26 Fun New Year’s Eve Ideas for Families
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How to Plan a Family New Year’s Celebration
*Updated 12/6/2025
New Year’s Eve is typically a holiday reserved for adults attending parties or heading out to bars, but it’s also a great opportunity for your family to gather together and celebrate new beginnings. Welcome the new year with these fun New Year’s Eve ideas for families and begin creating traditions to share for years to come.
1. Make a NYE Wish with a Cupcake
Treat New Year’s like a birthday party and let everyone in the family make a wish for what they want in 2025. You can bake cupcakes together as a family activity for the evening or let everyone pick out their own special cupcake from your favorite bakery. Place a candle in each cupcake whenever you decide to ring in the new year. As everyone blows out their candles, they can make their own very special wishes for good things to come.
2. Host a New Year’s Movie Night
Pick a favorite movie… or two or three… for everyone to watch together. Freshly popped popcorn and movie theater candy add to the fun, and you can turn all the lights off to create an at-home theater experience. Consider movies that stand the test of time to make this a family tradition, such as The Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. You can also use New Year’s Eve as an excuse to splurge by renting a new movie everyone’s been waiting to see. Here are some fun ways to decorate for your New Year’s movie night.
3. Ring in the New Year with Bells
Make a joyful noise as the clock strikes 12 (or whenever you decide bedtime is for the whole crew). Jingling bells are perfect for bringing fun to your family NYE party. You can purchase a set of jingle bells, or you can purchase bells for crafting and let the kids string them together with yarn to create their own homemade instruments.
4. Set Up a New Year’s Buffet
Hotels and casinos often set up New Year’s buffets for party guests, and you can create some of that fun at home with a mini buffet. A DIY burger station, taco bar, or salad buffet are all great options. You can also make baked potatoes and put out a spread of toppings for everyone to choose. The fun for each of these ideas is letting everyone pile on their own ingredients, so don’t be afraid to pick a few unexpected items. Chicken nuggets and fish sticks for a taco bar are great for picky eaters, while pepperoni and marinara sauce give kids a fun way to create a pizza burger.
5. Create a Year-in-Review Memory Book
Take some time on New Year’s Eve to reminisce about the best memories of 2024. You can write them all down in a notebook for a quick trip down memory lane. Another idea is to invest in a beautiful heirloom-quality journal, which you can use to record each year’s best memories every New Year’s Eve. Over time, you’ll collect some of the most precious memories while also creating a living time capsule to pass down to your children. Be sure to choose a journal that’s refillable so you have plenty of room for everyone’s best memories.
6. Get Dressed for a NYE Party
Use New Year’s Eve as an excuse to break out your best party attire and let everyone play dress-up for the night. This gives little ones an excuse to wear their holiday dresses and suits again, but you can also put a twist on the idea by dressing up in old Halloween costumes. Add in party hats, costume jewelry, and other accessories for extra fun. You can even turn this idea into a fashion show by having everyone walk the “runway” in your home to feature their best looks.
7. Build a New Year’s Eve Sundae Bar
A DIY dessert station with unique toppings makes celebrating New Year’s Even fun for the whole family. Just two or three ice cream flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, for example) create the centerpiece for your sundae bar. Stock up on traditional fixings, including hot fudge, sprinkles, and whipped cream, but don’t forget to add some extra fun to the spread. Gummy worms, Swedish fish, berries, and even your kids’ favorite cereals are all great options for your NYE sundae bar.
8. Fill a New Year’s Time Capsule
Creating a time capsule every New Year’s Eve can be a great tradition for your family. Each year, you’ll open up the previous year’s collection to see what everyone thought their future selves might be delighted by, and you can also spend part of the night refilling the capsule for the following year. Don’t worry about burying it in the ground (especially if you live in a cold climate where the ground is frozen). Simply invest in a memory box and place it in on a shelf to wait until next New Year’s Eve.
