Hey reddit!
Teacher from Belgium here. A kid (9) in my classroom has an American father. Kids write a letter (that is to be read on NYE) to their parents, aunts, … during the school hours. Last year, the kid wasn’t able to write one in school for his father. This year, we’d like to change that. However, most of those letters in Dutch depend on clever little rhymes on a kids level, so they have proven a bit hard to translate directly.
Do you have this sort of tradition aswell around NYE?
If so, does anyone have any example letters for kids around age 10?
If not, are there any other NYE traditions (Seattle, WA area) that we could include in some way?
Edit: So, not a tradition, thanks for helping out! Quite a few references to the ball dropping, so perhaps we’ll try to include that in the letter. That makes it easier to write 😉
42 comments
I’m 42 and we can’t have kids, but this wasn’t a thing when I was a kid
I’ve never heard of this tradition.
No, that’s not a tradition here.
I have never heard of anyone doing this.
That’s cute. No, we don’t have that tradition. New Year’s isn’t that big of a holiday in the US in my opinion. If anything it is more of an adult’s holiday.
I say this as an American expat in Japan where the new year is a huge thing with several public holidays, store closures, and monetary gifts given to the kids.
It sounds like a cute tradition. Maybe just help the child the best you can. : )
I’ve never heard of that.
Never heard of such a tradition in America. Kids might stay up on New Years Eve to watch the ball drop and countdown to the new year with their parents, but no writing letters to parents.
It’s definitely not a tradition I’m not familiar with.
I’ve only heard of it from my friends who live in the Netherlands, haha.
I’ve never heard of that being a thing here, no. Cute idea, though.
I grew up eating black eyed peas and shortbread on new years’ as well as trying to watch the ball drop. That’s it, we didn’t have school on New Years so there was nothing in school that we would do. I like your tradition though!
Never heard of anyone doing that. Honestly I can’t think of any new years general traditions besides staying up to watch the ball drop.
Oh I love this and wish it was a tradition
never heard of this tradition
nye is usually a drinking night for single adults, and sometimes kids get to stay up to cheer the new year and then crash
but that’s about it for american standards, it’s not a big celebration or family holiday like thanksgiving and xmas are
Never heard of it. My parents just made me eat hog jaw and black eyed peas for “luck”
No, that is not a tradition.
>If not, are there any other NYE traditions (Seattle, WA area) that we could include in some way?
Seattle has no particular NYE traditions. Some people watch the ball drop in Times Square, which occurs at 21:00 Seattle time (so not really the right time lol). Honestly, the major tradition is a champagne toast. My parents would have been fine with that when we were in Belgium, but during school hours, probably not!
Seattle does have a good number of NYE cruises around/in Puget Sound.
Also, the International District has a huge Lunar New Year celebration that is very popular within the community, since we have so many immigrants from China, Japan, Vietnam, etc.
#no
Not an American tradition, but my family tradition is we watch the a “Twilight Zone”. On American TV on new Year’s Eve, there are usually a lot of TV marathons. Like the SyFi channel (science fiction channel) does a day long marathon of all the “Twilight Zone” episode. In my family we leave the TV on and hang out.
NYE is an adult holiday mostly. So the more family-friendly events are on New Year’s Day when my family watches the Rose Parade in the morning (cinnamon buns and orange juice) and spend the day with many, many college football games.
No, I’ve never heard of it.
Kids usually aren’t part of New Year’s festivities. They are typically asleep before it happens. New Years parties are much more adult-oriented.
People will typically stay up until midnight to see the New Year in, typically celebrating with an alcoholic drink. Watching the ball drop in Times’s Square is very common. Singing “Auld Lang Syne” after the New Year arrives is fairly common.
In our family we prepare corned beef and cabbage for New Year’s Day for good luck.
Sounds lovely but we don’t do this in the US. Our traditions vary since the US is so big and it’s a multicultural society where everybody comes from somewhere else. Growing up in New England people used to have open houses on New Years Day and everybody would go visit their neighbors. I don’t think many people do that any more. My mother was Scottish so my family eats shortbread, sings Auld Lang Syne (in broad Scots), and first foots, ie, we make sure the first person across the threshold is the tallest, darkest male available. He gets a dram, everybody gets a dram. We’re not very cool but we have fun.
I don’t know this tradition at all.
I’ve never done it, or heard of it but America has SO MANY different cultures.
In reference to your edit/update: we do not drop balls as an activity. There is a televised “ball drop” on TV that we can view. It’s more like a giant lit disco ball.
I’ve never heard of this when I was a kid. We would stay up and watch the broadcast, say Happy New Year and then go to bed.
Wait, I’m sorry, are you in Seattle, or are you in Belgium?
And what do these letters say?
I’m 54 and have never heard of this.
No but that is an adorable tradition!
Nope I have never even heard of that
In Washington state, we have First Day Hikes outside in the state parks. The hikes and bike rides are ranger-led and are free.
[https://www.parks.wa.gov/1229/First-Day-Hikes](https://www.parks.wa.gov/1229/First-Day-Hikes)
Most American schools aren’t in session near new years. They typically let out about halfway through December and start up the second week of January or so. So no we never did anything like that in school.
Most people don’t do a lot for new years. A traditional meal in some areas is Black eyed peas, boiled cabbage and corn bread. But that isn’t universal by any means.
The most universal thing is probably watching the ball in times square drop on TV.
There are other balls for the other time zones but the one in Times square in NYC is the biggest deal of them all.
This has literally never been a thing over here.
So I think as a whole besides watching the ball drop, cheersing with champagne there is not much of a universal American NYE tradition. Most everyone I know has some sort of family tradition that normally goes back to their ethnic origin. My family eats 12 grapes at midnight to bring in good luck.
Fireworks are common on new year eve
No, never heard of such a thing.
wtf. The only american tradition is to get absolutely wasted and watch a ball drop down a pole for the last ten seconds if you actually stay up that late. lol
No
I’m 57 y/o and have never heard of this tradition. I grew up in a pretty big family and my wife and I have 2 daughters (in their 20’s now) none of us have heard of this tradition.
I remember doing this in elementary school, but nothing clever like you have it. It was like a list of thank yous (I am grateful for…) and what resolutions we had for next year. Nice activity for a bunch of kids
I am a 3rd grade (8-9 yrs old). Children do not write a letter to parents. I have my students write their goals for the new year, we call them resolutions, during the first week back to school.
I didn’t grow up with normal NYE traditions as it’s my parents’ wedding anniversary but I have never heard of anything like this.
We used to discuss our New Year’s resolutions. We’d also try to stay awake for the roll over to the New Year, but that didn’t really happen until we got older.
No 😔