New Year's Eve (Toddler-Style)

New Year's Eve (Toddler-Style)

If you have decided to forgo the babysitter/overpriced prix-fixed combo tonight and hang out at home with the kiddos, you might appreciate this to-do list for making NYE memorable for your preschooler.

1. Watch the Ball Drop... on YouTube

Toddlers don't understand time zones.  If you don't believe me, take yours to Hawaii for a week.  This means that if you live out west, like me, you can start your new year out with a good night's sleep by watching the ball drop on a live feed from New York at 9 or 10pm.  And if you're an east-coaster, you can always watch last year's countdown (or skip Carson and google an old Clark one).  A quick look at the musical lineup assures me not much has changed in a year - and apparently Pitbull is still popular.  Who knew?

2. Make a Resolution

If you're lucky, the conversation may go a little like the one I had with my three-year-old this morning:

Me: Tonight is New Year's Eve.

Noah: What do we do on New Year's Eve?

Me: Some people make resolutions - things they want to change about themselves in the coming year.  Do you want to change anything?

Noah: Hmmmmm... I want to change into an octopus.  What color octopus do I want to be?  Maybe red?

Me: Sounds good to me.

Noah: Benny should change into a ladybug.

3. Drink Something Bubbly

If you don't like Shirley Temples we might have a hard time staying friends.  I still order them at fancy restaurants from time to time.  I've never found one that quite measures up to the grenadine-laden version my parents used to let us order once a year at our favorite restaurant near their house southeast of Detroit - homemade whipped cream AND a plastic sword full of cherries. 

Just give yourself a buffer between sugary drinks and bedtime.

4. Make Some Noise (and Expect Some)

At some point in my childhood my parents adopted the idea of running out your back door, around your house and into your front door at midnight.  It had something to do with "out with the old and in with the new". Oh yeah, and we would bang pots and pans with metal spoons while we did this.  I think we chalked it up to being a Polish tradition, but I'm not really sure how it started.  What I am fairly sure of is that the neighbors on their quiet street probably didn't appreciate it nearly as much as us kids.  Which is why my boys will have free reign on the kitchen cupboards tonight and also why I plan to turn their white noise machines up high when I put them to bed at 10pm. 

5. Express Gratitude 

Even toddlers can understand this... and if they don't yet, it's a great time to start.  Have them list off the people they love.  If you pray, have them pray for those people in the year to come.  Talk about all of the wonderful things they've learned and experienced over the past year and how excited you are to spend the next year watching them grow.  And don't forget to get your New Year's kiss goodnight!