Happy Home Fairy

No need to be sad that Christmas is over.

New Years Eve is on its way!!!

Here are a few simple ideas that you can incorporate into your New Year’s Eve plans year after year…

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First things first.

Let’s consider how we can help others have a fabulous New Year’s.

Dandee Designs made this thoughtful New Year’s Party In a Box to give as a little surprise gift for neighbors and friends.

Two mini bottles of sparkling cider, a package of confetti and some noisemakers all wrapped up in a cute package is sure to bless someone in your Happy Home’s world.

She even has a FREE Printable tag for you to use – go HERE to get it!

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Speaking of FREE Printables…

Thirty Handmade Days has an AMAZING New Year’s Resolutions Printable for your Happy Buddies to fill out.

What a great way inspire your Happy Home’s toward goal setting and thinking positively about the year to come.

Plus, slip it into a binder and you can treasure them year after year!

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How about putting together a little Family Time Capsule like Kellicrowe?

All year long her family drops simple little tidbits from their every day life into a decorated jar (ticket stubs, notes, wishbones, etc.).

At the end of the year they can look back on all the goodies and celebrate a year full of fun!

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Sit down on New Year’s Eve and make some Wish Boxes!

Read more about this idea HERE.

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 Hip Hip Hooray! has a great New Year’s Bingo Game Printable to help pass the time.

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Since you’re staying up so late, your Happy Buddies are going to need lots of sugar to keep them going.

Here’s a delicious little activity to give your sleepy buddies a jump-start!

Edible Party Horns by Cooking with My Kid!

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These simple Midnight Snacks from No Fuss Fabulous will also be a sweet little treat for your Happy Home’s New Year’s celebration.

All you need is a CD sleeve, a cookie, and a FREE Printable tag found HERE.

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I posted about these Countdown Bags last year, but my bags look absolutely LAME-O compared to these AMAZING ones from The Idea Room.

The idea is to take some bags, fill them with an activity or treat or craft for each hour leading up to midnight.

Amy even provided a FREE Printable Clock Template for you to make your own bags (which you can get HERE).

I have a great list of magical things for your bags HERE, but maybe the ideas in this post will also help fill your bags!

Happy New Year’s Tradition-ing!

I was a very active child (just ask my dad -  he will probably tell you that I am the reason for his grey hair) and I loved to make noise.  New Year’s Eve was a great time to be LOUD.

So, let your Happy  Buddies ring in the New Year (seriously, your ears will be ringing) with one of these great ideas…

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1.  Pots and Pans – Best memories I have of New Year’s Eve are the ones when my parents would not only let my brothers and I stay up until midnight, but also they would let us run around outside our house banging pots and pans.

I loved the freedom of being allowed to go bananas.

Just pull some pots and pans from your cupboards, set your kids up with spatulas or wooden spoons, and as soon as the clock strikes 12, head outside and bang away.  Don’t forget to shout, “Happy New Year!” to all the people you wake up.

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2.  Balloon POP – If you’re not afraid of the sound of popping balloons (the Happy Hubby is not a fan), then this is a great idea for your Happy Home.

How Does She? is blowing up balloons and labeling them with each hour leading up to the final moment.

As each hour strikes, the Happy Buddies can take down the corresponding balloon, pop it, and find an activity inside.

Go HERE to read all about this fantastic fun, including a great list of creative activities to include in your balloons.

Or, use a funnel to pour confetti (make your own confetti by recycling all those paper holes from the hole-puncher) into a deflated balloon.  Blow the balloons up and have them floating around until the clock strikes 12 when the kids can try sitting on them to bust out some noise.

Instead of activities or confetti, you could also fill the balloons with money (wootwoot!), homemade coupons (good for 30 extra minutes before bed, etc.), or even an encouraging note from you.

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3.  Homemade Noisemakers - Make your own noisemakers by pouring a handful of beans, rice, buttons, or beads, into an empty water bottle (or paper plate).  Glue the cap on so that when midnight hits there won’t be an unexpected shower of beans – or I guess that could also be a lot of fun.   Have your Happy Buddies decorate their shakers with stickers or construction paper.

Click the image above for directions on how to make these adorable water bottle noisemakers from Kaboose.

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4.  Bubble Wrap Stomp – Grab some bubble wrap (make sure it’s the kind with the BIG bubbles) from your local packaging supply store for some real New Year’s noise.  Lay it out on your driveway or other indoor hard surface.

When the clock strikes 12, have everyone stomp on the bubble wrap.  You will not even believe how much fun is is to stomp on the Stomp Floor.

Happy New Year Noise-Making!

I just stumbled upon a super AMAZINGLY fabulous New Year’s family tradition over at Paint In My Hair.

