Make a New Year's Ball

Turn your living room into Times Square by making your own New Year's ball.

Submitted by
Kayla Chong

Even if your kids' are too young to really get the whole concept of New Year's, or if they do get it but just can't stay up until midnight, they deserve to ring out the old year as much as you do. Make a homemade Times Square ball and celebrate New Year's whenever you want to. If that means letting the ball drop at 7 or 8 or 9 PM, so be it. Then, put them to bed and stay up 'til midnight with your mate. That champagne isn't going to drink itself!

A 9-inch Styrofoam ball
9-ounce clear plastic cups:
Buy the big pack. You're going to need between 38 and 45, when all is said and done. Plus, with extras, you won't have to do dishes for a week!
Two paper plates
Glitter
Aluminum foil
Newspaper:
Optional, but useful if you want to avoid picking tiny specks of glitter off of your table for the first month of the New Year.
White glue
String or yarn:
Long enough to hang your ball from your living room ceiling.
Hot glue gun:
Kids and hot glue don't mix, so make sure you do all the gluing!

Spread newspaper out on your workspace.
Rip off several big sheets of aluminum foil and have the kids wrap it around and mash it onto the Styrofoam ball until the ball is completely covered. You'll need drizzle some glue onto the ball as he mashes to help the aluminum foil stick.
Set the aluminum foil-covered ball aside to dry for about an hour or so.
Next, pour a thin layer of white glue into one of the paper plates. Pour a heap of sparkles into the other.
Have your kids dip the rim of a cup into the glue and then into the sparkles. Put the cup on the newspaper to dry.
Repeat the process until all of the cups are accessorized. Set them aside to dry.
Next, hot glue the end of the string to the ball.
Holding the ball by the string, start hot-gluing the cups (sparkly side out) to the ball. This part might take some teamwork as the ball may wobble as you try to glue. It might help to set the ball on a bowl initially to keep it steady as you're gluing. Start by making a horizontal 'equator' around the ball. Then, fill in the two empty hemispheres with your remaining cups.
Dangle your ball from the ceiling (or the living-room fan if you want it to spin).
Count it down! Gather round and count down as the old year comes to an end. It may not be as exciting as some of your New Year's celebrations of the past, but do you really want a repeat of the infamous champagne-and-tube-top incident of 2002?