The tradition is to ring out the old year and bring in the New Year. It is a loud and exciting time. Noise makers are a part of the fun. They don't need to be extravagant to be fun and effective.
Enjoy these simple noise makers that can be made with the children and enjoyed by everyone.
Banging pots and pans has been used in many celebrations over the years. When the party is at home there is a stack of pie tins and these great spoons. Take a plain wooden spoon and paint it silver. Let it dry completely and do any touch up needed. Let it dry again. Glue a few blue and silver curling ribbons in place near the base of the spoon. Attach some jingle bells. Tie the ribbon around the spoon and curl. Now there is some thing fun and noisy to bang the pie tin with. It even has a classy look.
Castanets are great little noise makers. These are easy to make with the right kind of buttons. Get large buttons, two identical for each set of castanets. Make sure that they have raised edges to clap together. Cut craft foam to connect the top and bottom buttons together (the hinge). A piece 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch is just about right. Glue to the buttons with a low temperature glue gun. Cut a piece of round elastic (sewing department) 6 inches in length. Thread through the button holes and tie off to fit fingers. Use a double knot and top it off with a dab of glue. There are the noisy castanets. Go ahead and dance into the next year.
Some inexpensive plastic plates and jingle bells make some excellent tambourines. Use a hole punch and punch holes in the rim of the plastic plate all around. (Save the holes, you never know when they will become an embellishment on another craft.) Attach a jingle bell in each hole using a wire bread wrapper tie. Leave one hole open for some curling ribbon to add a little motion to the tambourine.
Pill bottle shakers don't make tons of noise, but a little shake can be a lot of fun. Take a pill bottle and paint is a bright fun color. Allow it to dry. Drop in a few kernels of popcorn or some rice place curling ribbon over the top of the bottle and secure the child safe lid. Curl the ribbon and then shake it.
Paper towel rolls make great kazoos. Decorate the paper towel roll with marker, crayons, paint, stickers, whatever suites your fancy. At one end of the tube punch a hole about an inch in from the edge. Now take a healthy square of wax paper and tape over the same end, but don't cover the hole. The wax paper has to be tight. Now do a little singing into the tube.
It doesn't need to be complicated to be fun.