A Parent’s View Of New Year’s Eve

What are you doing on New Year’s Eve? Going clubbing? Getting drunk until lunch time tomorrow? OR watching TV and falling asleep at 11pm?

Pre-children NYE meant partying, drinking, getting sentimental to Auld Lang Syne and inevitably begging for nurofen when I woke up on January 1st! Post kids there is (as many of you know) no NYE partying due to the fact

1. I’d have to sell a kidney to get a babysitter

2. And  I can’t face parenting  on Jan 1st with a hangover.

However, like many parents I still live in hope that NYE will be a good night, and so am always open to tips on how to more than watch TV. Having said that most post kids NYE have been a bit of a disaster, so If you’re also stuck for ideas for tonight here’s what we have tried so far:

1 Partying with friends who also have kids. We tried this last year but didn’t get past 8pm when all the kids decided to have a communal meltdown and then demanded to go home.

2. Have a dinner party with friends at ours. Everyone who had kids went home at 12.05 am, those who didn’t stayed till 4 am when they woke our kids up and then promptly left us to it.

3. Pretending it’s not NYE. This works until midnight when a million fireworks go off and then at 2 am when revellers make their noisy way home.

4. Going on holiday. Brilliant during the day but inevitably we spent NYE drinking wine in the hotel bathroom so as not to wake the kids.

Having said all that, NYE with kids is not all bad. There’s something to be said for starting the new year with a clear head and no hangover. Plus I no longer have to tentatively scan Facebook  to see evidence of what I did the night before. Plus my 6 year old now wakes up to see the fireworks go off at midnight and it’s very lovely to have a cuddle with her as the new year comes in. Other mums tell me they like not having to plan NYE anymore, and can settle down with realistic expectations of the night, while others say they don’;t miss it at all.

But what about you? Do you miss partying on NYE? What are you doing tonight? Let us know and have a very happy new year!