Wendy and I had a brilliant plan lined up for New Year’s Eve. My family would spend the night at her house with her family. We’d let the kids have a sleep over. Nobody would have to drive. Perfect.
We even decided that we’d let the kids stay up to watch the ball drop. Heck, they could stay up as late as they wanted to. Awesome!
At 9:00PM, we toasted our brilliance with champagne:
And the next morning, we toasted our stupidity with coffee:
Still recovering.
—————————
Not recovering from being drunk, mind you. As Wendy says, “Kids are a buzzkill.” Neither of us drank very much.
I’m still recovering from whiny kids who refuse to go to sleep. Oh wait, this isn’t any different from most nights of 2012. Some things never change.
Happy New Year!
Total buzzkills… Happy New Year!
I think you mean, “New Years Eve, 2012”.
Or it was just a very short list. Don’t be such a sourpuss, lady. Kisses and Happy New Year, 2013.
I read that and figured she’d made a typo too. Either way, I enjoyed the post. =)
so true. happy new year awesome! xo
You’ve got to learn the New Years trick. Starting early in the day, move all the clocks forward so that by 9:00pm they all show that its midnight! Well, it is somewhere. We actually recorded the ball drop from a previous New Years and put that on TV so everyone can do the countdown. Best of all, I’m in bed by 10:00 pm and the kids still think they got to stay up late.
That’s a lot of work just to trick the kids 😉
The beauty of living on the west coast is that you actually can watch the New York ball drop at 9 and put the kids to bed!
Yes, we love having East Coast NYE, where we all count down at 9 and the kids don’t even realize they did it early. 🙂
Oh, God… that plan is just such a huge bummer.
I’m from the UK living in Chicago so at 6pm it’s midnight at home. We call everyone, wish them a happy new year then put our daughter to bed. 3 hours later we’re asleep, safe in the knowledge that really it’s 3am 😉
Oh, you should do as my Sister-in-Law does. She throws a HUGE party for the entire neighborhood, friends, family. It’s fantastic. Kids run amok, people get wasted, no one cares. Someone is always relatively sober to watch the kids (there are plenty of adults) and by the time the ball drops, the kids drop shortly after and the adults walk home (or crash on floors and sofas).
I had my sister in law and 2 kids over to mine for the night. Was great, we had chocolate cake and mulled wine, her eldest 10 and my eldest 5 played scalextricks, her daughter 7 mothered my crappy baby (20 months) and they all went to bed really well, then didn’t wake up till 10 am. I thought we’d done brilliantly…
… until, night of the 1st jan – took from 9 till 11.30 to get my 5 year old to sleep, and the little one didn’t go to bed till 1am
2nd jan, took from 8.30 till 10.30 to get 5 year old to sleep, and little one went to bed at midnight
Last night, 5 year old went to bed at 8.30 just about ok, and tonight it was 7.30 – I still have till sunday night to get bedtime back to 7pm.
I also seem to still be suffering from whinny, overtired kids during the day.
not so great an idea then… I hope I learn next year and be the buzzkill chasing them to bed
Happy new year!
I really thought you meant that your oldest ten children played with her oldest five children. Wow. No more internet before bed for me. 😉
I would definitely need a medal for hosting that many children! 🙂
We had friends over for dinner and they left at bedtime. We had them come here to avoid a 90 minute drive home. Well, my husband and I ended up watching the ball drop only because we spent that much time cleaning up the dishes etc. Next year we’re going to their house! Oh and our kids are regularly up by 5 am. Ugh.
Our group of friends hires a couple of babysitters to watch the kids together at one person’s house and then we go to another house where there are no children…because kids are a buzzkill.
That’s brilliant! We have a couple neighbor friends with kids all about the same age – we’ll have to plan for this year!
Despite a week of cruelly early starts (3.30 am!? What’s wrong with him?) I refused to let New Year pass without acknowledging it. Then I had my brainwave! I kept him up as late as possible! Then I could stay up til midnight and he’d let me have a lie-in. Maybe even as late as 7 or 8 o’clock. No bribing, cajoling or shouting to make him sleep. He even started yawning and I said Ohoho! Let’s see how YOU like it! Finally at 11pm I conceded. I sat watching the clock. Midnight happened. Happy New Year, me and the Fella said wearily to each other, and drank an obligatory whiskey. I went to bed. I was up at 6 with a hangover and spent all day with a cranky overtired toddler 🙁
It reminds me of that epostcard Debbie from Domestic Diva shared: “Woo hoo, it’s Friday! Oh wait, I’m a mom.”
Yes, exactly. No one understands why I start drinking so early in the afternoon on Fridays. Worst day of the week, as far as I’m concerned.
I know! I get excited every Friday, as my work day ends…only to realize I am going home to 3 rowdy kids, have no plans and won’t be doing anything fun/exciting.
Since all holiday break we had the terrible snot filled cough flu, my baby was out by 9. My husband ( in the middle of the snot filled cough flu) was out by 11:30. I drank a beer & watched the ball drop alone. I leaned over, kissed my mucus filled hubby & checked the baby. He woke up @ 12:10 when our crappy neighbors were setting off fireworks & shooting a gun. So after the ball drop, I was up till 3.
