So What Do You Moms Do on New Years Eve???

Now that our daughter is older, we go over to a friends house and play board games with her and her older kids and their friends.. We really have a great time..

There were a few years we joined a group of friends for the New Years eve dinner and dancing at the Four Seasons here in town.. So glamorous..

Then we would go down the main street here in Austin that faces the State Capitol building.. , called Congress Avenue.. it is all blocked off with all sorts of family activities, It is all free, lots of fun artistic activities for all ages.. This year it will be held at Lady Bird Lake, so should be fun to check it out..

New Years Day we make a huge pot of Black eyed peas (they bring good luck!), drink Mimosas, Bloody Mary's and watch movies..

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We usually have a couple of families over for New Year's Eve. This year, we are having 3 families, totalling 17 people come and spend the night with us. We will be having fondue, playing games, enjoying each other's company, and staying up late. The next morning, whenever everyone gets up, we will have a big breakfast and hang out until everyone feels like going home. Last year, one of the families (different families every year) stayed until midnight the next day! We had so much fun. We just eat and play and laugh and enjoy each other. My kids range in age from 18 down to 4. We put the littles in bed around 10 or so (it varies, depending on how they're doing), and we stay up until we feel like going to bed. We don't have a schedule of sorts. Each couple has their own bedroom, and the girls/young ladies have one big room, and the boys/young men sleep out in the RV. It's a blast. We are trying to make strong and fun memories for our children, and this is one way we do it.

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We play board games around the kitchen table (kids now 3, 6, 8 - little one probably will fall asleep though) eating hor-dourves. At midnight, we go into the family room to watch the ball drop and dance for about 10 minutes. One thing I saw that looked interesting (but I've never done)..... Rainforest Cafe at Great Lakes Crossing (maybe others too) has a New Years Celebration for kids - where they dress up fancy and have a party, then celebrate "midnight" at 8:00. You need reservations in advance.

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We usually get my parents to watch the kids and go out, or have people over. Its the only Holiday I feel "ok" about not being with my kiddos. Mainly because they pass way before midnight.
But since Im pregnant, we will probably keep the kids home and struggle for midnight as well.

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We have a few other couples over with kids (ranging in ages from 6 to 17). We eat and play games, kids and adults mingling and having fun together. At midnight we ring in the New Year and then everyone goes home. No one lives more than a few blocks away, so no one has to worry about being on the roads with drunk drivers. It's a fun night. :-)

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the same thing we've always done, the boys (hubby, BIL's, and friends) play video games while I alternate between reading a book and sleeping on the couch. Apparently this was super hilarious when I was hugely prego and the baby would kick while I was sleeping.

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We don't go out, but we make up for it by throwing a pretty big new years day party for all of our friends with kids. Since no one goes out anymore, it's easy for everyone to be over for brunch around 10. Then the kids get to run around while the adults do some socializing over mimosas, and its like we're not super lame! Ha!

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For the past 6 years or so, we've been getting together with our neighbors on NYE (about 6 families). We all take turns hosting. We bring food and our own drinks and try to make it to midnight. We play games together - kids and adults alike. We sing and dance - it's a blast. We're really looking forward to this year's party.

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Always stay in, as we never pay for babysitters. Restaurants on New Year's are overpriced and you get poor service b/c it's so darn crowded. Also, driving on New Year's with the drunks is scary. Staying in really is the best.

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I have babysat the last couple of years...honestly though I usually struggle to stay awake...we usually make it a fun night for the kids and play board games. This year I am thinking I will not babysit as this December has been a crazy one and all I want to do is reclaim my house so New Years Day I will probably taking down the tree = ) Please don't think I am a grinch!

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My BFF has a party, it's for both parents and kids. Hubby works until 9:00, so BFF picks me and the kids up early and he meets up with us. Since hubby is the designated driver, it's the one night of the year I don't have to be careful of how much I drink and I also don't worry about my diet. We usually head home arround 1:00.

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We eat a nice dinner at home and play all the games we got for christmas. My sister and BIL and sometimes best friend and her hubby stop over after dinner. We let the kids stay up. They get sparking cider in plastic champagne glasses. Today i got all of their fun new years eve things (the big tubes that you turn real hard and the confetti flies out everywhere) and 2011 glasses.

