New Year's Eve Celebration

Howdy everyone! Sorry if I haven't been very active on my blog lately. First, I want to say Happy New Year! May you all be abundantly blessed this year. 

Our holidays didn't go as planned this year. I am finally moving around the house and getting over being sick which lasted three weeks. I still have a minor cough. It was a rough time period for us all. The illness started with my daughter on Christmas Day. We were visiting friends and she started acting a little strange. Then, to my surprise she took a 45-minute nap on their couch. Anyone that knows Alyssa . . . knows that this is VERY strange behavior for my daughter. What's weird is that 10 minutes prior she was singing carols to everyone and dancing. She wanted to stay and watch Christmas movies, but when she woke up I decided to take her home. That's when it happened. She threw up (sorry) down their hall and all over the bathroom. I felt so bad for her. Our friends were awesome. They helped clean up the mess. Furthermore, later that evening Alyssa texted them apologizing she told them she felt bad for ruining their Christmas. They sent her a loving message stating that she definitely did NOT ruin Christmas and that it was a blessing to celebrate with us. Awesome - right! I love our friends! Needless to say the sickness immediately spread and cycled through the family. Luckily, my husband didn't get sick for long. He is studying for his promotion test.  

My husband worked on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve so I tried my hardest to make things fun for our daughter since we were stuck inside for the holidays. I found a great idea on Pinterest at the last minute and used supplies we had in the house. Check out my New Year's Eve Pinterest board for these ideas and more. We also opened our Blessings Jar and read through the blessings we received from God this year. We are most grateful for the blessings we received and prayers that were answered.     

This is what we did. I found several yellow balloons in our birthday decorations box. I wrote activities on small slips of paper and squeezed them inside the balloon before blowing them up. As you can see each balloon had a time written in black permanent marker. I planned a family fun activity for each hour from 6:00 pm to midnight. We listened to music, watched a movie, did puzzles, played games, baked cookies, and more.  

Popping Balloon With Toothpick
She jumped every time!

There was also a lunch bag for each hour which contained activity supplies. I borrowed this idea from The Idea Room. My husband bought us shrimp cocktail and other appetizers for dinner. We snacked all evening. Wow! I just realized she was in pajamas earlier than normal. How did I pull that off?

I also found cool photo props online that we created during the day in preparation for our nighttime fun. We both LOVED the crown! 

Alyssa stayed up until midnight. We made a toast using sparkling fruit juice. I also gave her a bag of Hershey "midnight" kisses and we blew the noisemakers for Jeff when he called us. The hour beforehand we bundled up and went outside quickly to play with sparklers. We drew shapes and wrote our names in the air.

Adore my Happy Girl!

Well, that's it! These simple and fun activities helped us count down the New Year even though we were still sick. We had a blast! My daughter asked if the activities would become a tradition every year.

Did your kiddos stay up late? 
What did you do on New Year 's Eve?

 Please share your ideas or traditions in the comment section. 

I hope to pin more ideas for next year.

I will link this post up at Ben and Me's Blogging Through the Alphabet. Letter N is the focus for this week. Come join the fun!