New Years Eve Traditions
When I was a kid, I remember looking forward to New Year’s Eve: It was the one night of the year that my brothers and I could stay up all night long (well, until midnight), eating junk food and watching movies until finally the ball would drop in Times Square, indicating the end of the current year (as well as bedtime). I don’t think I ever fell asleep after about the age of six… which is more than I can say about the past twelve years! Usually I’m sleeping on the couch and the kids wake me up a few minutes before the countdown begins.
How do you celebrate New Year’s Eve? While we usually just do the junk-food-and-movies thing, I’ve been looking into other ways to commemorate the occasion. Here are a few:
- Go through your calendar with the kids. While we all have calendars on our phones now, I still keep a wall calendar; I think that most people do! If you have a wall calendar or a little one that you keep in your purse, chances are that you have a lot of notes written down about birthday parties, dentist appointments and special guests. Go through each month with the kids and try to remember some of them. Some won’t seem memory-worthy, but the kids tend to remember different things that we grownups do, so you might be surprised.
- Borrow traditions from other cultures. Either pick activities that you like or research what people do for New Years Eve in the area of the world where your ancestors are from. One of my childhood friends was Greek, and his mother would bake a cake for the new year with a dime mixed into the batter. The person who got the dime in his or her slice would have good luck through the coming year. We had a Spanish exchange student earlier this year who told me about a tradition where each person ate a grape during each of the 12 clock strikes of midnight. Both of these require caution, especially if your kids are small, as they could cause choking, of course, so use your discretion and common sense!
- Tweak the movie-night-til-the-wee-hours tradition. If your kids are little or you are an early bird, celebrate the new year at 8:00 or 10:00 instead of midnight. Or if you can’t sit through hours of kid-flicks, consider watching a series of documentaries that everyone is interested in. One year, we watched Planet Earth and played games while that was on in the background. My kids are really into MythBusters now; maybe we’ll do that this year!
- Make your own traditions! Do whatever you want that makes the night special. Gather around the fireplace to make s’mores, go camping, have a family sleepover on the living room floor, exchange gifts, rearrange the furniture, or do anything else that you can continue year after year as a treasured tradition to look back on.
We have some quirky food traditions that we do on New Years such as the 12 grapes, a bowl of black eyed peas with collard greens and many more. 
Via: AtlasTravelWeb.com
We wish you a safe and happy New Year’s Eve tomorrow night!
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I always stay up to watch the ball drop. I’m from NY but live here in Virginia now.
When I was little, I was like you were. I was allowed to stay up until Midnight and watched the ball drop at Times Square with my parents while feasting on a lot of good stuff. Then I would hit the bed at midnight. That is if I didn’t fall asleep before.
Sooo….I was spending New Years Eve at home, just my boyfriend and I…I bought a bottle of champagne…We got a big Italian dinner from a local place…ate, had one drink (not of the champagne, we were saving that for midnight)…Next thing I know, I wake up in my chair, look over at him, snoring on the couch…look at the clock..it’s 10:30pm. “Let’s go to bed….” “OK”….So, we missed midnight. slept right through it. Still have a bottle of champagne in my fridge!
I like the long pasta one! Some others are pretty cool too!
I stay up to watch the ball fall – which nowadays is late for me!!
We start watching Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years show around 8:00pm until the ball drops at midnight with all our family at our house.
my dad always use to make us eat hamhocks and black eyed peas for good luck. i don’t think he’s ever missed that new years eve meal!
I like to sleeping during count down!
Thanks for sharing the Lucky Food for 2013. It has always been a tradition in the Philippines about serving lucky food on New Year’s eve.
we usually have clam chowder on New years eve.
mom makes it from scratch (if she has time) and i make the rolls. then for desert we have lots of cookies and things left but i usually make a chocolate/banana cream or chocolate/chocolate pudding cake.reciept below.
Pudding Cake
1 cake mix-chocolate or vanilla or white
1 large or 2 small boxes of pudding -chocolate,or banana or something that goes with cake you have chosen.
1large tub cool whip.
(also need ingredients as per cake and pudding boxes).
113×9 cake pan, small wooden spoon handle plastic wrap (and sprinkles if wanted.)
made just like it sounds, once your cake is baked and out of the oven, use a small wooden spoon handle to punch holes all over it. let cool completely,i usually speed this up by sticking it in the freezer.
once cake is cool set to the side, in a large bowl mix your pudding as directed for pie,either 1 large box or 2 small boxes. while it is still liquid pour over cake. spread evenly as possible, top with whip cream or some prefer cool whip and spread that over cake evenly. cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate right away. keep chilled until ready to serve, the cut and serve as any other cake. return to icebox.
tammy ramey
trvlagnt1t@yahoo.com
My family watches the ball drop an hour early each year cause I am in central time zone, I always have snacks at the house (espically summer sausage & cheese) with Sparkling white grape juice.
our tradition in my country if you want to get taller jump many times if the clocks turn 12:00 midnight