Transform Your Christmas Tree into a New Year’s Tree
With Christmas behind us, it is time to plan for the New Year’s celebration.
You can turn your Christmas tree into a New Year’s tree by making some noisemakers to go along with your other decorations and then use the noisemakers in celebrating the coming in of the New Year.
Another fun activity is to make a time capsule for the year 2000.
Good fortune tree. Don’t take down that Christmas tree yet. Turn it into a fun New Year’s decoration!
• Leftover Christmas tree, undecorated
• Balloons, 6” to 8”
• Chinese fortunes or wishes, typed on small pieces of paper
• One-dollar bills
• Ribbon
• String confetti
• Happy New Year’s hat
• Remove the Christmas ornaments and lights from your tree and replace them with small balloons filled with New Year’s wishes, Chinese fortunes and dollar bills. Place the wish, fortune or money inside the uninflated balloon and blow up.
• Tie the balloons to the tree with ribbon, taking care not to pop them. Finish decorating the tree with string confetti and a Happy New Year’s hat.
• As the New Year rings in, guests can pop the balloons and claim the wishes, fortunes and money inside. Your guests will love this unique twist on the party favor.
Noisemakers
These noisemakers are far more entertaining than the ones you can buy in the store!
• Use a two-liter plastic pop bottle filled with small buttons or dry beans to make a New Year’s noisemaker.
• Decorate the outside of each bottle with felt, lace, buttons, ribbons and bows. The bottle neck makes the handle.
Another idea is to put a few dry beans or small rocks in an empty aluminum pop can and tape the hole shut. Cut a piece of wrapping paper twice as wide as the circumference of the can. Roll the can in the paper, secure with tape and tie the ends with ribbon.
New Year’s time capsule
Freeze time for your family.
Obtain coffee cans or wide-mouth glass jars with lids for each family member. To individualize each time capsule, draw faces with permanent markers and glue on yarn hair.
Place all the capsules in a cardboard box, seal with tape and decorate. Write “Do Not Open ’til 2000” (or whatever year you decide) on the outside. Put in a secure place in the attic or basement.
