Children's Arts N' Crafts for New Year's Eve Party

On Sunday we discussed that nannies and au pairs should charge more when working on New Year's Eve. Click here to see article or to let us know how much you charge on New Year's Eve.

In preparation for New Year’s Eve let the children that are hosting the party help you decorate their playroom with streamers, a sign that reads "2010" or "Happy New Year," and balloons. You might like to have the kids make their own paper party hats as an activity on New Year’s Eve (see below) but you can also purchase silly hats and tiaras at any party store.

Make Party Hats

You will need:

12-inch by 18-inch construction paper
Stapler
Pencil
Hole punch
Yarn or elastic cording
Decoration supplies

Draw a triangle onto the construction paper. Use a 12-inch edge for the height of the triangle, and an 18-inch edge to encircle the child’s head. Once you have the triangle shape made, make the bottom edge of the triangle more of a curved edge and erase the straight edge. Cut out the shape. Allow the children to decorate the paper with markers, paint, crayons, string, and glitter glue. Encourage them to write the number 2010 on the paper. After the paper has dried, form a cone shape to fit the child's head. Then staple the shape securely. If using yarn to hold the hat on the child’s head punch two holes in the hat near the bottom and knot 5-inches of yarn to each side of the hat. If using elastic cording, attach 5-inches of elastic cording by stapling the cording to the hat so it will stay on the child's head.

New Year’s Bells

You will need:

Yarn
Pencil
Craft bells
Styrofoam cups
Markers

Have the children decorate their Styrofoam cup with markers. Cut a piece of yarn, no longer than the height of the cup. Tie the yarn to the bell. Then poke a small hole on the bottom of the cup. Thread the yarn through the hole so the bell is inside the cup. Tie the yarn in a knot (or a couple of knots) so it will not come loose.

Cocktail Shakers

You will need:

Clear plastic cocktail glasses
Markers
Beans, rice, buttons, or colorful beads
Colorful electrical tape

FamilyFun's Parties: 100 Party Plans for Birthdays, Holidays & Every Day (FamilyFun Series, No. 3) describes how to keep young revelers busy assembling these simple noisemakers. The rattles are conveniently fashioned from clear plastic cocktail glasses. To make the shakers, pour a generous handful of beans, rice, buttons, or colorful beads into a cocktail glass. Place another glass on top. Match the cups rim to rum and tape together securely with colorful electrical tape.

Make Confetti Balloons

Fun idea but prepared to vacuum confetti

You will need:

Construction paper
Hole punch
(Store bought confetti for back up)
Fortunes on small pieces of paper
Funnel
Balloons

FamilyFun's Parties: 100 Party Plans for Birthdays, Holidays & Every Day (FamilyFun Series, No. 3) recommends setting up the kids to work punching out circles out of brightly colored construction paper with a hole punch (and to buy store-bought confetti as backup). Write fortunes on small pieces of paper to include in the balloons as well. Stuff the confetti into deflated balloons using a funnel. Blow up the balloons and hang them high, but within reach of the children. A few moments before midnight, hand each child a pin and, on the stoke of midnight, let the confetti fly.

What activities do you like to do with children on New Year's Eve?