30 ideas for the best kids’ New Year’s Eve party

One genius way to build up anticipation throughout your kids' New Year's Eve party is to have an hourly countdown.

At the start of the day on New Year's Eve, blow up 12 balloons. Before you tie them off, put a piece of paper with an activity – or a dare! – written down inside each one. Pin your balloons to the wall around a clock.

From midday, when each new hour tolls, get one of the kids to pop the balloon and read the challenge inside. They then have an hour to complete the activity before popping the next balloon. It's a great way to keep them occupied throughout the afternoon!

TIP: If you have younger children who need to be in bed early, you can always cheat with a chalkboard clock. Draw on a new time every half hour instead to reach "midnight" at a bedtime-friendly hour.

Whether you're hosting at home or hiring a venue, make sure you add lots of glitz and glam to help set the scene.

Think biodegradable glitter, metallics, and lots and lots of bright colours!

Party decoration ideas:

– foil curtains
– a disco ball
– 2024 sequins
– confetti
– fairy lights

No dance floor is complete without some classic flashing disco lights.

If you're hosting at home, set up some lights in the room where the music is playing to signal where the kids can come and dance.

You can buy a small disco ball light relatively cheaply online, and they make all the difference when decorating your party space.

Send your guests home with some funny snaps of their night with a DIY photo booth.

Photo booths are super simple to put together – all you need is a quiet corner, funny moustaches, hats and wigs, and the camera on your phone.

If you have a polaroid camera – even better, the kids'll be able to take their snaps away with them straight away! If not, just upload the pics to your social media or share to WhatsApp for the kids' parents to enjoy, share and download.

Okay, so 2023 has been another difficult year for all of us. But that makes it all the more important to remember the happier times your kids and their friends have enjoyed.

Make a slideshow using photos of the kids having fun together – fun days out from the summer, class trips, or playdates round each other's houses – and set up a projector to play all night long.

It'll take up more space on the wall meaning you'll need to buy fewer disposable decorations too – WIN!

What are some of your kids' favourite songs that came out this year?

In the spirit of remembering the good times from 2023, why not compile a playlist of some of this year's biggest hits?

You could even set up a karaoke session to go with it, with prizes for the best voted performance!

For a low key alternative to New Year's Eve fireworks, light a sparkler for each kid at the party.

Make sure there's plenty of adult supervision for this bit, especially if you're hosting lots of kids. It's especially important to check that everyone wears gloves while holding a sparkler. Read this guide to using sparklers safely.

Don't forget to keep things wildlife friendly by collecting and binning the dead sparklers afterwards!

This is a fun and chaotic game that's great to play at large parties where all the kids are around the same age!

Tie a balloon to each guest's foot with a piece of string. When you say "go", each player must try to pop everyone else's balloons while keeping their own safe and intact.

Last person left with an unpopped balloon is the winner!

Repurpose your Christmas tree by turning it into a wishing tree.

Have each kid at the party write a wish for 2024 on a label or ribbon, then tie it to the tree's branches. By the end of the night, you'll have a cute collection of good intentions and aspirations for the new year.

(Or if you're just celebrating with your own kids, have them write a few wishes each.)

Instead of popping the usual bubbly at the bells, make a bowl of some kid-friendly party punch.

This blue mocktail for kids is easy to make, and you can do it in all sorts of fancy colours with different food dyes.

Or check out all our mocktail ideas for more inspiration.

Buffet-style finger food works best for big excitable occasions like New Year's Eve, and you can't go wrong with a classic plate of sausage rolls.

If you're looking for a meat-free option, follow our step-by-step recipe for vegetarian sausage rolls.

These star-shaped biscuits make the perfect sweet treat to go with your sparkly New Year's Eve decor.

Any adults attending the party will love them too – it may be the last indulgent thing they eat before their 2024 New Year healthy resolutions kick in!

Our step-by-step instructions show you how to bake them quickly and easily.

Let's face it, ordinary pizza slices make quite messy finger food (and nobody likes finding a tomato-smothered slice face down on the carpet during the next day's party clean-up).

Keep things simple with these bitesized pizza whirls. Make them from scratch with our easy recipe.

We've got loads more party food ideas, plus vegetarian party food ideas for kids!

One way to celebrate the stroke of midnight is to serve up a light midnight snack.

If you're feeding lots of kids, these cones of sweet popcorn are a good food option. They're also perfect if you're having a movie night or slumber party – (more about sleepover parties later!)

Popcorn can be a choking hazard for younger children, so this snack is probably best suited to kids aged over five.

This one will take some coordination before the party ...

When you're inviting your kids' guests, ask them each to bring a small something – a toy, a letter or a craft they've made – to put into a time capsule at the party.

You could all agree to open the time capsule the following year at the start of 2025, or wait even longer.

When you all revisit the capsule, you can reflect on how much things have changed (or stayed the same).

What better way to honour the New Year than to make up a dance routine specially for 2024?

