The quirkiest New Year traditions to try with your kids

Can’t travel to see off 2020 in another country? Bring that country to you, with our round-up of the most kid-friendly and curious NYE traditions from around the world, followed by some inspirational ideas to start up some New Year family traditions of your own…

LET THEM EAT GRAPES: An oft-quoted tradition from Spain is to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight for good luck. Practiced around the world, especially in Central and South America, the idea is that when the clock starts chiming for midnight, you gulp a grape with every gong. To make it kid–friendly, it’s probably best to try this a little earlier on (you can use the Midnight Countdowns on Netflix – more on this later), and be sure to slice the grapes in half vertically for littler kids to prevent choking.

JUMP AROUND: In Denmark, the Danes grab the New Year by the horns and jump into it, literally, by leaping off a chair just before midnight (it’s supposedly bad luck if you don’t, so worth giving it a try!). This is in addition to another Danish tradition of smashing crockery against your neighbour’s front door on New Year’s Eve. The more broken plates you have outside, the more luck you’ll have supposedly. But perhaps best to stick with the chair jumping if kids are getting involved.

GO YOUR OWN WAY: South American tradition sees people taking their empty suitcases for a walk around the block, in the hope of beckoning in plenty of travel for the coming year. Given the home-bound year we’ve just had, this is one tradition we might all like to embrace this NYE.

ICE, ICE BABY: The Swiss apparently drop a scoop of ice cream on the floor, as a way of ensuring that the next year is full of happiness, wealth and good fortune. This one is easy to achieve with little kids – simply give them an ice cream cone treat and, voila, the chances are you’ll have at least a few globs of the sweet stuff on the floor by the time the child is done. And if not? Then you win either way.

ARMCHAIR WARRIOR: Both the South Africans and the Italians bid adieu to the year just past by flinging furniture out of the window. While this one is generally not advisable to anyone, a kid-friendly pillow fight could see off 2020 in apt style.

GO DOTTY: In the Philippines circles in general are said to bring prosperity when it comes to the New Year, so don polka dots to amp up your chances of a wealthier 2021.

MOCK MIDNIGHT: While the idea of letting the kids stay up late to see in midnight might seem fun and indulgent, we all know it ends up with somebody throwing a strop, tired tears and a messed up morning the next day (and that’s only you). Start off 2021 on the right foot by giving the kids their own special, earlier midnight with the Netflix New Year countdowns. Simply search for Countdown, and your tots can see their favourite cartoon characters counting down to midnight and seeing in the New Year at whatever time you choose.

MEMORY JAR: This is a lovely, positive tradition to encourage kids to practice gratitude for 2021. Find an empty jar, and every week add a note with a good thing that happened written on it. On New Year’s Eve 2021 empty the jar and read about the amazing year you had.

TIME TRAVEL: This is a cute way to help children to understand the concept of time and past, present and future. Tell your kids what they or you were doing 5 years ago on New Year’s Eve. Then fast forward and let your child tell you what they hope to be doing in five years’ or 10 years’ time. A great, imaginative exercise.

VISION BOARD: This is an excellent exercise for people of every age, but the cutting and sticking works very well with children. Find old magazines, catalogues or similar and tell your children to sift through and cut out pictures that spea to them or that they would like to see more of in the New Year. Then you can stick or pin these images to a vision board, and you can help them group them into different areas of their life – school goals, sporting hopes, family wishes, fun etc. At the end of 2021 you can look back and see what you achieved. It’s an activity the whole family can benefit from.