Things To Do on New Year's Eve

Impregnated with the hopes of a joyous year ahead, New Year's Eves are all about merrymaking and jubilation as the old departs and the novel arrives. Whether you fête discreetly or blithely, celebrate you will. However, if parties and lavish New Years eve events are not your cup of tea and you are looking for some cool New Year's Eve activities, before the dawn of new year day when you can shout Feliz Ano Neuvo, check out the following list to discover some of the best things to do on New Year's Eve.

Things To Do on New Year's Eve with Children

With crowds flocking both the Disneyland in California and the Walt Disney World in Florida, visiting these places on New Year's Eve can be quite cumbersome, not to mention a crowded affair. But that doesn't mean that you can't do fun things with your children. Here are a few things to do on New Year's Eve with kids that'll make them go to bed with a smile on their faces, and when they become parents they too can happily recount "things we did on New Year's Eve" to their own children.

Watch New Year Movies
The best thing about movies is that they can add to that celebratory quotient to any ceremony in the world. So you can always cook up some delicious cheddar cheese popcorn, concoct some hot chocolate and hit the couch with your children with a warm quilt to catch up on some of these movies.

• After the Thin Man (1936)
• Repeat Performance (1947)
• La Bonne Année (1973)
• Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1975)
• New Year's Day (1989)

Of course, any Disney animation flick will also do fine, matching up to the joy of the evening.

New Year Traditions Marathon
You can actually gather your kids and some of their friends and ask each of them to learn at least one New year tradition observed in different countries and the significance of each one of them just before New Year's Eve. Then, just arrange for a small, cozy get together for kids, replete with cookies, candies, turkey chops and some hot chocolate and then make each of them recount what they learned one by one. Not only will the kids love the story telling session, but they will learn about the customs and beliefs of other citizens of the world, becoming open-minded global citizens themselves.

Prepare for Jour des Étrennes
Well, New Year's day does involve a lot of gift exchanging. The French, therefore, call it Jour des Étrennes or a day to exchange gifts. So you can actually engage your children in wrapping the gifts creatively. In the mean time, to prevent boredom, you can simultaneously teach them how to say "Happy New Year" in different languages. For instance, in Italian it is Buon Capodanno or it is Feliz Ano Novo in Portuguese. Your child will then be able to wish his friends in different languages and feel proud of his little self.

Tuck in with a Good Book
Books are anybody's best friend, so here's what you can do with your child this New Year's Eve. Tuck them in with a warm blanket, to create a rather cozy atmosphere in this cold snow-laden weather and give them a nice New Year theme story book to read, and you can also read with them if you like. Some books that you could get your little bundle of joy are as follows:

• Happy New Year by Emery Bernhard
• New Year Day by Dana Meachen Rau
• Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn
• Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan

You can also initiate them to lovely Enid Blyton or Joanne Kathleen Rowling books which will equally enrapture them in this festive ambiance.

Cool Things To Do on New Year's Eve

Even as an individual without kids, you can do all the above things, like catching up on some New year movies or read up the book you have been eying for sometime now. But given below are some of the best things to do on New Year's Eve.

Indulge in Composing New Year Resolutions
Well, we must follow customs, shouldn't we? So, how can you not come up with New Year's resolutions on New Year's Eve? Draw up a list just for fun if you have to! After all, nobody will hang you if you can't stick to them. Come up with funny New Year resolutions for a good laugh. You can even call up a friend and ask her to do the same, and then laugh your heads off at each other's ludicrous propositions and aims in life. Come up with things like "Will take breaks from 'breaks' to touch my curriculum books" or "Will open books at least once during an academic year before donating it to a junior or my dog to exercise his gums upon it". It's really fun and refreshing to be goofy sometimes. New Year resolutions can cheer up your kids when they find out what to expect from their parents in the coming year, as growing individuals.

Ladle Up the Exotic
Here's your chance to stir up an exotic New Year recipe storm, as your family shall obviously not complain about having to eat a never-before-heard-of delicacy given that it is New Year's Eve. So bring out all those utensils that you bought long time ago, in order to master all alien dishes, but never really did, owing to the apprehensions of your family about consuming your très exotique concoctions. Try out a Thai fried rice with pineapples, or may be rosemary and apple Cornish hen, or even a Bengali spicy chicken preparation called kosha mangsho if you wish. Then, bring out the fine China to make the year's last supper a rather stylish and lavish affair for your family. Make it, and see your family gobble it up as it's New Year, and they won't want to see that sulk appearing on your face. Good or bad it shall be a meal to remember alright!

Relax Your Senses
What about devoting the first day of the new year in pampering yourself? This is for those of you who fail to take out time for themselves the entire year and are sure to follow the same routine in the new year. New responsibilities, new troubles and new assignments await you, so it is better to relax on the first day of the new year. A visit to the spa or may be the meditation center can be the most refreshing way to welcome the new year. You can spend the day relaxing (obviously), but you can also spend some time planning different things you wish to do in the coming days. Spending time with oneself is something we all love, and we all need. This is the best time to do just the thing.

Help the Melancholy
While the rest of the world parties their heart away, or sit home and watch the "ball dropping" ceremony in New York, you can bring a smile and warm a heart of a being less privileged than you are. Go to an old age home, an orphanage or even a home for abandoned animals and do something for them. You could take for them, some homemade food, a few gifts, decorate their melancholy surroundings with some happiness emanating New Year's Eve decorations, or just sit and spend some time with them. You can even take a step forward and bring a desolated animal, home. Remember your smallest gesture can lighten up their darkest moments for life, so go ahead and help others this New Year's Eve as the rest of the world help themselves to grandiloquent indulgences. You can actually give them hope, if nothing else, for a brighter New Years day, a better tomorrow.

So, here were a few ways to brighten up your New Year's Eve with love and sharing doing the rounds. Just indulge in these things to do on New Year's Eve and you shall feel that warm sensation in your heart, as one episode in time ends, ushering in happier tidings. Welcome 2012 with open arms and a clearer mind, ready to face the new challenges which are yet to unfold. Be positive and be prepared for the unknown tomorrow. As Bing Crosby put it,

"How can our love go wrong if
We start the new year right?"