New Year

I loved the way this idea turned out. Simple and fun for all ages. At the designated time, open the bag and all the supplies for that activity are contained inside.

There was just a bit of prep for me early in the day and it made the evening activities so relaxing and seamless.

 We had a shortened evening, hence the half hour increments for our suprise bags. The kids have all been varying degrees of sick for the past week, so we wanted to stick to normal bedtime for their sake. But we were finally well enough to hang out with friends and we took full advantage of that.

We pulled the globe out and talked about what time the New Year reaches different cities, this is the biggest reason I think an all day party would be so much fun. Your activity bags could have activities from around the world to coordinate with their New Year's time!

Here's what our bags contained this year:

6:00
A book, to set the stage for the celebration. Happy New Year, Pooh.

6:30
Cupcake decorating supplies. I made the cupcakes earlier in the day, hiding a coin inside the batter per the Greek St. Basil's Day traditions.

 
7:00
Party hat making supplies!

7:30
Noisemaker supplies!

8:00
Sparkling cider and a box of pop-its left over from 4th of July. We went outside, saw some nearby fireworks and hooped and hollered Happy New Year, Argentina!

We each filled out a New Year's Reflection card with questions about what we did in 2012 and what we expect for 2013. 

And of course, there were plenty of indulgent snacks to overeat throughout the evening and kid-friendly games for all the in-between times.

Last of all, we had also set up a photo backdrop and pulled out some choice dress up items to have for photos throughout the evening. A big hit and worth the time spent hanging all the streamers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!