Over the years we have celebrated New Year’s Eve in many different ways: quiet dinners at home, large house parties, organised parties, fireworks and more but what happens when you become parents. Everything changes, family and friends who might usually babysit are busy and it costs a fortune to hire a babysitter, unless you are really lucky!
Until a couple of years’ ago we were happy watching the Jules Holland Hootenanny, SPOILER COMING UP SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH! Why did we stop? I will set the scene… Baby in bed at 7.30, check, lovely dinner and wine, check, cosy up with fizz and chocolates, pop the telly on to enjoy the festive count down on the Jules Holland Hootenanny. It gives gave us a real sense of celebratory warmness until… we found out it was pre-recorded aghhhhhhhh. We actually found out at 11.30 one night and I was mortified! I always watched believing it was live, a real countdown and how cool to have those big celebs on New Years Eve!
So what do we do now?
Idea 1. Have a house party, let the kids stay up late and deal with the aftermath – tired kids, messy house etc etc the day after.
Idea 2. Pop the kids to bed at the usual time and enjoy your wine, food, a little music or TV.
Idea 3. If you want to involve the kids why not celebrate New Year with a different time zone. If you have family or friends who happen to live in an earlier time zone than you why not celebrate with them? Skype them or just watch their city fireworks on the screen.
This year we have decided to have our New Year celebrations early with the kids. We start the ball rolling at 4 O’clock with close friends coming over for fizz, food and games and our New Year countdown will be at 8 o’clock in time with probably one of the best firework displays of the year in Dubia. Most countries are live streaming their fireworks via You Tube this year and if you have a smart TV you can play it directly using the You Tube app from your phone. Dubai You Tube New Fire Works link here
If you have Netflix you could also air their Kids New Year’s Eve Countdown with the characters from Madagascar. This three minute film can be played any time and provides an alternative countdown. The internet is rife with stories on how to trick your kids into believing that it is a real countdown and that they have stayed up late until the midnight hour, not sure why anyone would want to do that though as there are plenty of New Year parties happening for more you can piggy back, unless you live in Samoa…
Wishing you a very Happy New Year! xxx