This magical mom interviews her kids every year using questions like…

What is your favorite…

• Cereal
• Vegetable
• Drink
• Toy
• TV show
• Thing to do
• Game
• Book
• Restaurant
• etc.

She types up the interview and then leaves a little box for her Happy Buddies to color a picture.  Finally she slips the interviews into a folder for her Happy Home to return to each New Year’s and read previous responses.

If you visit her blog you will see a sample that her daughter did a few years ago- totally cute!

How fun is that?!  I think it would be so fun to see how much the Happy Buddies have grown and changed over the years with this simple idea.  When my Happy Buddy turned one last July, I did something similar for his birthday.  Such a great record of their ever-changing little lives!

I was so inspired by Lisa’s post that I drew up an interview for you to print and do with your Happy Buddies this week as we start 2011!  Print it out and get your kids to answer all the questions (you can even make a big deal about the interview process – grab your karaoke microphone and sit at a table with cups of hot cocoa.  Say you’re Barbara Walters. ).

Click the link below for your printable New Year’s  Interview!

New Year’s Interview with the Happy Buddies!!

P.S. Go ahead and do one for the Happy Hubby, too.  Why not???

Happy New Year’s Interviewing!

Happy New Year, Happy Home Friends!

I’ll be taking a vacation from blogging for a few days so that I can prepare for a speaking engagement this Friday (and get stocked up with lots of Happy Home ideas for you for the month of January!).  In the meantime, I thought I’d share this funny article I found on the Internet last year…

I hope it makes you smile.

A Toddler’s Resolutions

1. Gain more weight.  My size 5 Pull-Ups are a little saggy and I need a little bit more of a belly to keep them up.
2. Ask for a glass of water at bedtime at least 3 times – to get the water, delay bedtime, and maybe, just maybe, get an exasperated look from Mom.
3. Come up with new ways to refuse my parents’ bidding.  ”No” is classic.  ”I can’t” is a little more forceful, but I feel it’s time to be creative.
4. Insist on wearing completely mismatched outfits as often as possible.
5. Figure out which kid’s show or music is really annoying to watch/listen to and then beg for it.
6. Refuse food – even if it has been a favorite – once a week.
7. Or, even better, I resolve to ask for a food that I know is not in the house.
8. Have a meltdown for no apparent reason at least once a day.  It’s good to keep in touch with my emotions.
9. Be naked more often – especially when company is coming over or when Mom and Dad are trying to get ready to go out.
10. Give Mom and Dad a hug without being asked for one.

Did this speak to anyone else as it did to me???  I am literally giggling out loud as I type this up because the Happy Buddy is SO this kid.  Especially the part about refusing foods that were once a favorite.

I’d love to hear your “Toddler’s Resolutions” if you have them!  Just leave a comment below with your funniest thought!

Happy Toddler Resolution-ing!

I think this idea that I found over at the Poca Cosas blog is super cute!  Click the picture below to see her post about all the fun things she did with her Happy Home last New Year’s Eve!  She even did the Countdown Bags I posted about the other day!

But I loved these New Year Wish Boxes she made for all her Happy Buddies!

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Decorate some boxes with lots of glitter OF COURSE.

On New Year’s Eve have everyone write down their Wishes for 2011.

Fold up your Wishes and place them in your magic Wishes box.

No peeking until New Year’s Eve 2011!  Then take out your Wishes boxes and see if they came true!

Happy New Year’s Wishes Box-ing!

I think this idea that I found over at Family Fun is AMAZING!

Gather up about 6 bags.

Label each bag with an hour leading up to midnight, starting with 7 o’clock.

Label one bag with 11:55 pm.

Fill each bag with something fun!

Every hour until midnight the kids get to open a bag and celebrate what is inside!  Isn’t that fun?!?  And boy, will it help pass the time!

Bag Filler Ideas -

• Treats! Pop Rocks, Giant Lollipops, a slip of paper that tells the kids they can decorate their own cupcakes, etc.
• Printables! Print out a few activity sheets from HERE and have fun decorating your house with the completed projects!
• Disposable Cameras! Give each kid a disposable camera and let them take pictures of anything and everything to celebrate their final hours of 2010.
• Craft Kits! Grab some inexpensive Craft Kits from your local craft store for your kids to put together.  Or head on over to Kaboose for some super easy and fun New Year’s craft projects!
• New Movie! Slip a new DVD in one of the bags for your family to watch together.  Don’t forget to include a bag of popcorn!
• Puzzles! Put together some simple puzzles as a family (they totally have these at the Dollar Tree – I am a big fan).
• Noisemakers and Confetti! I’d save the noisemakers and mess for that 11:55 pm bag!  Check out my post about 4 Fabulous Ways to Make Noise for the New Year!

Happy New Year’s Eve Countdown Bag-ing!