat murky purple, but delicious.

Cotton Candy Champagne or Sparkling Juice

And, I served it in aperitif glasses, so that my preschooler could feel like a grownup with her own kid-sized wine glass.

This will definitely be served for many New Year’s to come!

Roaming Rosie Signature

4Jan2014

Spiral Cut “Confetti” Hot Dogs

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

Spiral Cut Confetti Hot Dogs

To add a little extra pizazz to a regular lunch around New Years, I made my kids’ hot dogs into confetti ribbons.

This is kind of the same concept as spiral potatoes, and it only takes a couple of minutes.

You’ll need:

hot dogs
skewers
knife

Insert the skewer into the hot dog, keeping it as close to the center as possible all the way through. I found it easiest to put the hot dog on it’s end and push the skewer down through it.

Then lay the hot dog on it’s side and angle your knife a little. Begin cutting through the hot dog at the very top, cutting into it until your knife hits the skewer. Then turn the knife, cutting around and around the hot dog while making sure to continue cutting into it as deep as the skewer while moving in a pattern much like when you peel an apple in one piece. Do this until you reach the other end, then gently push the hot dog off of the skewer.

Spiral Cut Confetti Hot Dogs

The best way to cook these is to boil them. Microwaving can cause it to cook unevenly and baking would crisp it up too much.

So bring a pot of water to a boil, throw in the hot dogs, and gently simmer them for 4 or 5 minutes.

Then serve up the edible confetti! Great for New Years and birthdays, or just adding some surprise to an otherwise ordinary day.

Roaming Rosie Signature

3Jan2014

New Year’s Eve Cookie Clock

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Cookies are always a good idea.

Seriously.

So why not bake a giant cookie to help you ring in the New Year?

Since I wanted our giant cookie to look like a clock, I used melted chocolate to make some numbers. I used dark cocoa chocolate melts, but you could also use regular chocolate chips for this, too.

I melted them at 50% power in a baggy, then cut off a small corner to squeeze out the chocolate onto some parchment paper. I let these harden while we made the cookie.

And the easiest way to shape your cookie into a circle is by using a circular pan. I don’t have any fancy “giant cookie pans” or anything, so we smushed our cookie dough into a regular cake pan. On top of a piece of parchment paper, though, that I had cut into a circle just smaller than the pan. The paper keeps the cookie from sticking.

Use your favorite cookie dough here. I went with chocolate chip, and I even used a box mix since we had some of those BOGO deals from Publix taking up room in the pantry, but you could use any recipe you like.

You need to watch it as it’s cooking. Since it will be thicker than a regular cookie, the middle will still be a little soft when the edges are done. You just kind of have to judge. Usually the middle will feel a little underdone to some people (unless you overcook it), but that’s what I love about them. It’s kind of like a cookie-brownie.

When you take the baked cookie out of the oven, let it sit for a minute or two, and then lay the chocolate numbers on top of the cookie, very gently pressing to make sure it stays in place.

The heat from the cookie will melt the bottom of the chocolate numbers and as the cookie cools the numbers will harden again.

To make the pattern easier, put the 12, 3, 6, and 9 on first, and arrange the other numbers in between them.

I drew on the hands of the clock afterwards, since I wasn’t really sure what size I’d need. You could draw the hands ahead of time when you make the numbers, though. And if you really want to make them ahead of time but you’re really worried about the size, make a few and choose the best when the cookie is done.

Once the cookie and numbers had finished cooled, I stuck some candles in it and we sang Happy Birthday to Mother Earth in celebration of the New Year. My girls loved blowing out the candles at the end of the song.

Oh, and I did actually remove the cookie from the pan after we took out the candles and before we cut it. It only cracked a little on the edge when I stuck a cake server under it to transfer it to a plate, but I didn’t take any photos after that. Was too busy eating. :)

Do you have any special New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day foods? Let me know!

29Dec2013

Roaming Rosie Reads Harry the Dirty Dog

Posted in roaming rosie reads by Rosemary Lynn

Harry likes to get dirty and he hates taking baths. Typical ~~man~~ dog. :)

Anyway, this is a much requested book in our household. Both of my girls love reading about Harry. We have a few other Harry books, but the original is our favorite.

And, I just found out there’s a stuffed version of Harry:

How cute is that?

27Dec2013

Roaming Rosie Reads Franklin in the Dark

Posted in roaming rosie reads by Rosemary Lynn

Franklin is my favorite turtle. :)

I read this book with my girls all the time. The rhythm is fantastic, so it’s especially great at bedtime.

It’s about being brave, it’s about problem solving, and it’s about family. A great combination. But mostly, kids just find it fun and entertaining. Can’t beat that. :)

Franklin recently celebrated his 25th anniversary. You can find him here.

Enjoy!

20Dec2013

Crystal Snowmen

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Crystal Snowmen | Borax Christmas Ornament Craft

I love how these crystal snowmen catch the light of the low winter sun.

These snowmen are our version of the traditional borax Christmas ornaments. I used white pipe cleaners (chenille sticks) to represent the snowmen: one per ornament/sun catcher.

Crystal Snowmen

The above photo shows how we made them. They were pretty easy for my 3-year-old to help with.

We took one stick and made it into a circle, twisting the ends around each other to seal the shape. Then we twisted it a little over a third of the way up to create the bottom circle of the snowman, and again to create the torso and head.

Crystal Snowmen

I tied some thread to the top of the snowmen and wrapped that thread around the handle of a spoon that fit over a wide, 1 liter measuring cup. You can do just one ornament in a smaller glass, but I wanted to do two at a time.

