by Nick Yip

Created on: November 22, 2009   Last Updated: November 30, 2009

Noise makers are a great part of every celebration. New Year's parties happen to be no exception, and are always filled with noise. Noise makers are so simple, you can make your own. They don't have to be bought or complicated to be effective and fun. The following article will help you in making your own special noise makers.

You can always make the classic blow roll noise maker. These are especially fun when you blow into to them and poke other people's faces. You'll need some scrap card and newspaper, along with scissors, sticky tape and staples. First, gently roll up the card into a thin cone shape. Both sides must have a slightly open end. Staple the card together so that you have a cylinder with a smaller hole at one end and a bigger hole at the other. You may have to trim it to make the edges even.

Next, roll up a strip of newspaper into a long roll. Join the long edges with sticky tape and attach one of the ends to the outside of the bigger hole on the cone. Seal the other end with sticky tape and you're done!

You can also make many types of different, simple noise makers for a variety of sounds at your New Year's party. Scrap wood and spare rope make a great shaker-like instrument. Try drilling rope-sized holes in each piece of scrap metal and threading the pieces of wood onto a 50cm string. Tie up both ends and shake one end with the other end hanging down and you'll get a nice abstract jingling sound.

For a more musical sounding shaken instrument, try using metal instead. With metal, use multiple pieces of string and attach metal to each piece of string. At one end, join all the pieces of string together and tie a knot or tape all the pieces of string together. The sound of the metal clashing with each other will make a more musical sounding shaker than wood.

Another different kind of shaker is by using spare bottles (plastic or glass, preferably glass) and putting anything you can fit into it! Ball bearings, spare metal or wood, leftover plastic, anything! When you shake up the bottle you'll get a nice variety of sounds, both musical and abstract!

Whether you put scrap material in a bottle, attach wood to a string, or don't make any noise makers at all, your New Year's party will still be special and unique. But feel free to try out these noise makers with your friends and guests! You'll enjoy it and have a lot of fun!

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