As 2024 draws to a close it's time to start planning celebrations to bring in the New Year. How are you planning New Years Eve with your children?
Being a parent i rarely get a chance to go out and let my hair down child free, and to be honest when the rare occasion does appear i'm usually thinking i'd like to be in bed by 11pm. No, for me the best time to have a babysitter would be 6am-midday so i can have a lie in, that would be money well spent! So i can't say i long for a night out on New Years Eve.
If i'm completely honest i think i can count the amount of New Years Eves i've spent out child-free in a busy club/pub until the early hours on one hand. I've never experienced a New Years Eve party pre-millenium. I'm told (an annual basis) by my step dad that the year 2000 killed off 'proper new years eve parties' as businesses realised the opportunity to hike up prices to take advantage and started charging an entry fee. I think this is just a sign of times changing, people drinking less alcohol and licensed premises adapting their business model to survive but we'll let grandad reminisce. And despite his annual recounts of times gone by i never feel like i'm missing out. I'm not a drinker, never have been, by this i mean i'll have a drink or two but i'm never drunk nor would i want to be, i can't cope with the morning after these days. Not with two children who rarely sleep past 7am. So i've never really been desperate for the whole New Years Eve out in a club going hard until the early hours.
For me every year since having kids, however, New Years Eve has been great fun and once they've grown up i genuinely don't know what i'm going to do. I would hate to be tucked up in bed before Midnight hearing the fireworks go off and feeling like an outsider missing out (i easily get FOMO). Here's our new years eve tradition...
Every year since starting Party Peeps we've hosted a family daytime new years eve party where families can come together and experience the countdown to midnight and celebrations without the late night. Ever since i came up with the concept in 2019 it's been our most popular event, selling out every year.
So in our family on New Years Eve daddy is usually working. The kids come ofcourse so for me it never feels like work. At the end of the last daytime family new years eve party the kids and my wife help with the sweeping up of confetti (trust me there's tonnes of the stuff and it gets everywhere) and putting away of the chairs. I then drive back to Party Peeps HQ to put away all the equipment whilst my wife and the kids head home to get a takeaway ordered... Everyone gets whatever they want...if the kids want McDonalds then that's what they have, but they usually go all out on New Years Eve and ask for a Dominos whilst the wife and I might go for an indian from our local. We'll sit and enjoy the takeaway before getting in the Hot Tub we hire every year from our friends at JB Event Hire. It's amazing, they deliver a hard shell 4-6 seater hot tub and set it up for us in the garden complete with a gazebo and some decorations. The children usually get out of the hot tub within and hour and head inside to watch a film. When it comes to Midnight we all make an appointment to watch the London fireworks on the tv, however my youngest is usuaully crashed on the sofa long before then. After this my daughter and wife go to bed and usually i'll pour myself one more drink and jump back in the hot tub. This alone time in the hot tub is lush and usually i'll force myself out at 2am. It's a great time to reflect on the year passed, think of how fortunate i am to have such a lush family and safe home and then i might start to think about what i hope the new year will bring me....all this in between the odd ear wigging into neighbours conversations as they stumble out of taxis and through their doors.
I genuinely love our New Years Eve routine, the only other way i'd want to spend it is at my favoruite place in the whole world, Walt Disney World... honestly their New Years Eve party in the theme parks looks like a proper vibe!
Anyway, if you haven't been to our daytime family New Years Eve party (and if there's still tickets available by the time you read this) then check it out HERE. It's honestly a great laugh, such a fun and memorable thing to do with your kids and no matter what your plans are in the evening you'll feel like you've given NYE a go and haven't missed out on anything.
Wishing you a very Happy New Year, i hope 2024 has given you memories to love and that 2025 brings you nothing but amazing moments to live for.
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