New Year's Fun 2015

After taking last year off because we expected to have a newborn [we didn't, because Toby was eleven days late, but it was too late to plan something], we re-instituted our mostly-annual New Year's Celebration with my college BFF and her family. We've added two more kids since the last time, bringing the grand total to seven kids under six years old, including two five-year-olds, two two-year-olds, and two nursing babies. Yikes!

See past years: 2013 and 2012.

We kept the same idea as two years ago, planning one activity every hour from 4pm until 8pm. Jenny and I got really fancy this year and used Pinterest for our planning, creating a board just for us where we could both pin ideas. Instead of opening paper bags containing the activity, this year we wrote the activity on a slip of paper, tucked it inside a balloon, and then let the kids take turns popping balloons on the hour.

A blurry Owen attempting to pop his balloon.

Now that three of the children don't nap, however, we had to start some activities before the official celebrating began! In the morning, following a scrumptious breakfast of angel food cake French toast, we made glasses out of sparkly pipe cleaners (which only Owen and Caleb were willing to wear; Levi declared them much too itchy):

During nap time, the big boys did some baking soda-vinegar experimenting in (plastic dollar-store) champagne flutes. They were quite tickled by the fizzing!

Using a medicine dropper to add vinegar. We didn't discover until later that it was much more effective (and satisfactory) to pour it in from a cup!

Note: doing this on a rimmed cookie sheet is a brilliant idea.

Caleb (with his mommy's help) was the first to get his reaction to spill over.

After they tired of that, Levi begged and pleaded until he convinced Owen and Caleb to play Monopoly, Jr. with him again (after several games the previous day). He loved this game, even though Owen kept winning!

Must be the glasses.

At 4pm, we did this firework art with glue, salt, and water colors. (Tutorial through the link.)

At 5pm, we pulled out all the dress-up clothes and had a dance party!

Levi is totally channeling Elton John, don't you think?

At 5:30pm (no balloon), we had an appetizer dinner: pizza rolls (I can't find the recipe now), fruit salsa (with store-bought cinnamon pita chips), PF Chang copycat lettuce wraps, veggies and hummus.

My mad veggie-arranging skills.

At 6pm, we got REALLY insane and made glitter playdough.

Some of them stayed in dress-ups.

There is a two-year-old stirring a bowl full of glitter. We're CRAZY.

You have to turn the lights off if you're all wearing glow sticks!

Silas was not crazy about the way the playdough felt.

At 7pm, as if we hadn't eaten enough already, we had s'mores dip. (It was supposed to be "the kids' snack," but let's be honest: the adults ate it, too.) 

Chocolate is messy.

At 8pm (or, more precisely, 7:55pm, after getting jammies on), we watched an old video of the ball drop on youtube, poured club soda over cotton candy (it worked, but clear soda would taste better) in the champagne flutes for a fizzy toasting drink (Levi kept asking when we were having "the toast," and it took some time for me to figure out he wanted bread, not good words), counted down the final seconds and repeated our balloon drop from two years ago.

So many fizzy things this year! 

The three glasses on the right all started with cotton candy, just like the one she's about to pour.

My and me fire-truck-jammie-clad pink-star-sunglasses-sporting rock star.

But the fun's only beginning when the littles go to bed. The past few year's we've wandered off to games like Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne, but this year we went back to our roots for an hours-long Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights. We fueled our late night with bacon-wrapped tater tots and chocolate mint mousse brownies, oh yes we did.

Okay, we're not so cheery after midnight, particularly the men. But a long night of games and food and fun with some of my very favorite people on the planet? I can think of no better way to kick off a new year!