Share your tips for staying in this festive season - chance to win Lidl vouchers NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

We know there's still 4 months to go but if you can bear to think that far ahead, we'd love you to share your tips for getting the family together and throwing a great value festive party – in winter!

Lidl would love to know how your end of the year party plans changed once children came on the scene. Perhaps your crazy nights out for NYE went out the window the moment you became a parent (or maybe you're working to a slightly tighter budget!). Whatever the occasion, we'd love to hear about all the new winter traditions you’ve created to have fun at home with the family. Perhaps you have some genius recipes for easy, kid-friendly party food – or maybe you’ve perfected a signature non-alcoholic cocktail so the kids can join in with a New Year’s toast. And of course, we’d love to hear your top family-friendly party games – how do you and the kids like to celebrate?

Share your great value party ideas, tips and recipes below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where you could win one of five £50 vouchers.

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

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We have a family get-together. We play cards, have great food and watch the New Year come in via the telly!

Have a BBQ if the weather is dry.

Panto on NYE and home for a baked Camembert and nibbly bits when DC in bed

We're the only ones in our family who have young children so now the rest of the family visit us on Christmas day. I've gone from never before hosting Christmas to doing it every year! I actually quite enjoy it but make sure I've pre prepared as much as possible in the weeks before hand and put it in the freezer. I'm quite happy to buy frozen roast potatoes, stuffing mix, a ready made pudding and delegate tasks like washing up, tidying up etc to help reduce the work load.
Since having kids NYE is pretty non existent. We don't have the energy or inclination for late nights now. Last year we went to Brighton sea front for the day though which was good fun. I can't be bothered with a night out on NYE though.

We order a takeaway and rent a film. Then at ten to twelve we switch over to bbc1 and watch the fireworks. We then wake up dd and go out the front to watch all the fireworks and say happy new year to the neighbours. New house this year so maybe not the neighbours bit ( they will probably be in bed)

Staying up till midnight all together with the fireworks from London on the TV,, while we have the windows open and hear them for real coming up from the river a second or so before. And playing Pretty Vacant afterwards. Our traditions!

Food and family. Try not to get stressed and usually fail as people arrive with presents for the children and you haven't bought for theirs. Cheese and wine with our elderly neighbours has become a tradition - they can drink us under the table.

We stay in and have a party at home with a grown ups table and kids table. Loads of party poppers and silly games. Mega buffet for everyone and guests usually bring deserts. Usually make kids fun things like snowman marshmallows and snowflake biscuits.

We stay in - it's a great chance to have food that we don't normally.

Like smoked salmon, lobster, lots of cheeses and meats, nuts, crackers and lovely bread. Lidl is great for this; always luxury, but on a budget!

My dc are older now, so we all stay up. We like sparkling wine, a few nibbles at midnight. Gluhwein and cards/board games before, and a bit of TV.

Definitely staying in... No more Christmas Eve drinking. No partying.

We also find that we enjoy just being on our own...

We love staying in and hosting a good party! Try to make your house as appealing as possible. Our twinkly fairy are up all year round, but look particularly festive and lend a warm, cosy glow to our home in winter.

Get all your festive and NYE party music ready in advance - ensure there's something to suit everyone's taste! Move furniture to accommodate a dance space in the main living area. There will always be a couple of people who sit quietly and don't want to mingle, have a dance, have a laugh .... Have a quiz on hand to get them involved in something! Always goes down well

With Festive party food and drink, make a plan and add any non-perishables to your usual weekly grocery shop in the run up to Christmas. During Oct-November, if you add just a couple of bits to your normal shop, instead of buying all in one go, you won't feel as much of a strain on your bank balance. Stick to buffet type cold food - less hassle! Ensure you also have fun bits like hats, party poppers and crackers for the party itself.

As guests are leaving give them leftovers in a doggy bag - always gratefully received and less tidying up for you to do later! Disposable table wear is the way to go and anything else can be bunged in your (pre-cleared) dishwasher so your not facing a mess the next morning.

Ensure you take photos to capture the memories.

There's nothing better than being surrounded by loved ones with good food and music so while the party is in full swing just enjoy yourself x

We don't tend to go out to pubs/restaurants much as our DS has ASD and finds these environments very difficult. Instead we have lots of lovely nibbles and splash out on nice food and drink and have little house parties with family.

Mulled wine and candles and treat food from Lidl. Honestly not tempted by wild parties anymore.

We like to have a christmas cookie decorating party. Both kids and us parents love the chance to make our own cookie creations. Its best to mix and roll out the dough before guests arrive; set out precut shapes or provide various cookie cutters. Put colored sugar and candy pieces in small bowls and let guests decorate their own batches of cookies. While the cookies bake, we watch a Christmas movie or play a Christmas game. Once the cookies are done, we let them cool and package them in tins or boxes for guests to take home. Its brill!

When the kids were small we started celebrating new year with other familiesfrom our street. We had lovely curry because it suits vegetarian guests, easy to prep in advance and is nice after xmas roasts, play games like twister and then the kids to bed at the usual time. After midnight kids taken home in pushchairs. Now they are are all old enough to stay up and toast with non alcoholic fizz.

We used to party all night drinking until the early hours but now we have a three year old times have changed and now we do a good Buffett , we invite our families and friends and we play pie face , board games , make a little area for kiddies with toys and a DVD on and jobs a good un

We change all the clocks so that the DC think they are staying up with us to see the New Year in. We have been know to stand in the garden singing Auld Lang Syne (badly) at 6.45pm!

The best nights' in at Christmas last year was in the late afternoon /early evening between Chistmas and New Year. Adults and older teens, just a few small edible offerings- nice cheese, Christmas cake and delicious little drinks- e.g. home made sloe gin. Lights down low, a bit of beautiful music, fire and good conversation.

Since the kids have arrived, we now have a new annual tradition of having our close friends round ours for NYE. Everyone brings a dish and a bottle, we sit and play poker whilst watching Jools Holland on the BBC. It's so much more fun than going out for New Years!

We tend to stay in and have child friendly celebrations. Less alcohol, less music, more family friendly activities like walks to see stars on clear nights, board games or festive crafts for the little ones.

We do a round the world celebration starting with BBQ for Syndey at 1pm and then working around the world - curry at 5.30 with Delhi, olives and humous etc with Athens, then big American breakfast. We watch fireworks on the hour and toast the new year. The dc don't worry so much about not being up til midnight. Now they are a bit older they stay up until midnight here so might do something different but it has been great for primary aged children.

I'm stealing some of the ideas on this thread!
We tend to do more daytime partying lots of lush food and fun, treasure hunts with clues are always fun, and the old classics like charades can still be a laugh (especially will a little bit of prosecco on board). We have a toddler who doenst slep so arent adverse to the odd late night for her either, although the days of shivering under the london skyline watching the fireworks, or going to new years gigs are on hold at the moment.
We like to make like the Danish and have some Hygge time too, cosy blankets, candles, story times and magic...we never really grew out of all of that really..so growing back into it has been lovely :)

House parties with friends, or weekend away.

We have drop in Christmas Eve drinks from 17:00 with chips and dips and finger food. If it's my turn to have the NYE party then I just do a massive veggie curry, chicken curry and a chilli over the previous few weeks to defrost and reheat on the day. Then rice, Garlic naan, tortilla chips and toppings and everyone can help themselves