Traditions to make New Year's Ever feel special

December 26, 2019 9:38 PM

NYE is going to be just three of us: me, my spouse, and our fifth grader. What traditions are there from your family or around the world that might make the night fun?
posted by Comrade Doll to Society & Culture (29 answers total)

That was around the age my family started movie marathons - basically pick a theme (could be a particular actor, genre, director, etc) and watch 3 movies around that theme. Also helps keep a 10 year old awake until midnight.
posted by muddgirl at 9:54 PM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]

Not sure if this counts, since it's for a different date, but in China it's traditional to clean the house, to start the new year with a literally clean slate.

I'm a total slob who tidies about once a year, so this typically involves a trip down memory lane as I uncover various detritus from events throughout the year. If you keep things tidier it might be less fun.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 10:10 PM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

It's more fun the more people you have, but making a record of your predictions is fun this New Year's and next.

There should be two sets:

1) Actual predictions -- Politics, Sports, Science, Friend's engagements and babies, etc.
2) Aspirational predictions -- "I'll lose 10 pounds", "I'll do a beginner's Spanish class".

Tuck 'em away in a spreadsheet and pull them out 12 months from now
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:51 PM on December 26, 2019 [6 favorites]

We eat black eyed peas and collard greens to bring in a financially prosperous new year. The peas represent coins and the greens are dollar bills. My dad's from the south, and it's a family tradition.
posted by mollywas at 10:53 PM on December 26, 2019 [8 favorites]

- Big jigsaw puzzle
- Big Lego set or other model to build
- Games! Cardgames, boardgames, parlor games... there are escape-room boardgames that might be fun collaborative projects
- Make and eat a special meal, multiple courses with a theme? fondue? something that feels like an event food. Sparkling cider, hot mulled cider, some event drink
- Make family scrapbook pages, photo album, slideshow, or similar "our year in review" thing
- Papercraft projects, house decorations, make a calendar for the new year
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:02 PM on December 26, 2019 [6 favorites]

Black and white movie marathon for sure. Something like the Thin Man movies, or Ernst Lubitsch movies. Old school frivolous Hollywood.
posted by praemunire at 11:09 PM on December 26, 2019

We make little donut blobs. It’s easier than it sounds. They’re tasty.
posted by kerf at 11:12 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Tradition from my mother’s Singaporean childhood that we did at midnight to welcome in the new year: bang the pots and pans with wooden spoons to make noise and scare away bad spirits. At least that’s what my mom told us. I always enjoyed it—it’s quite satisfying and cathartic!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:45 PM on December 26, 2019 [5 favorites]

You could all fill in a Year Compass together, a great way to reflect on the past year and plan for the new one
posted by atlantica at 12:12 AM on December 27, 2019 [8 favorites]

We got franks in blankets and mini knishes from the kosher deli and then watched the annual Twilight Zone marathon. :)
posted by marfa, texas at 4:01 AM on December 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

Nine years old is the perfect age for a Twilight Zone marathon combined with some kind of special food treat as others have suggested.
posted by Elsie at 4:04 AM on December 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

We make eggnog from scratch, go to bed early, then go for a sunrise walk or hike New Year's Morning, aiming for the top of a hill or mountain to watch the sunrise from. We bring tea in thermoses and a snack. Then we head back home for a fancy breakfast and leftover eggnog and we exchange presents, which we do instead of Chanukah or Christmas presents.
posted by carrioncomfort at 4:24 AM on December 27, 2019 [7 favorites]

In Spain there is a tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight. You put one grape in your mouth for each 'bong,' as the clock strikes midnight. It's pretty darn funny and the kind of thing a nine year old may enjoy :-)
posted by EllaEm at 4:38 AM on December 27, 2019 [9 favorites]

My husband and I head to the bookstore on NYE day and split up. We each try to find the perfect book gift for the other one, which requires spy-like behavior if you see the other person in the store while you are shopping. Then we head home, exchange books, and spend the evening reading them.
posted by itsamermaid at 5:00 AM on December 27, 2019 [16 favorites]

If the 3 of you enjoy cooking and food, pick out a fun/unusual recipe to try together. For me that might be okonomiyaki or dutch babies.
posted by bunderful at 5:09 AM on December 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

