Family Friendly New Year's Eve Activities

Family Friendly New Year’s Eve Activities

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So you survived the chaos of the holidays and are lucky enough to be spending New Year’s Eve in Park City.  Just because you’re on a family vacation, doesn’t mean the evening’s festivities have to be boring.  Ringing in the New Year in a mountain town means endless possibilities from moonlight snowshoes to torch light parades to annual fireworks displays.

Taking place on December 30th, instead of New Year’s Eve, the Deer Valley Torch Light Parade is a great family outing.  Held at 6pm on the Big Stick ski run, this tradition features resort employees and instructors skiing down the mountain with lights in their hands.  Creating a serpentine effect, participants glide across the mountain illuminating the landscape while onlookers enjoy the show from the deck of Snow Park Lodge.  Complimentary hot cider and infamous Deer Valley cookies keep kids fueled.  Grab dinner afterwards at the Royal Street Café, a casual restaurant located in the Silver Lake Lodge that offers a variety of unique menu options sure to please parents as well as kids.

For something a little more active, yet still ideal for the whole family, White Pine Touring offers moonlight snowshoe tours based out of the Empire Lodge at Deer Valley.  Even if you’ve never strapped on snowshoes before, this activity requires only the ability to walk.  Our expert guides will take you on a moonlit excursion that you’ll never forget, through glades of evergreens and aspens where the only sound you’ll hear will be the crunch of your snowshoes.  Your reward is an expansive sky filled with stars, or if it’s snowing, the feeling of walking in a winter wonderland.

If you’re looking for something a bit more boisterous, head over to the Canyons Resort for their annual New Year’s Eve celebration.  Starting at 3pm, children have the chance to meet the resort’s mascot, Murdock the Moose, while enjoying free activities such as jugglers, magicians, balloon artists and music.  The resort even offers a family New Year’s Eve dinner.  Pyrotechnics and kids alike will delight in a fireworks display at 7:30pm with Park City’s spectacular mountains as the backdrop.  Local’s tip – if it’s snowing, have the kids wear their ski goggles and lay on their backs while watching the display.  We promise it will be a totally different experience than the standard 4th of July fare.

This year avoid the urge to hang out in your hotel room watch the ball drop on TV.  Bundle up the family and get outside to celebrate the beginning of 2013.  You and your kids will have a blast and create lasting memories in the process.

Liz Yokubison, Senior Editor of jans.com