Bunchland

New Year’s Eve doesn’t have to mean scrambling to find a babysitter or skipping a night of partying. With a bit of planning ahead, kids and New Year’s can be seamlessly combined to create a fun night for the whole family, full of activities you’ll all look back on.

At a loss for how to pull this off? Presenting the Bunchland Guide to New Year’s Eve, our collection of ideas for having the best lead-up to midnight (and the most relaxing New Year’s Day) ever.

For starters, night tobogganing is a perfect multi-family activity. Round up some friends and neighbours and head for the hills. Enjoy the crisp winter air and the shrieking of your kids as they coast along at lightning speed. With some preparation, you can avoid your tobogganing sesh being cut short because everyone’s too cold. We recommend lots of layers and a thermos filled with hot chocolate or another hot beverage.  Read more...

Every good party needs some good food. Here are our suggestions for keeping guests happy as they ring in the new year

Party food needs to be delicious, but it also needs to look great. And if you’re hosting a kid-and-parent party, it also needs to be fun. Here’s our proposed New Year’s Eve party menu:

Popcorn Bar

How party-friendly is popcorn? Very. How easy is a popcorn bar? Way. To set up a popcorn bar, find 3-5 large bowls and place them together on a table. Find a popcorn scoop for each bowl. (We think measuring cups work well.)

We’re fond of popping popcorn on the stove in a large pot with some vegetable oil, but your favourite, plain microwave popcorn works just as well.  Read more...

Why not countdown to a paper mâché ball of candy?

Countdowns are fun. Candy is fun. Countdowns with candy at the end are superfun. (If you don’t like that much sugar, glitter is also fun. Messy, but fun.)

For a kid-friendly countdown, make a disco ball piñata. Note: this needs to be done two days before New Year’s Eve to ensure your paper mâché creation dries.

You will need:  Read more...

• A large balloon
• Strips of newspaper
• Some sort of paste (either pre-mixed wallpaper paste, or flour-and-water)
• Shiny paper OR paint and sequins/sparkles
• Candy

1. Blow up balloon and start covering with newspaper strips and paste.
2. After a solid layer, set aside to dry.
3. When balloon is dry cut a hole and fill with candy (or whatever you like.)
4. Patch hole with more newspaper and paste.

A collaborative art project sharing memories and resolutions makes for a great party activity

Kids and parents can all take part sharing their favourite memories of the last year as well as their hopes for 2011.

Establish an art corner for this particular party activity. (We can’t even tell you how many times we’ve accidentally dipped a chip and realized we just ate paste rather than some sort of sour cream-based concoction. Kidding! But wouldn’t that be awful? Don’t let it happen at your party.)  Read more...

• Spread out a sheet of mural paper (postal paper will do) on a table
• We’re also way into the idea of using dozens of mini canvases (You can find 1″x1″ or 2″x2″ at your favourite craft supply store)
• While we would never dream of stifling anyone’s creativity, we suggest coming up with a palette and offering your guests four colours that compliment the mood of the party. (playful primaries? sophisticated charcoal and eggplant? gold and silver uberglamour?)

The best family entertainment for this lazy, lazy day

Presenting Bunchland’s Guide to New Year’s Day. You ready? Got a pen? Okay, here it is:

1. Sleep in.

2. When you eventually wake up, with the help of no alarms whatsoever, make pancakes.

3. Eat the pancakes.

4. Do not, repeat, do not change out of your pajamas.

5. Watch DVDs. For the rest of the day.

New Year’s Day is the perfect time tear into a TV show or movie box set for a marathon session in front of the tube. A box set is a beautiful thing: no commercials, no planning your life around a TV schedule, and best of all, you can watch as many episodes as you want in one sitting.  Read more...

Make some noise in the new year with one of these New Year’s Eve noisemakers

Generally, you want your kids to stop making so much noise, but on New Year’s Eve, they are certainly exempt from the quiet rule. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite DIY noisemakers from craft blogs to help your kids blare in 2011.

The Go Green Blog has a funky way to recycle your water bottles.

Kaboose has a funky, bejeweled paper plate version.

And Disney’s Family Fun says that this paper noisemaker takes an hour to make, but looks to us like it’s easier than that.

Photo by sean dreilinger via Flickr.

New Year’s Eve outfits for kids

New Year’s Eve is the best time to dress up your kids in fancy-pants outfits, because how often do you get to do that sort of thing? Sure, there’s the occasional wedding or birthday party. But New Year’s Eve is a time when you can get away with tops hats, tiny tuxes and more sequins than you can shake a stick at.

Tuxedo T-shirt, $20.99. Patent leather dress shoes, $35. Bow tie, $8.95. Red rose boutonniere, $15. Top hat (a must), $3.99.

Tiara, $2.99. Party shoes, $16.75. Nail polish, $10 for set of 3. Sequin party dress, $14. Gold purse, $14.

Photo by Geoff LMV via Flickr.