9+ New Year's Eve Ideas for Families (with Free Scavenger Hunt)

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These New Year's Eve ideas for families are fantastic ways to help you enjoy a fun celebration with your kids.

As we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, it's time to create unforgettable memories with your loved ones.

You'll discover a variety of ways to make this time special and memorable. These activities are delightful ways to celebrate with joy, laughter, and excitement for New Year's Eve fun.

Oh, and you'll also find a FREE printable New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt to add to your list of cool things to do as you wait to ring in a new year!

These 9+ New Year\'s Eve ideas for families (plus FREE printable scavenger hunt) are fantastic ways to enjoy an incredible time with your kids, family, and friends.

Easily Make This New Year's Eve Special with Your Kids

Who doesn’t love the anticipation and excitement of a New Year’s Eve bash?

While a night on the town may be the more traditional approach to ring in a new year, a family-friendly affair at home is just as fun. Actually, I absolutely love aNew Year’s Eve celebration with my 5 boys much more!

It takes a bit of planning to make a New Year’s Eve party fun for all ages. But, the key is to keep it simple and relaxed.

To get your party planning juices going, here are 9+ amazing ideas for you to consider for your family. You'll find an ideal party activity for each age and stage in your household to happily celebrate the new year.

New Year's eve decor at night with sparkler, candles, and ornaments plus free printable New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt for families

Fantastic New Year's Eve Ideas for Families

⭐️ Get Dressed Up

Create the ambience and fun of an exclusive New Year’s Eve party simply by dressing up! Staying home doesn’t mean you have to go without a bit of glitz and glitter.

For easy and simple dress-up ideas, pick up some sparkly accessories from the dollar store, such as party hats, tiaras, or wacky new year glasses.

Oh, and don't forget some special party decor and photo props!

⭐️ New Year’s Eve Countdown Activities

Countdown activities are perfect for keeping kids and guests busy while waiting for the arrival of midnight. Provide kids (and adults!) with something new every hour to keep everyone full of good cheer and entertained all evening. Ideas for countdown activities can be:

New Year's Eve printable activities
A new minute-to-win-it game every hour
Cookie decorating

⭐️ New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt (scroll down to get your FREE printable!)

Scavenger hunts are perfect activities that keep everyone involved and excited. So much fun for a New Year's Eve activity for family members and friends!

When guests arrive, hand them this adorable New Year’s Eve scavenger hunt and let the fun begin!

To make the game more fun, have prizes that encourage everyone to find their inner sleuth. Examples of how prizes can be awarded include:

First to finish
Last to complete
First one to find a specific item

Consider adding some small prizes for an even more fun New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt.

⭐️ Become a Family of Time Travelers

Younger children who can’t stay up until midnight don’t have to miss out on the joy of welcoming a new year. It's totally okay if you miss the live event of seeing the ball drop in Times Square!

Get everyone involved (and maintain a decent bedtime) by pretending to be time travelers for an evening and ring in the new year at an earlier time.

Netflix has kid-friendly “Happy New Year’s” videos that can create the illusion the clock strikes midnight when it’s most convenient for your family. You'll find other movies with New Year's Eve themes also on Netflix.

⭐️ Add some creative activities to your celebration

It's smart to add a few quiet activities to your New Year's eve ideas for families list. Sometimes, the excitement can start to overflow. And you might need a breather 😉

Coloring pages can be fun for all. Grab this free set of New Year's eve color by number activities and New Year's Eve Fun for kids set. Just add crayons and you'll have a simple yet fun way to relax.

Spaceships & Laser Beams shares a great list of family-friendly crafts with New Year's Eve themes.

This New Year's Eve Wand Craft from Projects for Kids is totally awesome for DIY fun!

Add some cool New Year's books for kids.

Make a family time capsule (or your kids can make individual time capsules like these cool ones!).

Get out some playdough and have some simple hands-on fun. You can make creations with New Year's Eve themes (take a look at the free printable scavenger hunt below for inspiration).

If your kids really love hands-on fun, make this New Year's Eve slime that Little Bins for Little Hands shares.

And one of our favorite things to do is grab a cardboard box and decorate it with crayons, markers, stickers, and stamps. Such a frugal yet fun way to keep busy!

⭐️ Host A Board Game Night

If your family loves board games, try turning your New Year’s Eve party into a festive family games night.

Choose games that everyone will want to try. For ideas that are better suited for younger kids, consider simple games that can be tweaked, like bingo or Twister (not exactly "board" game but still lots of fun!).

⭐️ Enjoy Activities with New Year's Eve Themes

Try some other types of games to keep the fun going.

You'll have a blast with:

⭐️ Make Fizzy Drinks

Bubbling beverages are a classic sign of a festive New Year’s celebration. For non-alcoholic and kid-friendly options, consider adding the following drinks to your all ages soiree:

Shirley Temple mocktail
Sparkling water with berries
New Year Sunrise Mocktail

Your older kids can write out a toast that are thoughtful, funny, or even songs.

⭐️ Try some tasty treats with New Year's Eve themes

Pick a few of these kid-friendly New Year's eve treats shared by Kids Activities Blog. And you just can't go wrong with pizza with some special toppings as a yummy snack!

New Year\'s Eve party hat, horn, confetti and free printable New Year\'s Eve scavenger hunt

Get Your FREE Printable New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt

Enjoy special fun activities on New Year's Eve with your family and friends!

This FREE printable fun scavenger hunt has New Year's Eve themes and is on one page. It's a great way to enjoy a fun activity with kids of all ages. Themes you'll find are:

Clock
Candy
Confetti
Balloons
Fireworks
Fizzy drink
Noise maker
New year
Candle
Snowflake
Party hat
Tiara

You can totally print out as many copies of this scavenger hunt as you need to enjoy for personal use with your family and friends 😊

If you’d like to share this activity with your friends, family, or co-workers, that would be awesome. If you do, I ask that you please share this post. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and sharing!

To get this free printable New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt, simply subscribe to Rock Your Homeschool.

⭐️ You’ll receive an email with a PDF file plus a password to open the VIP Resource Library to all RYHS freebies. Email Amy at rockyourhomeschool@gmail.com if you have any problems!

Oh, and you’ll also get emails with ideas, resources, and encouragement to make life and learning fun 🙂

(Hey hey! Current RYHS members just need to access the VIP Resource Library page and enter the password in your welcome email.)

Get your FREE New Year's Eve Scavenger Hunt by tapping HERE or on the image below.