New Beginnings for a New Year

Celebrate the possibilities of the upcoming New Year! Look toward the future and reflect on the past with family and friends. Involve children in the festive celebrations by engaging them in crowd-pleasing handmade crafts that highlight the New Year theme.

Issue Invitations

Ask friends and family to join you in celebrating the arrival of the New Year. Design personalized invitations to start the year on a creative note. For a soft look, use Crayola® Watercolors and Watercolor Brushes. Or choose Washable Kid's Paint if your theme is bold. Write the celebration time, date, and place with Crayola® Gel Pens so your invitations shimmer. 

Personalized Party Hats

Kids love to celebrate in their own unique fashion. Before or during the party, kids use Crayola® Gel FX Colored Pencils on construction paper to design personalized party hats. Imaginatively roll, fold, or shape the paper into a hat. Decorate with Hallmark® Ribbons and Crayola® Glitter Glue.

Rattle the Rafters

Welcome the New Year with gleeful sounds! Decorate cardboard tubes with Crayola® Markers. Fill them with something that rattles, such as aquarium gravel or dry beans. Seal the ends with tape or Crayola® School Glue, and tie on streamers made from festive Hallmark® Ribbons. Decorate paper plates with Crayola® Metallic Markers and tie on a few jingle bells. To celebrate the New Year, sing and shake away! (These music maker ideas are suitable for children 4 years and older, to avoid young children's small parts choking risks).

Decorate to Celebrate

Make party centerpieces, wall hangings, placemats, and napkin holders using Crayola® Gel FX Crayons. For centerpieces and matching napkin holders, paint recycled boxes and cardboard rolls with Crayola® Washable Kid's Paint. Color placemats with Crayola® Metallic Crayons. Design "WELCOME NEW YEAR" banners on rolled paper with markers, too. Add fireworks to everything with Crayola® Glitter Glue.

Look Ahead

What do your family members dream for in the upcoming New Year? A long-awaited family trip? Wishing for a successful school year for the kids? Dreaming of health and happiness for your friends and relatives? Ask children to draw and describe their dreams for the New Year. Crayola® Metallic Crayons add sparkle to their wishes! Add your own visions by drawing and writing, too. Tie with yarn to create a family Book of Wishes for the New Year.

Play Games

Kids are always full of ideas, so provide a few imaginative craft materials and watch them merrily design their own New Year's games. They might make dice and playing pieces with Crayola® Model Magic®. They could draw a board game on cardboard with Crayola® Gel FX Crayons and write game cards with Crayola® Colored Pencils. They could paint a box to hold games pieces and create their own variation of bingo with Crayola® MiniStampers.