Help the kids pick a song, then set them to work creating their dance number.

When they're ready, invite them to perform their 2024 dance for all the adults at the party.

Kids love playing dress-up, so a pile of old fancy dresses and wigs for your guests to try on should go down a treat.

Have a quick whip around the charity shops for cheap and glitzy garments, or see if you have any old and unwanted formalwear you'd be willing to give away.

Or, if you want to get really fancy, check out our top dressing up ideas for inspiration!

... or bulldog, or tag, or any other running and chasing game!

This is a good idea for when it's coming up to midnight and you want to tire out any excitable kids in time for bedtime.

Browse this list for more party game ideas to entertain your small guests.

If you're not planning to let off your own fireworks at the party, you can still join in the fun by projecting a livestream of some Hogmanay fireworks.

This can be especially useful if you're having "midnight" a little early so younger kids can get to bed.

Places like New Zealand and Australia hit midnight earlier than the UK, meaning you could tune into fireworks from down under and get an early night.

Party bags may be more of a birthday party thing, but they can still be a hit at a New Year's Eve bash for kids – especially if you hand them out at the beginning of the night!

Turn your party bags into pre-party kits by including these essentials:

– party poppers
– party hats
– party horns
– party balloons

Each of your guests will be set for the night, and can even carry on the celebrations with their party favours the next day if they wish.

If you've got tweens or teens who aren't quite old enough to go out and party on New Year's Eve, let them organise a slumber party instead!

They'll have just as much fun, posting pics to social media and video chatting with friends who couldn't make it to the party.

Plus, you'll be able to keep an eye on them, and make sure nobody has snuck in any booze!

They'll get the luxury of being able to fall straight into bed after they've seen the New Year in too!

A sleepover that's also a movie night is a great way for younger kids to enjoy New Year's Eve with their friends – while you party downstairs!

Set up comfy bed-tents, make popcorn, and let them choose their favourite film on Netflix, but keep the popcorn out of reach from any toddlers that want to get involved, as it could be a choking hazard!

Check out this delicious chocolate and yoghurt popcorn recipe!

What better way to refresh yourselves ready for 2024 than to design a stay-at-home slumber party for the whole family?

This works well if you have daughters, but we're sure the boys will want to join in too! Younger kids also love to get involved in what the older kids and adults are getting up to.

The ingredients of a great pamper session:

– peel-off face masks
– foot baths
– manicures and pedicures
– soothing music
– delicious fruity juices
– healthy snacks
– great conversation

When holding parties for little ones it's always a good idea to have some activities ready to keep their short attention spans stimulated! So why not hold a themed arts and crafts party?

Check out our Arts & Crafts for kids hub for loads of fun creative activities to keep them occupied.

We've also got plenty of party foods for kids.

Nothing says 'Happy New Year' better than glitter – and so here's a great way to bring some glitz to your little ones' New Year's Eve party ...

A play dough party is a fun way to occupy younger kids at a party. Just set them up at a table decorated specially for the occasion, and provide play dough – simple!

Add contests for extra fun, like creating the most imaginative monster or the the most yummy-looking cupcake (make sure no-one eats them though!)

Check out our homemade play dough recipe and don't forget to add plenty of biodegradable glitter!

(Supervision will be required if your kids are quite little – we don't want anyone rushing their kids to the emergency room on New Year's Eve!)

Celebrate the countdown by letting the kids pop a bunch of balloons filled with confetti to bring the New Year in!

If you have younger kids you can create a faux countdown specially for them.

We recommend not doing it right before bedtime though, as they might be too hyped-up to sleep!

A kid's party wouldn't be complete without face-paint!

If you or someone you know has artistic skills you can give this a go yourself – there are loads of tutorials for simple designs the kids will love.

How's this for an engaging kids' party activity?

Set up a table laid out with bowls that are filled with yummy cupcake toppings, and give each child their own cupcake (or two) to decorate and eat.

Just prepare for things to get pretty messy!

Topping ideas:

– sprinkles (gold and silver)
– jelly sweets
– smarties
– whipped cream
– frosting
– chocolate raisins
– mini marshmallows
– edible glitter

Hire your local church hall, community centre, or hold it in your living room ... A kid's New Year's Eve ball is an exciting way for your kids and their friends to bring in 2024.

It's also the perfect excuse to dress up fancy in their best party outfits!

All you need are balloons and decorations, plenty of party food, and a dancing area for the kids to get their groove on!

Why not amp up the fun and hold a contest for the best-dressed 'couple' or the best dancers?

If you're looking to spend New Year's Eve in with the family, organising a kid-friendly family dinner party is a lovely way to be together and toast to 2024.

Make it kid-friendly by getting the kids involved in decorating the table, making personalised name table place cards, and even cooking the nosh!

The great thing about a dinner party is that the kids can join in toasting to the New Year without having to necessarily stay up until midnight.