New Year’s Eve doesn’t just have to be fun for adults. You can make it super fun for your kids as well (and at a decent hour too, if you choose).
You could create their very own countdown with different activities and fun throughout the day, ending whenever you want them in bed. Or, let them stay up til midnight. There are so many fun and simple New Year’s Eve hourly activities that you can do with your kids to make it a memorable time.
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What Is a New Year’s Eve Hourly Countdown?
The idea of an hourly countdown is to do a different activity every hour throughout the day until you hit the New Year. However, it is totally flexible to how you want to do it.
You could start at noon all the way until midnight, doing a different activity. Or, you can start at 9:00 at night until midnight. The activities can range from answering a question to making a fun party hat.
Plus, you can announce the activities in a creative way. One way to do this is to put the activity on a slip of paper in a balloon, then blow up the balloon. Write on the balloon the time you will pop it to reveal the activity.
Pop it when that time comes and do the activity. The kids have all day to look forward to it, and they can see the different times on the balloons. This also works with boxes, envelopes, or anything that can conceal the surprise.
Is It Kid-Friendly?
Absolutely! This really works with any age. If you have younger kids, you can have simple little activities, and for the older kids you can even just have them journal a question or reminisce about the year.
Are New Year’s Eve Hourly Activities Done at Home?
Yes! Most of these activities are for the home, but could also be done in the classroom.
List of New Year’s Eve Countdown Activities for Kids
You can do as many or as few activities as you want, but I have compiled a list of different activities you can do to create this fun New Year’s Eve hourly countdown. You can find the complete list with printables and full details in my shop.
- Ask questions reflecting on the year – 36 different questions included for kids
- Throw a dance party
- Make a fun New Year’s Eve treat
- Set goals for the New Year – 2 goal sheets are included for kids to fill out
- What are your favorites this year? – printable included
- Make a fun noise maker craft
- Decorate the house for New Year’s Eve
- Make a party hat craft – instructions and template included
- Do sparklers
- Make a bucket list – printable included
- Make a fortune teller – template with 4 different designs included and instructions
- Color New Year’s Eve coloring pages – 5 NYE coloring pages included
- Play a game together
- Make hot chocolate
- Play New Year’s Eve Pictionary or charades – NYE Pictionary cards included
- Decorate shirts with glow-in-the-dark paint
- Play balloon volleyball or tennis
- Play glow-in-the-dark tic tac toe or ring toss
- Play in the snow with some fake snow
- Play a New Year’s Eve word scramble – word scramble included
- Camp out in the living room
- Toast to the New Year (with Martinelli’s)
- Look through pictures from the year and reminisce
- Bundle up and go star gazing
- Countdown the New Year in a different country – New Year’s Eve around the world game included
- Fill out My Year in Review – form included
- Play who wrote the memory – a fun game with instructions included
- Do a scavenger hunt around the house – scavenger hunt included
My Favorite Kids New Years Activities
Let’s highlight a few of my personal favorites from this New Year’s Eve hourly countdown activities list!
Fortune Teller
The fortune teller is a favorite of mine. My kids love to make fortune tellers, but the one I created is a little more elaborate. It has 4 different designs. You can find inside: New Year’s predictions, questions for New Year’s, fun actions, and a blank template.
You will never be bored with these fun fortune tellers.
Click here to get just the fortune teller game.
New Year’s Eve Around The World
You could find out when different places hit the New Year around the world, and count down to them each time. It would be like celebrating the New Year all day long. And to go along with this, you can do New Year’s Eve around the world, which is a printable that matches countries to their language with the saying “Happy New Year”!
Kiritimati, Kiribati is the first place to hit the New Year. Australia is close behind it.
Click here to get just the New Year’s Eve Around The World game.
Glow-In-The-Dark Games
Play glow-in-the-dark ring toss or glow-in-the-dark tic tac toe. Or, you can just buy some fun glow-in-the-dark bracelets. You can find a lot of glow-in-the-dark accessories at Dollar Tree.
Make the ring toss with some old bottles. Put some glow-in-the-dark paint or tape on them, and use glow-in-the-dark bracelets to “ring” the bottles with the lights off.
Make tic-tac-toe by using some glow-in-the-dark tape to make a tic-tac-toe grid and use bracelets for the X’s and O’s. Play in the dark.
You can find some glow-in-the-dark paint here.
You can find some other paint, stickers, and rope options here that glow in the dark.
Reminisce About the New Year
It is so fun to talk about how the year went and what we hope for in the next year. You can do this by asking questions and discussing them together or by journaling them. You either get this printable with 36 questions, you can download it for FREE by signing up below. Or, you can also reminisce by looking through all your photos from the past year.
Lastly, you can play a game called “Who Wrote the Memory”. Play this game by having everyone secretly write down a memory from the year. Place them all in a hat.
Designate someone to be the “reader”. Have them read all the memories. Then you have to go around the room and have everyone guess who wrote what memory. If you guess right you keep guessing, and if you guess wrong it goes to the next person.
If someone guesses you, you’re out. The reader cannot guess, but can be chosen for a match with a memory. The last person standing wins!
My Year In Review
Do a year in review! Grab this printable, which goes over the year. What you learned, what was best, etc… If you want, put it in a time capsule to pull out for next year!
How To Use These Activities For a New Year’s Eve Hourly Countdown
First, get our New Year’s Eve hourly countdown activity pack. Please note, the individual activities listed above are included in this bundle.
Pick anywhere from 1-12 activities (or 29 if you want to take on all of them) to do throughout New Year’s Eve to countdown to the new year.
Here are some ways you can do it:
- Randomly surprise your kids with New Year’s activities throughout the day.
- Write times on an envelope or in a balloon for when it can be opened (or popped) and do the activity.
- Set timers throughout the day or announcements on your Alexa or Google.
- Do an activity whenever it’s someone else’s New Year in another country.
- Do an activity whenever you want and celebrate the New Year whenever you want.
You can celebrate New Year’s Eve at home with these various activities for kids. Have fun by doing a 12-hour countdown!
Create a fun New Year’s Eve for your kids with an hourly countdown activity. You can do 3 hours or 12 hours, and do an activity on the hour each hour.
Be creative and have your kids pop balloons to find the activity. There are 29 activities to choose from, so you can adjust them to your family and their abilities and likes. There is something for everyone from little kids to teens.
It’s a fun family affair where you can create fun New Year’s Eve memories. Don’t forget to download your printables for access to it all.
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