New Year’s Eve Nesting Boxes

For most children, New Year's Eve marks the last hoorah of the holiday season, with presents opened and guests leaving. But there is still time and reason to celebrate on New Year's Eve!

Start a new tradition on the last day of the year with this handmade nesting box countdown!

There is a good chance you still have an assortment of boxes leftover from Christmas (we certainly do). For this project, we selected a variety of sizes—from a tiny jewelery box to a big parcel box.

The smaller boxes will nest in the larger boxes, each box containing a gift and marked with the time at which it should be opened.

This way, children share in the anticipation of the countdown while learning about telling time.

You can draw your own clocks or print these labels.

Right-click on the image to open in a new window and print. 

If you already have proficient time-tellers, it may be a fun opportunity to practice telling time with Roman numerals. For very young children, write the time in digits.

The smallest box will be opened last, so start by packing it. Put a little gift or a note inside, close it, decorate it with paper and ribbons and label it with the time of opening: midnight.

Then, proceed to a slightly larger box. Slip the smallest box inside, add another little gift or a note before sealing and wrapping it up as well!

Keep going with as many boxes as you like, ending with the largest box. If somebody got a snowmobile this Christmas, this box can be rather large!

Space the boxes one or two hours apart until midnight and hope that no one falls asleep before the last one is open and new year comes.

Don't worry if there is not much space between the layers of boxes—the gifts don't need to be big or elaborate.

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I included a can of play dough, a little notebook, a handful of candies, a new set of markers and a couple of postcards that kids can fill in right away. I added a candle and a little doodle book that I picked up on a whim a few days ago.

It may be nice to include a list of questions about the passing year:

• what was your favourite trip in the last year?
• what was the favourite book/movie/video game you discovered in the last year?
• what was the best gift you received in the last year?

Kids can answer the questions or conduct a family survey, so later you can all look back at the answers and remember your year.

Happy New Year!