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It’s so fun to have New Year’s Eve traditions to do with your family on December 31st to ring in the new year. We’ve done a lot of these in the past and we’re so excited to start new traditions with our twins.
#1 New Year’s Eve Tradition – Make Fondue
Fondue is really fun for couples or for families. You can do it at home for dinner or do a chocolate one for dessert. Chocolate is my favorite kind. I love to dip strawberries, pretzels, and marshmallows in it.
2. Eat Appetizers For Dinner
My family did this for a few years when I was growing up and it was so fun. You can do chips and dips, fruit, veggie trays, spring rolls, samosas, and more.
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3. New Year’s Eve Clock Cupcakes

I’ve always thought that these new year’s clock cakes are so cute! You put a number on each one and put them in a circle so it looks like a clock, then you make the time on the clock midnight.
4. Drink Sparkling Cider at Midnight
Sparkling cider is so tasty! We always save it for special occasions, like New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. You can use champagne for adults and sparkling cider for kids if you’d like.
5. Watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
It’s always so fun to have this on so you can watch the ball drop in Times Square in New York City.
6. Countdown to Midnight
I love watching the timers and start counting down out loud with everyone when there’s only 10 seconds left till the new year!
7. Watch NYE Episodes of Your Favorite Shows
If you need some ideas of what to watch, take a look at this list of New Year’s Eve movies and TV show episodes.
8. Watch New Year’s Eve Movie
I’ve loved watching this movie every year since it came out. It has tons of well-known actors in it.
9. Play Board Games
Playing board games with a group of people is a really fun activity to do on New Year’s night. I’m excited to play board games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders with my kids when they get a little older.
10. Write Down Your Goals For the New Year
If you like to set resolutions and goals for the new year, then New Year’s Eve is a great time to do this. You can reflect on the old year and think about what you would like to do in the coming year.
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11. Celebrate Noon Year’s Eve
If you have little ones who don’t stay up till midnight, you can celebrate noon year’s eve and do a party and countdown at noon instead of midnight.
12. Balloon Drop at Midnight
You can have a balloon drop setup and release it when the clock strikes midnight so it rains balloons on everyone. Kids will go crazy over it!
13. Play New Year’s Eve Bingo

We’ve played Bingo a few times for New Year’s and it’s pretty fun. We don’t do it with prizes, but you can.
14. Make a Banner

I love banners as decorations! This one says Happy New Year. You can get the free printable for it from The Idea Room. One year we spent New Year’s Eve with the kids we babysit. We printed this and got out markers. Then we each drew on and decorated each letter of the banner. It was a fun activity, then we hung it up on the TV stand so we could see it while we watched the ball drop at midnight.
15. Wear Glasses with the New Year on Them
This is kind of cheesy, but I always love it! You can get a pack of 4 of these ones that are different colors and sparkly.
16. Decorate For New Year’s Eve
I love to decorate with gold and silver for New Year’s Eve! This party pack also has black and white in it. It has balloons that say 2021, pom poms, and balloons.
17. Celebrate with Party Poppers
Party poppers are fun for adults and kids to use! These cute ones are filled with confetti that is pink, white, red, and gold.
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18. Bang Pots and Pans at Midnight
When I was little and we’d spend New Year’s Eve at my grandparents’ house, they’d give us pots and pans to bang at midnight to ring in the new year. It’s an old tradition to ward off evil spirits.
I hope this post has given you some good ideas of what you can do with your family. To get even more inspired, make sure to check out the other activities I’ve written about.
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