In my family everybody crowds into a dry bathtub, clothed, at the stroke of midnight and eats pudding (store-bought cups ok).
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:16 AM on December 27, 2019 [14 favorites]

Nothing super original about this but my favorite part of New Years as a kid was confetti poppers at midnight. They are loud and colorful and festive and you get the delight of fireworks without the danger.
posted by Mender at 5:52 AM on December 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you don't want to stay up until midnight you can use this site to keep track of the new year's arrival in other places. Or you could pick other countries/cities for a whole day of celebrations and learning about customs in other parts of the world.
posted by Botanizer at 5:57 AM on December 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

At midnight, we always hug and kiss, and then get in a circle and pull English Christmas crackers. We then have to wear the ridiculous paper crowns that come in the crackers until bedtime.

We have special foods that we eat every New Year's Eve (and no time else, really). In my family, it's a caviar/liverwurst ball, along with other snacks. But having a food tradition is fun.

My mother always gives everyone calendars, and we sometimes exchange a few other small gifts.

I'd also like to start a tradition that we play games, like a certain card game or board game. But that's been harder to get off the ground.
posted by rue72 at 8:09 AM on December 27, 2019

Punch (ginger ale over sherbet for the kids and sparkling wine for the grownups) and lots and lots of little appetizers: You can do homemade apps or little eggrolls and pizza bites and things like that from the freezer section, chips and dip, etc.

That's what I most remember from my childhood: My mom always pulled out the punchbowl and laid out a spread. It was magic. (We also cleaned the house New Year's Eve day--same as Christmas Eve day--with seasonal music going, so you had that anticipatory feeling of a big night ahead.)

Play games and music until the ball drops and you get to blow kazoos or whatever. There's always a YouTube of New Year's celebrations around the world that's fun to play in the background and sometimes I'll get sparklers if celebrating with young relatives.

But punch and freezer treats: That's what it's all about for me after all these years!
posted by jenh at 8:10 AM on December 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

We always made fondue for dinner ( cheese and then chocolate) in my family. Kids love fondue, and you have to follow the tradition of kissing the person next to you if the food you’re dipping falls off your fork
posted by genmonster at 8:27 AM on December 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

We make a list of things we want to do as a family in the next year, which I stole from this blog.

New Year's Day we take down the Xmas ornaments, except lights, and clean the house.

We actually don't stay up until midnight which has improved the quality of my life.
posted by warriorqueen at 8:51 AM on December 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

We did dinner and a movie when it was my parents and me.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:05 AM on December 27, 2019

Trivial pursuit and milkshakes.
posted by millipede at 11:01 AM on December 27, 2019

We always made fondue. I miss my parents' Peter Max fondue pot. ;_;
posted by missrachael at 12:06 PM on December 27, 2019

In Chile, they do the grape thing and if one is sour, the corresponding month (i.e. 10th grape, October) will be a rough one. Chileans also (sometimes) wear yellow underwear, put money in their shoes if they want economic prosperity and walk around the block with a suitcase if they'd like to travel in the new year.
posted by saul wright at 12:11 PM on December 27, 2019

If you can do this safely, I’ve enjoyed writing down on a slip of paper one thing (or more, one slip for each, up to you) I want to let go of from the last year, and then burning it. Then do the same thing for something you want to call in for the next year. This can be a really reflective and meaningful exercise. Depends on your kid if they’d be into it.

Singing Auld Lang Syne at midnight always brings me to tears, and even as a kid I loved the ancient sound of those words, which gave a shivery feeling of connection with the past.
posted by sumiami at 10:28 PM on December 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

A little more involved, but if you can get your hands on lead and a little crucible, the German tradition of molybdomancy is good fun and better/safer with fewer people.

It makes me think that anything that combines fortune-telling with reflection and goal-setting would be fun: tarot?
posted by athirstforsalt at 7:46 AM on December 29, 2019

Bell-ringing at midnight. You could do that with some smaller bells (or the pots and pans sound pretty good too!)
I remember making mandu with relatives as a kid, and now as an adult, I make mandus with the niblings. It's not specific to New Year's Eve, but is part of the New Year's Day tradition. Maybe make something together that can be eaten on Jan 1?
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:48 PM on December 30, 2019