We planned to have a New Year’s Eve party at home with just our household this year knowing that the ceilidh we enjoy going to wouldn’t be happening for the second year in a row, and because the Scottish Government is asking that we keep gatherings to three households or smaller from Christmas in response to the quick spread of the Omicron variant. Our plans to see the family on Christmas went ahead, which was wonderful after last year’s hiatus and that seemed like enough group ‘party’ for the moment.
To make the at-home party feel different from last year’s, besides just a change of venue, I ordered New Year’s Eve party supplies. We have space to store holiday decorations now (unlike when they were under our bed or stacked in our bedroom in the old house). As a child I always looked forward to when we would bring out our glittery New Year’s Eve hats and noisemakers so I bought hats, noise makers and a glittery sign from Party Delights. While the quality of their goods seems highly variable, their customer service is excellent and I received a quick replacement for goods that were inadequately packaged and arrived damaged.
We all contributed to the menu creation, played with a sole balloon, danced, and goofed around, but decorations and activities really centered on Sunshine’s wooden clock, new illuminated globe, and library books on children around the world. We recently added in awareness of the clock’s minute hand so updated the clock at intervals through the night to reflect and discuss real time. We also used the globe to discuss time zones for those who had already begun to celebrate the new year and to find the countries we read about.
I found a 2022 colouring printable from Kids Activities Blog, which Sunshine coloured in before we used the back to record our main memories and highlights from the year. I also downloaded Artsy Fartsy Mama’s very cute New Year’s bingo, which is suitable for any year.
We planned to eat the raw cheesecake on New Year’s Eve. Before it was defrosted (I set the layers in the freezer), Sunshine tucked up on the sofa and requested more library books so we switched to ice cream and watched some fireworks and light shows on YouTube from cities that had already celebrated before he fell asleep.
Riotflower's Realm 