How To Celebrate New Year With Kids

New Year is celebrated in almost every country of the world, and for countries which follow the Gregorian calendar such as Europe, America and Australasia amongst others this takes place on 1 st of January.

For most people. New Year marks the end of the festive season, one last big blow-out before we all return to work and school! However the new year has been marked by celebrations since at least Roman times, when Julius Caeser chose 1st of January as the beginning of the year. January was named after the god Janus who was usually represented as having two faces, one facing the old year, and one facing the new one

Why Do We Celebrate New Year?

As well as marking the end of the Christmas festivities, New Year represents new beginnings - that is why we make New Year's Resolutions on 1st January. And historically people have always found reasons to celebrate during the darkest, coldest time of the year, which in the Northern Hemisphere happens at the end of December and the start of January.

So how can we celebrate the New Year with the whole family?

Round Midnight

There are many traditions surrounding New Year; it is now common to celebrate with fireworks. Around the world big cities such as London, Edinburgh, Sydney, Paris and Hong Kong hold large public displays and hold street parties. Private parties also let off fireworks at midnight too, never mind if you had just gone to sleep or got the baby off to sleep….

Of course the most popular tradition of all is to have your family around you at New Year, so get them all over for a get together, play games or watch a family movie. Then at midnight, sing Auld Lang Syne and wish each other a Happy New Year.

You can watch the celebrations in almost every major city either on TV or online.

Can't Make it to Midnight?

If your kids are young, they may not be able to last out until midnight, so the trick is to hold yur celebration earlier in the evening. This may require a bit of subterfuge....

Well, just change your time zone! However it will be midnight somewhere in the world at any hour of day so choose your location from this time zone map and celebrate accordingly.

For example, if you want your party to finish at 9pm UK time, pretend you live in Madagascar, Kuwait, Eastern Africa or Belarus. You could even theme your party around whatever country you are celebrating with.

Out and About

Another solution is to simply celebrate New Year’s Day rather than New Year’s Eve. A traditional way to celebrate is to prepare a special New Year's lunch, then go out for a walk weather permitting of course.

Perhaps you'd like to go out for the day? Many fun family-oriented events take place on New Year’s Day, so here are some ideas.

Parades are held in many major cities - the biggest in Europe is The London Parade. In Pasedena the Rose Parade is the largest parade in the US, and events also take place in Paris and Rome.
There are also lots of sporting events which take place on New Years Day. In the UK there is a full programme of Premier League football and horse racing meetings, while in the US there are lots of American Football matches taking place.
Lots of insane people swim in rivers and seas, usually for charity. Check local press and listings to see if there are any events near you.
Taking their lead from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's New Year's Day concert, lots of theatres, venues and arts centres hold New Year’s Day Concerts, and many are child friendly.

Happy New Year!

Whether you celebrate on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, you can keep the kids entertained with our New Year Colouring pictures or New Year Wordsearch.

If your resolution is the get more organised, download our Free Printable Calendar for 2022.