5 Ways to Spend a Kid-Friendly New Year

Welcoming a new year will never be the same when your growing family is blessed with kids -- with all safety precautions in mind. But this should not mean the celebration would be less fun even for a bit. On the contrary, new year celebrations are definitely incomplete without youngsters.

Parents should consider childproofing the celebration a challenge in creativity and ability to deliver a fun welcoming of a new beginning. Here are some cool and safe ideas from Today's Parent and BuzzFeed to make your new year's eve party planning easier:

Make it a "Noon New Year's Eve" Party

One of the most "pressing" concerns for parents with very young kids during this kind of holiday is having them stay up very late at night or even until midnight. According to BuzzFeed, the celebration should not be limited to a particular time, which is why the outlet suggested having the celebration held at noon.

By doing this, your kids are not forced to stay up with you until midnight and get cranky in the mornings. A great tip in doing this is firing the party poppers when the New Year arrives in a different time zone that is at least 12 hours earlier than yours.

Drink Up

When we were children, we used to want to be like adults -- go where they go, do what they do and even drink what they drink. So it goes without saying that when kids see you drinking something fizzy and bubbly, they would most probably sneak a sip or two especially when they are in their teenage years.

To avoid young adults from drinking alcohol when they should still be sticking with fruit juice, why not concoct a non-alcoholic beverage that they can down without you worrying about tummy ache?

This great tip from Today's Parent works best if the drinks are given long and important sounding names like "Dark and Stormy Upside Down Fizz on the Rocks." Again, it's all about creativity, but it's best to keep healthy.

Use DIY Noise-Makers

In some countries, making noise with fire crackers and explosives are believed to be effective in driving out bad luck and welcoming much better fortune in the coming year. This tradition is fun but may not always be safe to use around kids.

A great alternative to this are do-it-yourself noise-makers, which are not only safe around children, but are also equally fun to use.

One example featured in The CentSible Life are paper plate shakers which can easily be made using paper plates, glue, wood stick, and rice decorated with paint, bows, glitter and chipboard numbers. See instructions on how to make one here.

Make a Time Capsule

Older kids who can already read and appreciate the meaning of words should be able to enjoy making time capsules that they can bury this New Year's Eve and dig when the year is up.

Make a questionnaire for your child to fill out, enclose it in an empty can or any container that no one would be missing for the next 365 days. You can include things like wishes, hopes, dreams and goals during the year or simply print the sample questionnaire out from this link.

Got more ideas to share? Sound off in the comments section below.