Families For Life | 5 Fun Ways to Welcome the New Year with Your Family

Looking for a family-friendly way to countdown and ring in the new year? Here are some ideas to help you look back and reflect, look forward to the future, and ultimately, have some good ol’ family fun:

#1 Celebrate with a fancy dinner party

Dress to the nines and hit the town for a fancy family New Year’s Eve dinner countdown party—phew, social distancing regulations have been removed! Alternatively, if you’d like to skip the crowd, host your own countdown at home. Delivery options abound so get creative with a theme that the family resonates with and have different family members to play their part by taking care of different elements like games, music, drinks and more.

Best part of this? You can adjust the New Year’s Eve programme as and when you need. No worries about catching the last train or sleepy children, since you’ll be right at home. Cheers to that!

#2 Create a bucket list of 2023 places to visit

Some might say one of the best things about 2022 was the lifting of travel restrictions—most recently for Taiwan and Japan. So especially if your family have been grounded in Singapore the last few years, why not create a bucket list of places you’d like to visit in 2023 this New Year’s Eve? You can prioritise some milestones to meet and make them happen. It’s a nice way to get the family united during the countdown and excited about the year to come.

#3 Celebrate New Year’s Eve in the style of a different culture

Did you know that in Spain, people eat 12 grapes—in time with the striking of the clock—to ring in the new year? Or that in Japan, a bell is rung 108 times to banish unhappiness? And across the globe, Colombians walk around the block with an empty suitcase, and those in Denmark break plates for good luck… there are a myriad of unique ways that different cultures celebrate New Year’s eve, so read up and try out a few of your favourites! Maybe just keep the plate smashing to a minimum.

#4 Card games to reflect and think

Card games are always a favourite when it comes to family bonding. In the spirit of reflection, try to celebrate New Year’s eve with one of the Families for Life special card games, In a Home Beat or The Family Race—distributed to children across primary schools in Singapore. These games focus on family values, teamwork and communication, with great lessons to bring with you into the New Year.

#5 Set up a reflections tree

Want to do some reflections about the year that’s passed? Celebrate New Year’s eve by creating cards with thought-provoking questions and hang them on the Christmas tree. Family members are to “pluck” questions from the tree to reflect on, and also write down a statement of affirmation for another family member. These new statements are then placed back on the tree, for each person to collect at the end of the night—so everyone can start their year with words of encouragement to keep them going!