2014 New Year's Eve Balloon Activity Countdown for Kids

After having such a great time last year with this New Year's activity, the kids and I are so excited to do this again tomorrow night. Here is a link to some of the activities we did last year: http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2013/12/new-years-crafts.html 

I will update this as our party progresses tomorrow, but here are a few things that are all ready to go. 

All of the activities I have planned for the kids are inside each of these balloons. Each balloon has a time written on the outside. At the corresponding time, we will pop the balloon and uncover the activity. 

Here is a breakdown: 

1. Bake cookies

2. Complete a New Year's Trivia activity

3. Salt fireworks

4. Decorate cookies

5. Watch a family movie

6. Visit my concession stand for intermission

7. Make celebration play dough

8. Take pictures in our homemade photo booth (see our disco ball below)

9. Unwrap our surprise balls (see below)

10. 2015 Painting activity

11. Make fireworks in a jar

12. Complete yearly questionnaire

13. Play glow-in-the-dark ring toss

14. Play pin the 12 on the clock (see below)

15. Make confetti poppers

16. Toast in the new year and stand under the balloon drop

Also on the boys' list of things to do...make puppy chow, 2015 cheese bread, and homemade soft pretzels.

I bought a photo back drop from Wal-Mart to be used as our photo booth.

To make it look more like Times Square, I decided to make our own 2015 ball for the "ball drop". I blew up a balloon and covered a small section of the balloon with glue. Then I placed pieces of sequin on the glue. This was going to take a long time...

To speed up the process, I spread glue on the balloon and dipped it into a pile of sequin. Doesn't look as neat, but definitely less time consuming!! 

For the surprise balls, I found a small toy that each of the kids would like. Then I took a roll of streamer paper and wrapped the toy. It will take a while to unravel, but should be fun for them. 

For the pin the 12 on the clock game, I created a clock out of a paper plate. Then I cut out little square 12s for each person. There is a piece of tape on the back of each 12. The person closest to the 12 spot on the clock will win a prize. 

Our night wouldn't be complete without 2015 cheese bread. I used my cheese bread recipe and constructed the numbers (with the help of a pizza cutter). 

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp yeast

1 cup warm water

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil or canola oil

3 cups flour (I used 2 cups white and 1 cup wheat flour)

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic salt

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Start by dissolving the yeast with the warm water. Add the honey. Let sit for a couple of minutes, until the mixture starts to bubble. 

Add the salt, oil, and 1 cup of flour. Stir with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the remaining flour. Knead with the hook attachment on your mixer for about 8 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, knead on a lightly floured surface for 8-10 minutes. 

Grease the mixing bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for about an hour in a warm location (or until doubled). I warm my oven by setting it to 170 degrees for 30 seconds. I then turn the oven off and place the dough in the warm oven. 

When doubled, shape into the numbers and bake for 8-10 minutes at 450 degrees. 

Glow-in-the-dark ring toss: I just hot glued a pencil to a cup for this game. Then the kids tossed glow stick bracelets from the dollar store toward the cup. Because we played this in a dark room, I put a glow stick necklace around the cup so the kids knew where to throw the bracelets. 

These are the question forms we filled out. There was a spot to put their hand print, their accomplishments, and a list of some of their favorite things. 

For the confetti poppers, I just cut off the top of a pop bottle and placed a piece of tape around the edge. I put a balloon around the top and filled it with some confetti. When it was time, the kids pulled the balloon down and released it to let the confetti fly out. 

The celebration play dough was just microwave play dough we made black and put gold glitter in. The play dough recipe is 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 Tablespoon cream of tarter, 2 Tablespoons oil, and 2 cups water. Mix that together. Add about half of a bottle of black food coloring and microwave for one minute. Stir. Microwave another minute. Stir. Repeat this process until you have microwaved the mixture for a total of 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Put the dough on the counter and knead with your hands. The kids worked the glitter into the dough and used star cookie cutters to make designs.