9. Count Down Around the World
New Year’s Eve begins early in the day if you live in the United States, and you can watch the countdowns in different cities throughout the world. Set a timer so your family can gather every hour (a few minutes before the hour changes) to count down along with people in each time zone. You can even challenge older kids to learn how to count in different languages for a fun way to learn more about different cultures. Cable news channels are great for airing live countdowns in different countries
10. Make Your Own New Year’s Eve Party Hats
Take some time to learn how to fold paper hats as a family on New Year’s Eve. Once everyone’s hats are done, get creative with decorations. Sequins, glitter, dry pasta, crayons, and markers are all perfect for creating one-of-a-kind New Year’s Eve party hats. Be sure to have glue sticks, tape, and maybe even a stapler on hand to make sure each hat is sturdy enough to wear throughout the night. These party hat craft kits are also great, and the scratch design reveals fun rainbows of color, so there’s no need for markers or paint.
11. Create Your Own New Year’s Fireworks
Fireworks are a New Year’s Eve tradition, and you can make your own safe, child-friendly version at home with glow sticks and silly string. Turn off the lights and activate the glow sticks to begin your light celebration. With glow sticks in one hand, unleash the silly string with the other. If the weather is permitting, this is a great activity to take outside after dark for more fun. If using the silly string indoors, make sure you steer clear of carpet and furniture (or any other surfaces you want to protect).
12. Create a 2026 Wall Calendar
Don’t put the craft supplies away after you’re done making your party hats! Use your construction paper and markets to draw pictures for a 2026 wall calendar. Each family member can draw pictures for a few months of the year or you can all team up to add some imagery to a page for every month. Once you’re done creating the pictures, scan and upload them to a printing service site. Shutterfly, Vistaprint, and Walgreen’s all have convenient printing options. Finish designing the calendar on your website of choice and place your order. This unique calendar will bring back memories of the fun you shared on NYE throughout the year.
13. Get Silly with New Year’s Eve Karaoke
A karaoke dance party is fun for the whole family, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. You can simply stream your favorite music or turn on the radio to find some tunes. A hair brush still doubles as a pretend microphone for a classic and easy way to pretend to be a superstar. If you want to make your karaoke dance party a little more official, you can invest in a karaoke machine. As you shop, look for one with wireless technology and Bluetooth connectivity to make setup and use easier. Some even come with party lights to add more fun to your New Year’s Eve party.
14. Play New Year’s Resolution Charades
Instead of just going around the room and sharing your resolutions for the new year, try turning it into a game! Have everyone write down their resolutions on slips of paper and place them in a bowl. Each person can grab one slip of paper and act out the resolution. Once you’ve guessed correctly, you can also guess whose resolution it is too. Another option is to play a version of Pictionary with the resolutions using a dry-erase board and markers. This game is geared more towards older kids, but you can adapt it by having everyone act out or draw their own resolutions instead.
15. Pick a New Year’s Eve Craft
A New Year’s Eve-themed craft is a perfect way to spend time together as you wait for 2025 to begin. Create picture frames or fridge magnets to display in your home or simply challenge your little ones to draw a picture of what they think the new year has in store for them. If you want to make a craft but don’t know where to begin with supplies, you can buy a New Year’s craft kit .
16. Try a New Cuisine for the New Year
Start a new family tradition by trying a new cuisine each New Year’s Eve. You can order takeout for a quick and easy way to sample food from around the world or you can have the whole family cook together. Preparing and sampling new recipes as a family creates happy memories, even if you don’t succeed in your cooking endeavors. Be sure to have a backup meal or snacks planned just in case the new cuisine isn’t a hit with everyone in the house.
17. Set up a New Year’s Photo Booth
Capture all the happy memories from the night by setting up a New Year’s photo booth. Gather the party hats you’ve made, along with other costume accessories, and invite everyone to strike a pose. These images make great additions to a digital picture frame slideshow, but you can also have a book printed with all the pictures to create a keepsake. Make the photo booth part of your family’s NYE tradition and print a book every year.
18. Have a New Year’s Balloon Drop
You might not be able to do real fireworks or recreate the Time’s Square ball drop, but you can add a festive touch to your family’s New Year’s countdown with a balloon drop. Nets with rip cords make this project easy, but you can also use a simple garbage bag or tarp taped to the ceiling. When the clock strikes 12 (or whichever hour you decide to celebrate), release the balloons and celebrate the start of 2025. If you do buy balloon drop net, remember that balloons are typically sold separately. You may also want to invest in a balloon pump to make setup easier. .
