New Year’s Eve is an exciting time of year for kids and adults alike. It is a time to be with friends and family, reflect on the meaningful moments and accomplishments of the past year, and set goals for the future. Here are a few activities that can bring fun and thoughtfulness to your New Year’s Eve with kids!
Year in Review Drawing. Reflecting on the past year’s most important events can be a way to process and grow. One way to do this is to complete a drawing highlighting one or more of the important events of the year. Have children share what they drew, how they felt at the time, and what made it important to them.
Reflection Confetti. Sometimes we have events or feelings that we want to leave behind us, especially going into the new year. One way to physically and visually represent letting go is to write or draw about the moments on a piece of paper, then to rip the paper into small confetti sized pieces until you cannot read or see the pictures on the paper. Countdown from 10 and when you get to 0, throw the confetti in the air and reflect on how it feels to let worries and negativity go.
Go Around Goal Setting. Goal setting for the year ahead is a wonderful way to set intention and a positive mindset. Have each person in a family or group go around and set a goal for themselves for the new year. You can make these specific goals like everyone must first say an academic goal, then a social goal, then a personal goal, or you can keep it more general. This can create fun conversations and useful reminders to help out stick to the goals set throughout the year.
Guess That Goal.
- Get a bunch of scrap paper and markers, and get together as a family.
- Have everyone write down 1-3 personal goals (they can be as serious or goofy as you want). Don’t share them out loud!
- Fold up all the papers and put them in a cup.
- Take turns picking a paper out of the cup, reading off the goal, and guessing whose it is.
- See where the conversation takes you.
Or, to focus more on celebrating accomplishments of the past year, use the same game rules to play Reflection Roundtable. Have everyone write down 1-3 personal accomplishments, meaningful moments, or things they learned over the past year. This helps reinforce that not everything in the new year is about change, and it’s important to acknowledge accomplishments of the past year.
