Make New Year’s Eve Fun for Your Kids

New Year’s Eve is one of the most grown-up holidays, because there aren’t a lot of young kids who can stay up until midnight, or whose parents would want them to.

But that doesn’t mean the turning over of a new year can’t be fun for kids, too. Here are some great ideas for activities related to new year’s that you can do with your kids, for a noon year’s eve celebration or at any time during the days around new years.

Glued to My Crafts has a great roundup of new year’s activities for kids, including making celebratory gak, coloring pages, a wishing wand, shakers, firework crafts and edible party hats.

If you want to include the kids in the grown ups’ party or throw a party just for kids, Sunny Day Family has some ideas for games, treats and a fake countdown to midnight (and Netflix will have streaming countdowns again this year, so “midnight” can be any time you like).

And Making Time for Mommy has tips and ideas for a noon year’s eve party, where you celebrate in the morning and have your countdown at noon instead of midnight. This is still lots of fun for the kids and everyone gets to bed on time. Win-win.

Do you do anything special for new year’s with your kids? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo by pippalou, via Morguefile.]

Explaining Dia de Los Muertos to kids can be difficult because most of us don’t generally talk about death or what happens when we die a lot with our kids. But Dia de los Muertos is actually a happy, not scary occasion that allows us to remember loved ones, share stories and come together as a community.

While it is mostly celebrated by people of Mexican heritage, the day has become more well known thanks to movies and other media representations. And there are some great children’s books to help explain and allow you to celebrate the holiday if you want.

Dia de Muertos by Jaque Jours, illustrated by Alejandra Ruiz (48 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by words & pictures, suggested retail price $14.99) tells the story of a family getting their ofrenda (altar for the dead) ready and how they remember people who have died through decorations, food and sharing stories.

It covers the classic decorations and rituals of Dia de los Muertos including using cempasúchil (in English we call them marigolds) and papel picado (cut paper banners), pan de muerto and la catrina, the elaborately dressed, skull faced women that are a common site at Dia de los Muertos gatherings.

The back of the book explores how the day is celebrated throughout Mexico as well as the meanings of different symbols. There’s a recipe for pan de muerto, a tutorial for making papel picado and tips for doing makeup to look like like la catrina/el catrin.

Want to try more traditional foods? The Dia de Los Muertos Cookbook is a companion to The Dia de Los Muertos Story, both of which are by Andrea Jáuregui de la Torre and illustrated by Laura González (52 pages, hardcover paper over boards, published 2026 by becker & meyer kids!, suggested retail price $19.99).

The book opens with some discussion of the meaning of Dia de los Muertos and why food is an important part of the day. The recipes included are easy enough for kids to make with minimal help, and all based on food memories from her childhood.

There are recipes for hibiscus iced tea, Mexican corn and salsa, tortillas, molletes (open faced sandwiches with beans and cheese), jicama fries and sugar skulls to name a few.

Other activities in the book include papel picado, coffee filter marigolds, making your own playlist and making an ofrenda.

Together these books give young readers insight into this holiday that might be new or confusing to them, while also giving you a chance to get in the kitchen together and make your own Dia de los Muertos memories.

Have you read?

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