AtoZ Blogging Challenge – Noon Year's Eve Party

Program Name: Noon Year’s Eve Countdown

What: This is an adorable idea I borrowed from another library as a way for families to celebrate the New Year at a countdown at noon instead of midnight so that the little ones could be awake to celebrate. We’ve done this a couple of times and have created a photo booth area, a craft to make noise makers, music, a read aloud, dancing and more. But, I must say that the kids absolute favorite part is the countdown at 11:59am with music and a balloon drop! It’s pretty magical and the kids LOVE it!

Where: We host this program in our children’s department as the week between Christmas and New Year’s is usually pretty quiet – we don’t usually hold any programs during this time – except for this one, making it a big draw for families.

When: Although many of the programs I’m talking about during the AtoZ Challenge can be done at any time of year, this is a specific time – December 30th from 11:30am-12:30pm.

Who: We open this program up to families – gearing it to children in preschool and early elementary school as they most likely aren’t staying up until midnight for the real celebration.

How: Our children’s librarian hosts this party – it’s fairly easy going with a variety of stations for the kids to check out and then gathering everyone up for the balloon drop. The set-up is definitely the hardest part of this program, we usually go online to see how other people have created balloon drops and the disposable plastic table cloths are the easiest way to hold the balloons close to the ceiling until you’re ready to let them fall.

Alternatives:

• We also offered a Lunar New Year program this year which is the New Year’s celebration of many Asian countries.
• You could create a program based on how other cultures celebrate the New Year and create a bulletin board or table displays to show the difference.

During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the 2018 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For this year’s theme, I’ll be offering you a library program plan with everything you to need to re-create it at your own library. Most of these programs we’ve offered in the past, others are programs I’d like to try in the future. I’m always looking for new inspiration and I thought you might be too!