OMG that sounds awfull, gun shooting neighbours! We prayed our neighbours would go out, they did, hooray we thought we’d sleep all night, our 20month old puked on us just before 12, our 3.5 yr old woke us about 3 times wide awake & of course that woke the small one, who kept kicking us in the head…
We did the same thing with my cousin except our wake up time was 7:00am and not 9:00am. Ouch…also not from a hangover but because we had gone to Disneyland the day before. No sleep for two days in a row! Aaack!
Sleep is the Enemy. It means a transition from a state of Playing to a state of Not Playing. Clearly unacceptable.
I saw the two pictures and didn’t need to read the text to know that the “worst idea ever” was NOT from drinking too much.
By the way thank you for another post on Wendy.
AGREE! As soon as I saw it had Wendy I was excited!
it IS a total buzz kill! I only had one glass of wine, while my husband enjoyed his six-pack. I kept thinking “what if he gets up and he’s sick” He ended up sleeping all night, not a peep. He even slept in. I totally could have used another glass or two 😉 lol
There’s never any sleep on new years. Once your kids get older, then they are out and then you are up waiting for them to get home. Moral of this story?
I am so glad you were able to spend NYE with Wendy and her family, even if it sucked a little. I’ve been following her journey through the Caring Bridge site you shared a few months ago, and think of her often 🙂
Same here!
My little 2.5 y/o is a party animal. If the adults are partying, so is she. I figured midnight would be no problem for her but she started yawning and her typical hair pulling/tongue thrusting tired routine about 11pm. She dutifully stayed awake because she could sense the importance of the situation.
At 12:04 she turned to me and said….
“take me upstairs mommy, i’m up too late”
Happy New Year Amber! I resolve to give your book to any mom-to-be after March! Can’t wait!
I was just happy I made it till midnight, unlike the last two years. Our 18 month old has no idea what New Years Eve is, so my husband and I had the night to ourselves. Of course all we did was watch episodes of Castle until right before midnight and then watched the ball drop. Oh, and I had a really weak drink since I’m a total lightweight now from pretty much never drinking for the last two years or so. Then I brushed my teeth and went straight to bed.
lol
my son is 4, we did the exact same thing 2 years ago, and somehow he and his friend stayed up til midnight. they had a great time, watching mary poppins, keeping themselves entertained.
this year, we did a 9:00 pm NY at home, had the little exploding confetti poppers, which had him yelling and covering his ears. even though he managed to pull the string 2 years ago no problem, he couldn’t handle it this year, and threw a tantrum when we ran out and he hadn’t done any. we tried to wake him up at midnight so he could see the fireworks from the space needle, but he wouldn’t budge. then had another tantrum the next morning when he realized he missed them.
I think we are finally finding out what the ‘terrible two’s” are !
2 years after the fact!
Our family was so sick we missed Christmas and NYE. So try to look on the bright side. You got to have some fun. I haven’t had fun in over a month. Probably 2. So I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for you not wanting to be up at 9:00am. My kids are up bright and early before 7. And believe me, no one cares when I’m sick.
As a west coast resident. We totally do the ball drop at 9pm. Put the kids to bed and do it again at midnight.
My exciting NYE: We stayed up watching LOTR with the two oldest girls (8 and 9 yrs old). At midnight, I was so tired I went to bed, and the kids outlasted me by an hour. The baby was up by 6 though, so I’m glad I went to bed.
We always put the kids to bed at their regular time, and then got them up at 11:30pm. By midnight they were alert and energetic and rung in the New Year with us, and then were begging to go back to bed by 12:20am. Never an issue with whiny kids the next day and they got to ring-in at midnight. Win-win.
Sounds like a good plan, but not sure mine would go back to sleep so easily. My 20 month old woke up last night about 11pm, and was wide awake rocking around our bed till about 12.30! but maybe that is because he is still suffering from non-travel ‘jet lag’ from the NYE…
For the first time since 2000, I stayed up until midnight. Not worth it. I was miserable the next day! And of course my son was up at 5.
So. My most infamous parenting NYE story involves two kids, 3 and 1 and a party at my house with my friends. Kids went to bed, we stayed up having fun. Too much Kahlua and other stuff and after midnight had the bright idea of… oh I should start drinking coffee now to counteract all that! Umm yeah. Not so bright. What can I say, I was young and new to the joys of caffeine. And Kahlua has caffeine, who knew? Not me obviously. Wide awake for hours, I finally fell asleep at 5 am. Kids got up at 6. OMG. Horrible, zombie-like day with two overactive little ones who didn’t care that mom and dad were sleep walking lol. Lesson learned.
a few years ago we were invited to a adult only NYE party and i hated it … constantly checking my watch checking in w the sitter makeing sure someone is sober enough (me ) to escort the sitter home in a cab – paying for said cab – GETTING said cab!! my GF was whining about the same things the next day … Every year since then we have a neighbour hood party with ALL the kids, a skating rink (when its cold enough) … its AWESOME!!! we all bring food and eat, and eat, and EAT and drink a teeny bit and stagger home with the kids in tow – kids have access to unlimited pop and koolaid that night so a brisk walk in the NY morning chill is a MUST!! we love it!!!!