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My kids are small (4, 3, 1) and I am 28 weeks pregnant with #4, so my guess is that this year I will be in bed well before midnight. I don't honestly know if I've even seen "the ball drop" since before being pregnant with my first....;)
but I don't mind, I love spending the time and holidays with my family, and look forward to making new traditions with them as they get older. I remember having shrimp, and all kinds of other fancy appetizers on NYE with my family when I was growing up. My parents too, went out and we stayed with a sitter some years - so maybe I'll eventually do this with DH too? Oh the possibilities when I'm not pregnant, breastfeeding, or have young kiddos!! :)

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Actually, my hubby and I discovered that if we tried to go out on New Year's that we had the most horrible fights and ended up miserable at home by 11 - lol So we started just *staying* home and have had the most wonderful times!! We get some yummy take-out or make a bunch of appy's and pick a movie series (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc) and spend the day cuddling and snacking. And the best part is that we never had to change our plans much once we had kids!

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LOL! Sounds like our New Year's Eve since we had a kid- except for we make hot wings.

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We stay up long enough to watch the ball drop in Times Square and call it good.

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Sounds like what we always did...yummy food, we rented movies, played games with the kids. If it works for you, it's not lame! Have fun!

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We eat homemade hot fudge sundaes with ALL the fixins, all watch a movie together (in the past it's been Elf, Mamma Mia, etc), then usually by then it's pretty close to midnight. The grownups have champagne, the kids have Martinelli's sparkling cider in fancy glasses, we all toast the new year...then go to bed. This year, we're changing it up. We'll be spending New Year's Eve on an airplane...*sigh*...

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Where we live it's too darn cold to go out on New Year's Eve. We used to go out for a night on the town with friends before kids. I think the year before our 1st was born, it was like 30 below out, and we were miserable! I was in heels and nylons thinking the club scene just wasn't worth the pain!!

We happily stay home now, put the kids to bed early and TRY to stay awake to ring in the New Year. Sounds boring, but we love being warm in our bed instead of standing in a line waiting to get into a stuffy, crowded bar!

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Mine's even more lame! lol We just go to bed. We don't even stay up anymore.

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We do the exact same thing. We eat crab legs and drink sparkling grape juice and count down with our child if he makes it to midnight. Other years we've attended church and count down there. We like to switch it up every year, but we mostly just bring in the new year together with prayer.

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The last 5 years:
2006- hubby worked on the garage roof while I stayed on the computer and the kids slept.
2007- went to my mother's house for a little get-together and stayed the night. There were lots of kids there also.
2008- played card games at my MIL's down the street from our house with BIL and SIL. There were lots of kids this time as well.
2009- same as 2008.
2010- went to Incredible Pizza and had a BLAST with the kids. That was the most fun we've had since the kids have been around for NYE! :)

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Definitely hard to go out since we don't have family around to babysit and finding a babysitter on NYE is nearly impossible. A family at our church usually hosts a game night where everyone brings a board game and some food and we all hang out and play games. We did that a couple of years ago and it was really fun. My son was about 6 months old, so we put him to bed in a pack and play in one of the bedrooms and my daughter actually stayed up until almost midnight (she had just turned 3). She crashed in someone's lap at around 11 or so. It was lots of fun and the kids were no worse for the wear, so we'll probably do that again this year and just stay as long as the kids can hang and go home when they're ready to crash.

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Since having kids.....

we put on aprons and fix chicken cordon bleu from scratch, buttered noodles and broccoli.

We play scrabble and watch movies...

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We usually go to friends who have kids the same age as ours and the kids play till they crash. This year we might have just a few people over cause we got wii for xmas, and we always play cards and things like that.

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We either have people over -usually some who also have kids. Some years we have a pretty large party and get a few sitters for the basement so everyone can deposit their kids there and party a little bit with grown ups! We also leave the kids overnight at my MILs -and that's what we're doing this year. I cannot WAIT! We're going to a special dinner at a fantastic new restaurant in Atlanta (alone! just the two of us! and it won't be overpriced with poor service or too crowded because they only seat a limited number of people for a special 5 course dinner) and then going by a friend's party to ring in the new year. We primarily rely on cabs when we go out on NYE. We'll drive to the restaurant and our friend's house and then cab it home.

New Year's Day is huge around here too. My husband always cooks the peas and greens and people stop by all day, but this year we're going to a friend's collard green party and taking ours over there. Then we're going to another NYD party later that afternoon if we and the kids are up for it.

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I have not been out at New Year since before I had my daughter who is now 7. No regrets though as who better to bring the New Year in with than my baby! lol This year though my daughter and I, my brother and sil and their kids and my sil 's oldest son, partner and their 3 kids are all going to stay at a hotel where there is a New Year party (dinner, games and a live band) The kids are all older now and will probably last longer than the parents!!! Very Excited!!

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Pre-kids I partied with the best of them! Now, we do something with the kids. This year we are taking them to see ICE! in DC. Looks amazing and will be a great way to end the year. Then we make a party type buffet at home and just chill. We play games and wait for the ball to drop...if we make it!!

