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Owning a Pet Has Proven Health Benefits
Pets Offer Companionship and Can Make You More Social
Pets Teach Us to Be Better People
- Make a piñata ball the looks like the glittery ball that drops at midnight. Make this on New Year’s Eve day to increase their excitement. Be sure to decorate it with sparkles, beads, anything to make it stand out. At midnight, let the kids bang it open. Sure will be a lot less noisy than banging pots and pans in the street, which was the old-fashioned way to ring in the New Year.
- Forget the bar. Set up a fun ice cream station with different flavors ice cream and all sorts of toppings. Decorate the table with a paper tablecloth and New Year’s Eve napkins and plastic utensils. Put a New Year’s Eve centerpiece in the middle. Keep the ice cream in the fridge until 11 pm, then “open” the ice cream station with a flourish of tooting horns. This will be your pre-midnight countdown “appetizers.”
- Play dress up! Pull out your high heels and old party dresses. Bring out some ties and suit jackets for the boys. Pull out your lipstick if you dare! You can even go to a party store and buy top hats, feather boas and child-size sparkling clothes. Make sure you take lots of pictures! If you’re up for it, rent a Polaroid, take snapshots and tape the photos up on a New Year’s Eve wall.
- If you’re up for it, let your children have a slumber party too! Fabricate a tent out of old sheets. For once, let them run around the house and scream. But be sure to keep it an at manageable level. Remember, this is all about celebrating and having fun.
- Balloon pop may be loud but it sure is fun. If you have older kids, tie a balloon around each one’s ankle and then let them loose around the house as they try to pop each other’s balloons. The last one with an unpopped balloon wins. If you have younger kids, blow up balloons and let everyone run around trying to pop as many as they can in a specific time period. So no one feels left out, reward everyone at the end with a piece of cake or some sort of dessert.
- If your children are older, have a board game marathon, with prizes for those who win milestones in the game. Think glow sticks, noisemakers for prizes. Have everyone wear a New Year’s Eve hat while they play.
- Be sure to watch the ball drop at midnight. Give each child a small plastic cup of sparkling cider to celebrate. Do the countdown starting at 30 seconds. When the ball drops, make sure everyone kisses everyone. Jump up and down. Act like a kid yourself! You’ll never have more fun!
1 Creating new neural pathways. True Vitality. http://www.truevitality.com.au/articles/creating-new-neural-pathways-2/. Accessed 12/5/2018.
1 Bisharat, J. Habits of Highly Successful Women in the Future of Work. Updated Oct 09, 2013 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaleh-bisharat/7-habits-of-highly-succesful-women_b_3713126.html
2 Ibid.
3 Habits of Successful Women. Project Hot Mess https://projecthotmess.com/11-habits-of-successful-women/
4 Behaviors Successful Women Display Without Realizing It. https://www.powerofpositivity.com/successful-women-habits/
5 Ibid.
- Don’t eat sparsely the day of the party Instead, eat early and eat often. Keep your metabolism burning all day rather than slowing it down during periods of “mini-starvation.” Your metabolism will work faster and more efficiently.
- Eat a small, nutritious snack before the party. This will help you resist hors d’oeuvres. Save your calories for the main meal.
- Use a smaller plate. Psychologically it makes you look like you have more food so you cut down on the amount you eat.
- Monitor how much alcohol you drink. Alcohol lessens your inhibitions around food. When drinking, stay hydrated. Do the 1:1 trick—one drink, followed by one drink of water, repeat. If you drink lots of H2O throughout the night, it’s a good bet you won’t wake up with a terrible hangover.
- Keep up your regular physical activity during this season and especially get in a good workout on party day. You’ll be so glad you did.
- Don’t overlook sleep. It’s a fact. Your body needs time to rest.
- Treat yourself to some alone time to rejuvenate your spirit. Get a mani/pedi, a facial or a massage. Take a yoga class. Or splurge and do a full spa day! You’ll feel so much better.
- Call up a friend who lives far away. Conversation with an old friend is always enjoyable.
- Try to spend a minimum of five minutes a day to quietly sit, meditate, relieve stress and use your breath to calm your body and mind. Or even watch some TV or read a good book to distract yourself.
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1 Mayo Clinic Staff, Mediterranean diet: A heart-healthy eating plan. Nutrition and Healthy Eating. Mayoclinic.org. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801