New Year’s Eve is kind of a grown up holiday. You stay up really late, generally people are drinking and/or kissing, and the whole thing deals with the marking of time, which kids have very little concept of anyway. This is why having kids totally messes up New Year’s. Kids make Christmas better, and even Valentine’s Day can be fun when you help your children send Valentines and eat candy hearts, but New Year’s Eve is truly a holiday for the childless.
That being said, we did take our kids to the First Night celebration in Burlington this year, and they did have a good time. In years past I would go for the whole evening, seeing musicians and staying out until midnight, and it was a blast. But there are tons of activities for kids too! In fact, I think the children got more of the traditional New Year’s Eve experience than the parents did. Especially Edward, the two-year-old.
We started the evening at noon, catching the second half of a music show for kiddos that a friend of ours was doing, and that went off without a hitch. From there we moved to a clay sculpting craft, and somehow Edward got his hands on a giant sharp knife which he used vigorously on his clay while the rest of us avoided him until we could sneak up and grab it out of his hands without dying. So far, so good.
Our next event was a Dr. Seussification of Romeo & Juliet put on by some local kids. Edward decided to be as loud and as obnoxious as possible, leading up to us getting thrown out of the event. Well, just Edward and I were thrown out. His sister and mother stayed to enjoy the show, probably pretending that they did not know us.
It was obvious at that point that we needed something loud and interactive to do, so we headed to the YMCA, which was hosting some sort of baby bacchanal in which as many children as possible are unleashed into a giant room full of dangerous toys and then left only mildly attended while their parents hide. Needless to say, it was a huge success.
Edward hopped onto a tricycle and started pedaling around the room at top speed, pausing only to push over other kids as he tried to take it all in. He ran around in circles screaming like a maniac. He fell over and could barely get back up. He started a brawl. He punched a stranger. He lay on the floor weeping. In short, he had the New Year’s Eve that the rest of us can only aspire to.
When we finally managed to get him out of there we went to the local movie theater, which was showing endless Looney Tunes cartoons, and we rested. We ate popcorn. We left the theater and got pizza. And we finally made it to the fireworks and went home happy. At 6 pm. Ready to put the kids, and the year, to bed.
Did I have fun? Yes. Was it the evening I would have planned for myself? No. But I suppose it’s all worth it when you see the insanity on your child’s face after having just leaped off of a ramp onto someone else’s child. And if you don’t believe me, I have the video to prove it.
LOL. Your description did it justice. I faintly remember a New Years or two like that myself. Maybe next time strap a camera to his head, tho.