We had another wonderful New Years Eve party this year. It's hard to believe that this was our 11th year in a row to have one. I still remember our first year with much fondness. We were living in North Carolina and the kids were still pretty young. I saw the idea in a Family Fun magazine to have countdown bags with treats and fun activities planned for each hour leading up to the New Year. I found a lot of things on clearance that first year from Christmas mark-downs and we had so much fun that the kids were asking around Christmas that next year if we were going to do it again. We've continued each year since, changing up activities, repeating some year after year, and enjoying the company of various friends throughout the years.
This year our friends the Hales, the Connors, and Emmy's best friend Abby were able to join us and our friends the Vines were able to pop in for a couple of hours. The Hales and Connors and Abby all spent the night with us which was super fun! Here are some highlights from the night.
This year our friends the Hales, the Connors, and Emmy's best friend Abby were able to join us and our friends the Vines were able to pop in for a couple of hours. The Hales and Connors and Abby all spent the night with us which was super fun! Here are some highlights from the night.
Snacks to munch on throughout the night.
Traditional clock cupcakes.
Our countdown bags. This year we started at 5pm with pizza for dinner and the first bag was opened at 6pm.
Ally always opens the first bag since New Years Eve is her birthday. The first bag had our traditional hair coloring, lei's, and party hats.
From left to right, Emmy, Annie, Mackenzie, Jessica, and in front Natalie and Abby.
Abby Geiger's Frozen hair. :)
Natalie's hair
Houston colored his goatee! :)
Abby Hale's hair.
Selfie time
The whole gang minus the Vines who came later in the night.
Abby and Ally
"They colored my hair blue!"
Logan and Camden opened the 7pm bag which contained items for a couple of games.
The catch the Cheetos on your head game was repeated this year! Natalie and Mackenzie teamed up!
Josh and Houston teamed up.
Jessica and Emmy
The side that caught the Cheetos with their heads.
The other side threw the Cheetos one by one with their eyes closed.
Natalie
See the Cheeto in mid-air?
2nd game this hour was to build solo cup towers with index cards in between the cups. You then had to pull each index card out of the tower without knocking it over.
8pm bag. The Vines were able to join us for this hour.
This hour we repeated a game from a couple of years ago that everyone loved. It is called Elephant Walk. You have a stocking on your head that has a tennis ball in it and you have to knock over bottles of water using only your head. It is harder than it looks.
It's not New Years Eve until the guys have stockings on their heads. :)
Another game this hour was a minute to win-it Hershey kiss solo cup clock game. Each solo cup had a number on the front of it and a Hershey kiss under it and each Hershey kiss had a number on the bottom of it. You had to match the number on each Hershey kiss with the right number cup while putting the cups into a clock.
Elijah opening the 9pm bag which had our traditional silly string for a silly string war!
Josh opening the 10pm bag.
The 10pm activity was a candy bar matching game.
We had large pieces of colored paper that had a picture of a candy bar on one side and we had index cards that had silly riddles written on them. All of the cards were turned over and we played a matching game. It was more difficult at first as the kids had to learn which candy bars were represented and then start figuring out which riddles went with which candy bar. When you made a match you got that candy!
Sun explosion was Starburst.
A big bump on your head was Whoppers.
Twin letters was M&M's.
The stuff bees make was Bit O' Honey.
Lottery winner was 100 Grand.
Happy Texan was Jolly Rancher.
When we don't know the name of something was Whatchamacallit!
We had 21 candy bars total but those were the only ones I got pictures of.
11pm bag had party blowers and fireworks!
Sparklers!
A few photo booth pics from the night........
Playing the board game Clue at 2am.
A picture with all those that spent the night before we all started to crash around 4am.
The early morning hours can make one a little goofy. :)
And our traditional family New Year pic!
What a fun night it was with special friends. I love the memories we made!
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22-24