New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day provide wonderful chances to create fun memories with your children. Teach them how to ring in the new year with these super fun crafts, each of which will give you a fun activity to do in the hours leading up to the big party!
You don’t need many special supplies for these crafts, and you might already have what you need on hand. If not, a quick trip to the dollar store or your local craft store will work for all the craft supplies you need to get festive for your New Year’s celebration.
1. Confetti poppers
Add a little bit of color, fun, and controlled chaos to your New Year’s Eve party celebration by making these adorable confetti poppers from Little Bins for Little Hands. Teach your kiddos how to have a festive New Year’s by making this fun craft alongside them during their holiday break.
Save used cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls in the weeks leading up to the holidays, and recycle them into these cute and fun party favors. If you don’t have any recycled cardboard tubes, roll up stiff cardstock and tape it into a cylinder to create the base for the party poppers, or you can find brand-new cardboard rolls for crafting at your local craft store or online craft retailer.
Gather up supplies from your craft cupboard or take a quick trip to your local dollar store to find the additional materials for this project: balloons, stickers, confetti, and decorative paper. You will also need tape; we suggest using decorative washi-style tape to add additional decoration to the party poppers. You can also buy small lightweight plastic trinkets to insert into the poppers, to make them even more fun — think plastic rings, kazoos, etc.
This craft would make a great addition to a crafting table at your New Year’s party: kids and adults alike will have fun creating their own custom party poppers and then using them to ring in the new year.
Countdown poppers: Looking for an activity to do on New Year’s Eve? Create a party popper for each hour by adding a number to the outside of the party popper. Let kids pop one at the top of each hour leading up to midnight.
2. NYE countdown ball
Part of the fun of New Year’s Eve is counting down the hours until midnight. Kids will get a kick out of creating this fun New Year’s Eve countdown ball craft by JDaniels4Mom, which will help them mark the time as it slips on into the next year.
You might already have most of the supplies you need for this craft, but they’re pretty basic: You need paper plates, paper, markers, stickers, and scissors. The wonderful thing about this craft is that it leaves so much room for personalization, and each person will make a unique craft that shows their individual personality.
This craft also provides a great chance for kids to practice their numbers (both writing them and identifying them), counting (either forward, backward, or both!), and incorporates a tiny bit of creativity to keep them excited to learn. Older kids can make the craft by themselves and practice their numbers, but younger children will need some adult assistance to put the craft together.
Add this fun craft to your New Year’s Eve celebration — create a spot at a table where kids and adults alike can get in on the crafting fun. Create a fun display of New Year’s Eve Countdown Balls by hammering a couple nails in the wall and tying a string between them. Use clothespins to clip the crafts to the line.
3. Kid handprints
One of the most fun parts of celebrating New Year’s is the fireworks! Create a New Year’s Day keepsake for your kiddos with this clever New Year’s fireworks glitter handprint craft by Tristan Neely and Mommy, which is a perfect festive activity for small kids (with the help of a grown-up, of course).
The idea behind this craft is simple, but it makes an eye-catching handprint keepsake when you’re finished. You just need a few supplies: dark paper, acrylic paint, glitter, and a paint pen. Pick up an inexpensive frame while you’re at it, and frame the final product into a cute New Year’s decoration that you can display for future celebrations.
Paint + Kids Tip: If you use regular acrylic paint, add a single drop of dish soap to the paint and then stir it up before you apply it to kids’ hands. This will make clean-up even easier and will keep the acrylic from staining their little hands, clothes, or your kitchen table.
Before you begin this craft, remember to protect your work surface. You can use a vinyl tablecloth or spread out newspaper to cover the table where you’ll be working. When working with small children, keep a wet rag or paper towels nearby so you can clean their hands as soon as you are done making the handprint.
Firework handprint ornaments: If framing these keepsakes isn’t your style, laminate the handprints and then cut them out. Write the child’s name and the year on the back, punch a hole in the top, and add a string for hanging — then tuck the handprints into your holiday ornament stash, and hang those little handprints up on your Christmas tree next year.
4. DIY New Year’s Eve noisemakers
Paper plates are a favorite kid crafting material for a reason — they are versatile! Use the paper plates you used to make the countdown ball to make another great New Year’s craft: New Year’s Eve noisemakers. Because no New Year’s Eve celebration is complete without adequate ways to make a big ruckus. This craft idea is by Mom Unleashed.
You can make this craft during party time on New Year’s Eve, or you can use this activity in the week leading up to New Year’s (in case you need a clever way to entertain the kiddos while they are on holiday break).
There are so many different ways to decorate these noisemakers that your family is sure to have a wonderful time getting creative and working on them together. Each noisemaker will look just as unique as the person who makes it.
If you’re looking for a New Year’s Eve party game, it would be fun to have a craft contest and let your guests each make a noisemaker — put the craft supplies on a table with a completed noisemaker for reference, set a timer (five minutes will provide a good challenge), and then let your guests get crafty. At the end of the allotted time, give awards for most creative, most perfect, noisiest, etc.
Louder noisemakers: If these noisemakers just aren’t loud enough for your holiday festivities, use the instructions to make the same craft but substitute disposable metal pie pans instead of paper plates. The pans will make a much louder sound. You can also experiment with different kinds of noisemaking fillers, such as beans or beads. Each type of filler will make a different sound.
5. Firework rings
Every New Year’s outfit can use a little pick-me-up, and this fireworks ring by Fantastic Fun and Learning provides a quick and sparkly accessory that will find a place on every party guest’s finger. But watch out — they are so quick and easy to make that you might have a whole fireworks show on your hand by the end of the evening.
You just need a couple things to make this fun jewelry craft: glitter stems (aka glittery pipe cleaners) and wire cutters. Note: Don’t use your good scissors to cut pipe cleaners; the wire inserted into the stem can damage the cutting edge of scissors. That’s why we recommend using wire cutters.
To add even more festive glam to these fun accessories, you can stick metallic foil star stickers to the spokes of the fireworks or hot glue rhinestones to the pipe cleaners after you twist the ring into the correct shape.
Fireworks rings not quite enough bang for your buck? Pick up a pack of headbands and embellish them with the same fireworks starbursts. Simply twist the fireworks around the headband to create a fun and festive headpiece.