My whole house is a buzzkill. No one in my house really cared about staying up until midnight, except me. The kids went to bed at their regular time. Apparently, waiting for the new year to start is too much work. My husband even tried to turn in at 11.
Maybe it was the activities we partook in. We made some food, including almost edible homemade pizza rolls. And then we watched a videotape of Mystery Science Theater. Yes you saw that right-“videotape”, “Mystery Science Theatre”. We are so very cool, right? No wonder I almost stayed up by myself. Thank goodness my husband took pity on me. And the next thing we knew it was 12:04. “Oh yeah, happy new year and stuff.” Then we went to bed. I got my way. HA HA.
Kid got so excited by “fi-werks” on NYE, 9pm. Blessed neighbours, setting them off so early.
Kid got so excited expecting “fi-werks” on 1 Jan 2013, bedtime. Blasted neighbours, why does anyone need suburban fireworks?
H a ha ha! I started to read your post….and I knew how it was going to end….I tried that once, myself…and proved to my husband ,in one night….kids don’t have to celebrate New Year’s ….at…all….they are not FUN, when they are tired…and they do not HAVE fun, when they are tired. You gave me a good laugh,thanks.
I’m thinking the best age for this plan is kids from about 8-14 years old. That way you can just sort of shoo them off to another part of the house and pretend they aren’t there. heh.
We did the same thing. Kids were up at 7 despite staying up until 1. Damn.
Happy New Year! Look forward to more of your awesomeness!!
We celebrated Happy Noon Year – hats, noisemakers, special juice (apple with gingerale in for sparkles) and a countdown….to midday 🙂 That way babes and any adults that wanted to go to bed at normal time felt like they had celebrated!
With kids it’s all outwit, outlast, outplay. And with us, they’ve been winning.
My mother-in-law always tells me that when her kids were young, all the families in the neighborhood brought their kids outside at midnight to yell & scream & bang on pots & pans. Even if it meant WAKING YOUR KIDS UP to let them partake in these activities. Are you kidding me?!? I think that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard of. OK, if our neighbors all did this, we would do it too. But since they DON’T , I do them a favor & leave my kids asleep!
One year, my mother-in-law filled our oldest’s head with all ghese stories, & sent us home with a bag full of their old NYE oarty hats & noisemakers. Then we had to say, Sorry, honey, we are the mean parents who don’t let our kids have any fun!
We didn’t do anything this year. Our 22 month old daughter went down around 9:30pm (her normal time). Sick hubby went down at 11pm, and I watched the ball drop by myself. We’re not drinkers, so it was hot tea and honey for me. Whoo-hoo, it was party central at our house…lol
The best idea ever/worst idea ever thing has applied to SO many of my experiences with kids, both as a mom and as a teacher of little ones! Loved it!
I remember the first New Year’s my sister told her oldest he could stay up to watch the ball drop. Around 8:45, she suddenly said, “15 minutes to midnight!” Worked like a charm. I think we left her house around 10 anyway.
Happy New Year Amber and Crappy Family! I hope you receive as much joy and laughter this year as you provide for all of us. XO – Leslie
Hilarious! just changing 2 little lines in the drawing in each panel told the whole story! Happy new year and thanks for so much entertainment
My husband and I would love to hang out with our friends (who don’t have any kids) like we used to. Leave at 9 or 9:30, get back home at 1am… We haven’t done that since we had our daughter, because she won’t care that we were up late. She’ll still wake up at 6 or 7am. Actually, if we ever did stay out late, that would be the morning she would wake up at 5am. That, or we’d fall asleep on the bar by 10:30.
We had a big party, kids and all. Most passed out by 10pm, once the crowd died down about 1am we struck up a small game of Taboo, with drinks! I shit you not, I looked at the clock and it was 5am!! I just about shit my pants! I jumped up and RAN to my bed and went straight to sleep. 7:30 came WAAAAYYYY too soon!! So then I had overtired kids, overtired mommy AND a hangover. Mark my words, I will not do that again. We had manditory family nap time that day. Happy New Year to you and yours Amber!
Eh, we were boring this year: put the 6 yo to bed at his usual time (7:30–he didn’t care about NYE) and then hubby and I fell asleep at 11:45. However, the following day I learned about an awesome event that we will definitely take in next year. It is a PICKLE DROP (as in giant light-up pickle dropping into tub of brine) held about 30 mins away from us at 7 p.m. on NYE. Clearly designed for young children and the hopelessly odd, which fits us all to a T :).
I go with ‘children’s midnight’ being at 10pm. All kids under 10 bought it this year – they were pleased to stay up so much later than their normal bedtime and no complaints were heard as the many cousins put themselves to bed on time (I was astonished how easy this was…)
Scarily enough you completely just wrote about my new year’s eve, apart from we hosted the friends at our house so we got the joy of cleaning up too.