Clean the house from top to bottom during the dy (love to wake up to a sparkly house on Jan. 1st). All evidence of Christmas has been gone for five days by that point. We stay in to avoid all the drunk drivers...have for quite a long time Eat something yummy! I think my teenage daughter had some friends over last year.

We've been hosting a NYE party at our house for the last couple of years since having them.
This year, we're going out, but we'll still be home shortly after midnight.

Our kids are early risers (5:30am), so we've learned that no amount of fun the night before is worth having to get up and deal with 2 little kids and a hangover.

Since having a child we stay in as well. Put our son to bed, and watch movies till midnight, so we get our kiss in :) I'm not big on going out, we rarely drink so I'm just fine with staying in and having a few drinks to bring in our new year....

we go to bed around 9:30 (our usual bedtime). we don't celebrate new years. usually we're so tired from christmas.
this year we are getting together with a family friend of ours and will do kind of a sleepover. they have kids same age. let's see how that goes.

Because my extended family is large and we don't live close, we do Christmas on New Year's Eve. We have a big buffet and everyone brings their speciality and then the kids open the gifts from their grandparents, aunts and uncles and the adults do a "Yankee Christmas." I look forward to it all year!

Thanks for asking the question, I've been pining for the "old days" when I was growing up and wondering what to do this year myself!!!
Growing up, we'd go to my grandma's house with all our cousins. We'd go outside and hunt a cyclops or whatever stupid kick we were on at the time, some kickball, whatever. Every family brought a dish for potluck dinner but I really just remember snacking on crackers with cheese and summer sausage, or grandma's treats that she only made during the holiday season: divinity, fudge, etc. She had a fun holiday punch that smelled sooooo good in the crockpot! Then my "cool uncle" would show up with loads and loads of fireworks. The adults would sit out on the patio and the kids would be in the yard with sparklers, shooting fireworks under supervision from dad and my uncle. It was a lot of fun! We moved when older, and we would walk up the levee (my mom lives on the river) and hang out at bonfires and eat gumbo, walk up and down the levee talking to other families at their bonfires. Then close to midnight the fireworks show would start, a big show where they'd shoot the fireworks off a barge in the river. We'd lay on the levee's slope and watch the sky light up.
As a single adult, we would head to the French Quarter (New Orleans) every year, and the celebrations really lasted a week (or several). There was the Christmas partying which rolled into New Year's Eve, to New Year's Day, to Sugar Bowl, to Mardi Gras. Fun times. I liked that because you could walk everywhere and not have to worry about driving. You'd go from place to place, and end up at a restaurant to watch fireworks from the river, then back to the streets to the next place. A cab could take you to the hotel if you got too far out.
This year, married, with children: we have moved again. New to the area and no family here, or good friends yet, and we're staying in temporary, furnished, corporate apartment while we house hunt. All our stuff is in storage. I think we'll just make a pot of gumbo and stay in. We've had a VERY full year and a lot has happened, so I think it'd be fitting to look back at the past year and give thanks for our blessings and take some time to talk about the coming year and what we're looking forward to. We may watch a family movie, but I also want to check into the rules about fireworks here and where we can shoot them (we live in an apartment complex right now and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be kosher to do that here). Perhaps, weather permitting and location available, we can shoot fireworks for the boys for the first time? If not, then it'll be something to look forward to next year when we have our own home.
What I like to do every year is get up kinda early on my own and see the sun come up on the new year. Have a little prayer and reflect some. Then I can sneak back to bed a little while until the kids get up. My husband makes a great late breakfast of french toast, sausage, oj for the boys, and mimosas for us.

At home...Never stay up till midnight just another day

It's a normal day for us. I don't do anything special.

I have never enjoyed going out on New Year's to many crazy people out on the roads for me. It might be lame but for the past 2 years I have offered childcare in my home so that others can go out and have a good time. Then I have a little new years party with all the kids. We play games and do crafts. Then watch a movie and eat popcorn. We have fun and I also make some extra money at the same time.

Happy New Year!

Not really anything. We may watch a movie or have a nice dinner--but rarely do we stay up to watch the ball drop or anything like that. We don't drink so its mostly like a normal night to us.

M

I have only been out once or twice for New Years. Not a big fan of all the drunk drivers out and about. So usually we wil make briskit fajitas for dinner. Then watch the rockin NewYears eve show on TV. I've always loved watching my girls dance and have fun to the music. But after reading all the wonderful ideas on here I think we will do the same as usual but let our girls have a friend spend the night and play games and stuff. Then get those party packs from the grosery store with the poppers and such for them to enjoy. I think they will enjoy that. :)

You're very smart to handle it this way. Good for you!