Make New Year’s Eve fun and games with your kids

If you’re staying home with kids this New Year’s Eve, make it an active one with fun for everyone. You can do it with just a little planning.

After all the Christmas feasting, keep the New Year’s eve menu simple. A pot full of soup or chili and a basket of buns lets everyone come and go while staying busy with all the fun. And you’ll want to be ready with some finger foods and some hot chocolate.

If your kids are little, turn the whole evening into a pyjama party that lets you tuck them into bed without a fuss if they exhaust themselves early. And warm pyjamas should be just fine under a snowsuit to spend some time outdoors for the first part of the evening.

Do you want to build a snowman? (Instead of just singing about it)?

If your kids are at the “playing-Frozen-on-a-loop-ad infinitum” stage (or ad nauseum, depending on how you feel about Frozen), use that as inspiration to get outside and get sculpting. There’s something extra fun about getting out to build a snowman when the sun is sinking for the last time of the year. Light up the back yard with a string of Christmas lights if you can or if you have a fire pit throw a couple of logs on.

Amber Doubleday, director of operations at Toymasters (www.toymastersmb.ca) in Brandon, has some fun ideas for digging into the snow starting with snow moulds in the shape of penguins.

“You can create a little penguin army in your yard. They’re always a hit. Once the snow comes, of course, they’ll probably start ‘flying’ off the shelves,” she said.

And for a more artistic approach …

“We have a snow art kit, which is basically a liquid dye you can use in the snow to create pictures and designs. That would definitely be fun to do as a family.”

Once you’re back inside and warmed up again, it’s time for some board games. Doubleday said there are fun choices for everyone, like the very popular Exploding Kittens with some 20 versions, geared for middle school and up.

“Exploding Kittens is a really big hit, they’re all great family games. There’s a mixture of sit around and play a nice card game after supper that’s fun, and there are games that get everybody in the room standing, everybody shouting, and getting involved in playing,” she said.

“When we’re talking about games, I use Candy Land as an example. You can only play Candy Land so many times before you’re done with it, right? But these games, they’re not only fun for the kids, they’re fun for adults to play with the kids.”

For the very young, ages three and four, a game that has no winners or losers is a nice introduction to board games.

“I really love our Peaceable Kingdom co-operative games. You’re working together to try and get through them. Some are like a board game where you’re sitting down, and then there are ones that get them up and moving and acting like funny animals and things like that.”

For the early elementary ages, she recommends Spot it!

“Our number one game over the years for that age group is definitely Spot It with various themes like Spot it! Camping, Spot it! Beach, Spot it! Hockey, all different kinds. It’s a matching game. You’re flipping cards over and you want to be the first to pick out the two matches,” she said.

For the next age group up, she recommends one that has a “viral” inspiration. Often referred to as “Oozle,” it is actually called “The Uzzle.”

“We carry Match Madness which is exactly the same as Oozle. It’s played exactly the same way,” she said.

“The seven-years age group, they’re starting to jump into actual board games. Match Madness is good for that age and up into the whole family category as well. It just fits all across the board. It has been our number one selling game for the last two years. You’re basically racing to complete a pattern that has been flipped over on a card. Everybody has the same five blocks, so you’re all able to recreate that pattern and you’re racing against the clock to do that.”

For older kids, teens and adults, Doubleday said Grandpa Beck’s Cover Your Assets is one of her personal favourites.

“I always pull out Cover Your Assets. It’s a top seller for us and we pretty much stock 60 at a time. It’s like a cross between Go Fish and War and it can get a little feisty if you want it to. It’s really, really, really great to play after supper and you’re going to end up playing a couple rounds for sure,” she said.

She also highlights a new game on the playing field.

“It’s called Flip 7. It’s a ‘push your luck’ card game where you try and flip over seven cards, but if you flip over a match, then you’re out, and you lose the points that have already been flipped. A simple, simple card game, but it’s just blowing up and we are selling copies of it like crazy,” she said.

And finally … it’s midnight somewhere.

If you want the kids off to sleep at a decent hour and still have the fun of a countdown to midnight, set up the computer or TV screen to a live celebration in a more “bedtime friendly” time zone. To find time zones that will celebrate New Year’s Eve ahead of us go to: www.timeanddate.com/worldclock.

» wendyjbking@gmail.com