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Traditions…one of the things I love most about the holidays. Many, many years ago, we started a great tradition…Countdown Goodie Bags.
My boys were quite young, but still wanted to stay up until midnight, and quite honestly, it was hard for my husband and I to stay up that late too. So, we started using Goodie Bags to countdown to midnight.
Using cardstock or construction paper, cut a circle, then simply draw a clock on each circle, facing the hands toward each hour. I start with 8 p.m., but only because it’s less expensive to fill only 5 bags per child.
I use Dollar Store goodies, and try to find more than one item in a package, to further cut down on the cost. I also always put the noise makers and poppers in the midnight bag and hand those out a few minutes before the hour, that way, we aren’t hearing the noise for hours. Some other items I have used in the past are glow necklaces, small puzzles and toys, and candy.
I display them on the Buffet with shiny gift bag filler and noise makers. And I always save the circles from year to year too.
You can also color coordinate for each child if you want. There is usually a majority of boys in our house, but on New Years Eve, my friend and her family visit, so I make a set of bags for her daughter using the pink clocks.
This has become such a tradition for my boys, last year, my oldest, then 17, had to work, but he asked me to be sure to save his bags for him. 
Do you have New Years Eve traditions? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear about them.
And if you need some inspiration for New Years Cupcakes, don’t miss the fun and easy ones I shared yesterday.
This post linked to:
~Works For Me Wednesday hosted by We Are THAT Family
~DIY Day hosted by A Soft Place to Land
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I LOVE this! What a great idea! My kids are still too young, but I am going to store this one in the memory banks for a couple years from now!!
Allyson´s last blog ..A Star for the Christmas Tree Craft
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Connie, Allyson Kellner. Allyson Kellner said: FANTASTIC IDEA!! RT @HoosierHomemade: New Blog Post New Years Eve Countdown Goodie Bags http://bit.ly/4CzqE4 [...]
I found your site through Beauty & Bedlam…LOVE the idea about the countdown goodie bags! My kids are 9 and 6 and I was trying to think of something fun to do for Thursday night with them. I think I found my answer!
And I hope you don’t mind if I share this post on my little blog.
Love the idea!!
Jennifer´s last blog ..Printable Refunds/Rebates
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CupcakeLady Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
@Jennifer, Sure! That would be great! I’d love for you to share! Happy New Year!
~Liz
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Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by AllysonKellner: FANTASTIC IDEA!! RT @HoosierHomemade: New Blog Post New Years Eve Countdown Goodie Bags http://bit.ly/4CzqE4...
I love the idea of Count Down bags! I think I might try a mini-version this year.
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Love this! I think I shall steal it
Thank you!!
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What a great idea!!! Thanks for sharing!!! I just may do this, this year! =)
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Totally stealing your idea!!! This will be soooo fun for my kids!!
Thanks for sharing!
Amanda (Garibay Soup)´s last blog ..Works for Me Wednesday – Designing the BEST 10 Years of Your Life
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What a neat tradition:-)
Susie’s Homemade´s last blog ..Tackling a Young Girl’s Dream
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What a fun idea! Thanks for sharing!
Brittani´s last blog ..Works for Me Wednesday
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I LOVE this idea. Our tradition is a party with friends and kids. We hang tarps and set up heaters on our back porch for the adults and the kids have access to the XBox, Wii and movies. We all get together to watch the peach drop (Hey, we are in GA after all!) These bags would be great to hand out at midnight for the kids. Off to the dollar store…..
Jenny´s last blog ..Two Pantry Recipes
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Love this idea! I am going to try to make these today for my two sons…and make it a tradition as well!
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[...] New Year’s Eve Countdown Goody Bags look like so much fun! Hmmm… maybe next [...]
What an awesome idea. I’ll be snagging this one! Thanks for sharing.
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This is an awesome idea! I’m so doing this tomorrow with my boys! Thank you.
amy2boys´s last blog ..Photo Management – 10 Best Tips Please
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What a fun idea! We have all the cousins over for New Year’s Eve and this would be a great way to pass the evening.
Amy´s last blog ..hello? is this thing on?
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What a fun and creative idea! I absolutely love it. Thank you for sharing your brilliance with the blogging community.
Stephanie´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: photo booth
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I hope you don’t mind …I featured this today on my blog! LOVE the idea. May just have to toss some together for tonight. Just looks SUPER FUN for any age.
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This is such a fun idea! Thanks for sharing and for the great photos to help me really “see it.”
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Thanks so much for this neat idea! I did this using 5 bags. I started with 8PM. My son (7 yrs old) loved these bags. He waited for each hour so that he could see what was in each bag. I will be using this idea each year now. Thanks again!
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CupcakeLady Reply:
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:53 am
@Lowbudget, Great, I’m so glad you had fun with them. It really makes the night go faster. Happy New Year!
~Liz
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What a neat idea! I love it! Thanks for sharing.
Cindy´s last blog ..First day of the rest of my life
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we just started the countdown bags this year & the kids loved them! http://puertabella.blogspot.com/2010/01/nye-sleepover.html
we also write down our wishes for the new year & place them in our “wish boxes” & open them the next year to see if any of our wishes came true!
susan@pocacosas´s last blog ..NYE Sleepover
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CupcakeLady Reply:
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:36 pm
@susan@pocacosas, The wish boxes are a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
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This is such a fun tradition! Thanks for sharing. Found you through Tip Junkie.
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Super cute idea! I linked to it on my weekly roundup (post is under my name). I’ll file this away for when my little one gets older!
Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Link Roundup – Happy Birthday Hubs Edition
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