19. Hold a Board Game Tournament
Waiting for the clock to strike 12 can be hard for little ones, but you can make time go by faster by holding a board game tournament. This can be as simple as playing Go Fish or checkers throughout the night. The key is to choose two-player games so everyone can play their own matches simultaneously. The winner of each game can “advance” to the finals to see who the big winner of the night is.
20. Build Individual New Year’s Charcuterie Boards
A midnight celebration calls for a midnight snack, and creating mini charcuterie boards gives everyone their perfect snack. You can keep this idea super simple by just putting out a selection of meats, cheese, and fruits for everyone to pick from. They can each fill their tray with their choices, so you don’t have to buy any fancy serving pieces for this idea. Have toothpicks available so everyone can create fun designs with their foods. Don’t forget to have a few dips and spreads available, and even spray cheese can be fun for kids’ charcuterie boards!
21. Give Out New Year’s Journals
Encourage your whole family to journal their thoughts and feelings throughout the year by gifting them brand new journals and pens. Even little ones who aren’t able to read and write yet can journal through pictures, so consider gifting them crayons and journals with unlined pages. While New Year’s Eve isn’t typically a holiday for giving presents, the gift of a journal makes a wonderful family tradition. Here are some tips we put together about how to journal as a family.
22. Have a New Year’s Spa Night
Instead of focusing on the party aspect of New Year’s Eve, focus instead on the concept of renewal. You and your family can have a fun time with an at-home spa night and spend the evening relaxing. Foot soaks with Epsom salt and DIY mani-pedis are perfect for your spa night. You can also make your own oatmeal face masks with just three ingredients (oatmeal, water, and honey). If you have very young children, consider letting them do your nails or makeup to add to the fun.
23. Make it a New Year’s Slumber Party
If your kids are determined to stay up until midnight (or after) on New Year’s Eve, turn the living room into a slumber party zone. Move the coffee table and other furniture out of the way and set up air mattresses for the whole family. You won’t have to worry about carrying each child to bed after they fall asleep, and the slumber party tradition makes the night feel truly special. Another way to make the slumber party fun is to build a fort or add a tent to the living room to make it feel more like you’re camping out inside for the night. Be sure to have some flashlights handy. They are slumber party staples, but they also let you shine some light at midnight for a fun way to celebrate.
24. Toast The New Year with a Kid-Friendly Beverage
Parents all have their own feelings about mocktails at midnight or even giving their kids a sip of champagne. However, you can toast the new year with fun, kid-friendly beverages they create on their own that don’t have any connection to alcohol or pretending to drink alcohol. This can be as simple as letting them pour and stir their own chocolate milk, but you can also let them create fancy concoctions too. For example, mixing apple and white grape juice together creates a delicious new juice flavor, and adding a few pieces of real fruit adds to the fun. Consider serving up these special beverages in mason jars and adding silly straws to truly make this part of the night exciting for kids.
25. Plan a New Year’s Eve Family Picnic
An outdoor winter picnic is the perfect adventure for New Year’s Eve! You can keep things simple by having your picnic in the backyard or a local park. Pack plenty of snacks, and if your area permits it, bring along some sparklers too. The great thing about a winter picnic is that you can have one no matter where you live (yes, even if it’s cold outside). Here are some pointers we came up with for how to plan a winter family picnic.
26. Have a New Year’s Eve Midnight Breakfast
With everyone staying up so late, why not get breakfast out of the way before you go to bed? Begin prepping breakfast at 11:00 (depending on what you’ll be making and how long everything will take to cook). Have the table set before midnight, and then celebrate the start of 2026 by enjoying the first family meal of the year together before you all head off to bed.
No matter how you spend the evening together, New Year’s Eve family celebrations can be magical. Use these ideas as inspiration as you plan the night’s events and prepare to make magical memories with everyone you love. For more fun family activity ideas, check out our other blog posts or follow us on Pinterest!
