Since having kids, I suddenly became aware that there aren’t that many public events for families to celebrate New Year’s Eve. We hosted our first Kids NYE party in 2010, and there are admittedly more public events for families, such as the Boston Children’s Museum’s Noon Year.

The kids were very young at our first party. We lived in a much bigger space then and set up the kitchen with a cardboard play house that the kids could color and play in, and a station for making masks (paper plates and markers) and noisemakers (toilet roll tubes closed off with paper and rubber bands and filled with dried beans). We had mini pizzas for all, and I tried to make “bubbly” jell-o but failed. It still tasted good, but there were no suspended bubbles. (There’s a reason you can’t easily find recipes for this anymore…it doesn’t work). We put Shaun the Sheep on low on the TV for kids who didn’t want to run around, and toward the end of the party (around 7 pm), we had a countdown and jumped on bubble wrap for some indoor fireworks.

As the kids got older, subsequent parties included fancier mask making supplies…paper plates, sparkly yarn, craft feathers and sequins. We wrote our wishes for the new year and made a garland. We moved the start time to 7pm and served mostly deserts and finger food like chips and dip and cut veggies. Netflix used to have some NYE countdown clips from several kids tv shows, I’m not sure if they still do that, but we used one to add pizazz to our countdown to bubble wrap jumping! That activity is a hit year after year.

We now live in a very tiny apartment and I don’t know if we’ll ever host a New Year’s Eve party here. But if you have even a little room, a family New Year’s Eve party is a wonderful and low-key way to celebrate safely with your kids and friends. Keep it simple and it won’t be expensive. Get the big-bubble wrap for more impressive pops, and the small-bubble wrap if you want a less intense experience.