Make sure you have a enough room to hang the snowmen, then take them out of the glass. Fill the glass with water and boil it in the microwave, or add boiling water from another source. Mix in the borax and stir gently, then put the snowmen back in. Let it sit overnight. Done!

You’ll need:

pipe cleaners (chenille sticks)
thread
4 cups boiling water
1/2 cup borax

After sitting overnight, dump out the water. If the crystals that formed on the snowmen attached to crystals on the bottom of the glass, simply chip them gently away with a fork. Then, unravel the thread from the spoon and tie a loop to attach to suction cups for a window or a hook for a tree ornament.

What kind of borax ornaments have you made?

And don’t forget to check out these other Christmas crafts:

DIY Lifesize Cardboard Gingerbread House

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Easy Christmas Craft: Paper Cone Christmas Trees

Easy Christmas Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Ornament Painting

15Dec2013

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Our next Christmas craft this year was a felt Christmas tree that was bigger than my girls.

It’s a similar concept to our Halloween felt board, but much, much bigger.

And more fashionable.

I had actually intended on doing a more traditional-looking felt Christmas tree, kind of like this tree that I saw last year.

But then I came across these amazing felt sheets:

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Score!

With these printed felt pieces I could make a delightfully girly Christmas tree instead! :)

Found them at Walmart, of all places. And I bought a yard of dark green felt from their fabric department, for the tree. I thought about getting some dark purple or a paisley patterned piece heavy with lime green (they sell precut pieces like these at Michaels), but I decided to stick with the green. I liked how it looked.

And I was going to cut a star from one of the pieces I had, but then I came across those adorable pink felt star ornaments on sale at Michaels. For forty cents, I couldn’t pass them up. Especially since they matched the felt I already had.

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Because I didn’t want to screw up the tree while cutting, I folded my yard of fabric in half, lengthwise, and drew a tree pattern on it with chalk, instead of just cutting it out by hand, like I do most things.

Then I cut out the ornaments. I cut rough squares and then cut circles out of them. I cut a dozen ornaments from the two with zebra stripes, but only six from the other two patterns, to give them some variation of size.

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Then I had to decide where to hang it. I tried using tape, even packing tape, but it was kind of heavy, so I didn’t consider the tape sturdy enough.

I tried sticking the felt directly to the stucco wall on the porch, thinking it would stick like felt does to brick, but the stucco was too smooth because of the paint.

I wound up going with Command Strips (pictured above). The picture hanging ones come with a texture similar to Velcro, so, instead of using the 8 pieces as a set of 4 hangers, I stuck the rough side of the strips right on the felt tree. Then I peeled off the sticky backing and stuck it on the wall.

The main reason I used the Strips is because I can adjust the tree. With a gentle pull, the felt comes right off of the rough side of the strips. And, when it’s time to pack up the Christmas decorations, I can gently pull the Strips off the wall. (But always follow the directions – if you do, they won’t harm your wall, but if you don’t, they’ll take the paint right off.)

Although, if you prefer, you could just leave the tree on the floor and let your kids play with it that way. But I think they have more fun with it if it’s hanging up. Like this:

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

I love the felt for playing. It’s great for both my preschooler and my toddler. They can put the ornaments on the tree, take them off, rearrange them, make patterns, and then do it all over again.

And I love that I found these fancy felt sheets. I was prepared to do the tree in traditional colors, but I love this concept. It’s so easy to change up the colors. Like, you could do a white Christmas tree instead. Or blue. Or green, but with just gold ornaments. Or whatever colors you’ve used to decorate your home for Christmas. What a great way to personalize an interactive toy for your kids!

Felt Fashion Christmas Tree

Have fun with it!

And please share if you’ve made your own! :)

And don’t forget to check out these other Christmas crafts:

DIY Lifesize Cardboard Gingerbread House

Easy Christmas Craft: Paper Cone Christmas Trees

Easy Christmas Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Ornament Painting

Crystal Snowmen

Roaming Rosie Signature

3Dec2013

Our Colorful Backyard: Color Matching Activity for Kids

Posted in activities for kids by Rosemary Lynn

Our Colorful Backyard: Color Matching Activity for Kids

Today we spent some time exploring the colors in our backyard.

A bit of a colorful treasure hunt, really.

We collected items in various colors and placed them in matching paper boxes. We gathered leaves, grass, flowers, mulch, moss, and rocks. But the photos don’t even show everything we found, because we got distracted by a friendly ladybug, and when we went back out to get more flowers, I forgot my camera. :)

Either way, here are some of the things we found:

Our Colorful Backyard: Color Matching Activity for Kids

All of these boxes were made from construction paper and tape.

I picked out construction paper in brown, orange, green, purple, red, and white. Then I took my scissors and cut a slit in towards the center at each corner. Then I folded up the sides, wrapping the edges of the short ends on the outside of the long ends, and taping them together.

Kinda like this:

colorful backyard buckets

It’s not sturdy for long-term play, or to hold heavy items, but it worked perfectly for this activity.

Our Colorful Backyard: Color Matching Activity for Kids

And here is our little ladybug friend, hanging out on my daughter’s fingers:

Our Colorful Backyard: Color Matching Activity for Kids

You can still do this color identifying activity even if you don’t have a backyard. Bring the paper buckets to the park instead, or use heavy-duty beach buckets in different colors to collect toys around the house. Or just wrap some pieces of colored construction paper around existing buckets.

Not crafty at all? Just lay the construction paper on the ground (on a non-windy day) and let your kids place their collections right on top of the paper in piles.

Either way, the point is to have fun exploring the backyard (garden/park/etc) and not fussing about the container in which they’ll collect their treasures. :)