confetti to the baking soda. To do this,
mix together baking soda and glitter or
confetti in a shallow bowl (be sure to
use plastic confetti, not paper). When
kids add drops of vinegar with droppers
to the soda mixture, it will produce spar-
kling bubbles. If you don’t have drop-
pers, kids can pour small amounts of
vinegar over the baking soda with cups.
Bake A Countdown Clock!
If your kids love baking, a fun and
delicious activity is to make a count-
down clock. You can do this by baking
cookies or cupcakes and arranging the
treats in a circle on a round serving plat-
ter or pizza pan. Decorate each with the
numbers of the clock and use licorice
sticks, such as Twizzlers, as clock hands
to mark the time.
Balloons, Balloons,
Balloons
W
— by Tiffany Doerr Guerzon
hether you couldn’t find
a sitter for New Year’s
Eve or you just don’t
feel like fighting holiday traffic, you can
still have a fun, kid-friendly celebration.
The key is to keep the kids occupied as
the clock counts down. We’ve gathered
a few family friendly ideas to help you
ring in 2019.
Countdown The Hours
There are so many fun ways to help
kids mark time until the new year arrives.
Pick the time you want to start (and end!)
and count down the hours by opening a
bag, package, or even popping a balloon.
Mark each bag with the time and include
a fun activity for each hour. This need
not be expensive. Here are some ideas of
what to stuff the bags with:
Party hats and noisemakers
Party poppers
Candy
A deck of cards and game instruc-
tions
Pens & paper to write New Year’s
Resolutions
Craft projects
Glow Sticks
Bubbles
10 WNY Family December 2018
Milk & Cookie Cocktails
Every party needs snacks! Serve up
milk and cookies in style by coating the
rims of small glasses or even wine glass-
es with colorful sprinkles. Spread a thin
layer of honey or corn syrup on a plate,
and then pour out sprinkles onto a sepa-
rate plate. Simply dip the rims of glasses
in honey or corn syrup then dredge in the
sprinkles. (Leave the glass upside down
in the sprinkles for a few minutes so that
the sprinkles don’t slide down the glass!)
Cool the glasses in the fridge, fill with
cold milk, and serve with cookies.
DIY Noisemakers
Create DIY noisemakers for mid-
night from objects around the house.
Decorate empty, lidded canisters such as
butter containers, coffee cans, Pringles
cans, etc., and add dried beans or rice
to make shakers. Or thread large jingle
bells onto pipe cleaners, then twist the
pipe cleaner together at the ends for a
jingle bracelet.
Sparkling Science
Younger kids love to watch bubbles
grow when vinegar is added to baking
soda. You can glam up this simple sci-
ence experiment by mixing glitter or
It’s not a party without balloons,
right? These confetti-filled balloons will
brighten up your space, then you can pop
them at midnight for a confetti shower!
https://amzn.to/2K2dlEv You can fill
these with helium or not – either way,
the kids will love them.
If you really want to wow the kids,
stage your own balloon drop! You can
make one by taping a plastic party
tablecloth filled with balloons to your
ceiling, or buy this kit. https://amzn.
to/2zaLrSO
Photo Booth
Even if it’s just you and the kiddos,
why not have a photo booth? No need
for an elaborate set-up, tacking up a
sheet or plastic tablecloth to the wall to
use as a background works well. Gather
fun props from around the house such as
hats and sunglasses or buy a New Year’s
Eve photo booth prop set. https://amzn.
to/2qKDuij