NYE for families (rant disclosure) (Miami, Miami Beach: appointed, house, neighborhoods)

[ISOnewplace]

OK...I have been looking for days for a nice family friendly event for New Years Eve. I can't believe there is not one nice "first night" venue in this Moderator cut: Flaming place! Almost all cities where I have either lived or visited had a "first night" (I know...bayfront, right) get real!

Once again, the priorities here in Miami are clear. If you have young children and actually want to BE WITH THEM (and not leave them with a nanny) and prefer not to go out too late and overpay for bad service and get sloshed...good luck!

okay...I feel better...thanks

[Marlin331]

Originally Posted by ISOnewplace

OK...I have been looking for days for a nice family friendly event for New Years Eve. I can't believe there is not one nice "first night" venue in this Moderator cut: Flaming place! Almost all cities where I have either lived or visited had a "first night" (I know...bayfront, right) get real!

Once again, the priorities here in Miami are clear. If you have young children and actually want to BE WITH THEM (and not leave them with a nanny) and prefer not to go out too late and overpay for bad service and get sloshed...good luck!

okay...I feel better...thanks

What is a "first night" venue? Since you mention Bayfront Park, I am assuming that you mean a fireworks display on at midnight on January 1? Plenty of families with children go to the one at Bayfront Park, so I don't know why you don't just do that. Key West has midnight fireworks as well.

Honestly, though, most children are sleeping by midnight. New Year's Eve is an adult event, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise to you that most of the activities you see advertised don't have children in mind.

[doggiebus]

With kids it can be limiting here in Miami on New Years Eve. Miami Beach usually has a Fireworks show on 10th street and the beach at Midnight. Bayfront has the Orange like you mentioned at midnight.

Santa's Enchanted Forest on Bird Road and the Palmetto they are open till 5pm. Miami Childrens Museum they will have something from 10am-2pm, not midnight I know. Most people with kids celebrate at someones home. Hope that helps.

[nicsma2002]

As far as I know, Miami doesn't do a "First Night." In fact, I don't think most people around here even know what that is. It's just not part of Miami culture.

For a kid-friendly New Year celebration in Miami, you're on your own. Here's an idea: In our family, we celebrate at home with the kids and friends. We pick a place in a different time zone, like Cape Verde or someplace like that where their midnight is the equivalent of 9 or 10pm EST. We theme our party on that country's culture with their food, music, & interesting facts about that place, making it educational for the kids (& us adults; we always learn something new). When guests arrive, they are greeted with, "Welcome to Cape Verde" or whatever country/region we're doing. The clocks in the house are even changed to reflect that country's time. Then at "midnight" (our 9 or 10 pm), we do the big countdown, kisses, "happy new year," etc. There's a lot of yelling and running around by the little ones, they love it. During the night we eat dinner, play games, sip cider, etc. Everyone goes home and makes it to bed relatively early. I usually stay up to watch the ball drop at Times Square, then hit the hay. HTH.

[ISOnewplace]

Hi Nicsma!

Wow, what a fabulous idea. I doubt we have time to plan something like that as many our kids' friends are traveling (we usually travel north too but are staying this year...ergo my lack of planning)...BUT...I will definitely try a smaller version and remember it for next year.

BTW to Crisp:
Quote:"New Year's Eve is an adult event, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise to you that most of the activities you see advertised don't have children in mind"

Actually, that is more of a local attitude and while it is no surprise, it is none the less disappointing given that almost every other major city in the world disagrees. "First Night" is an internationlly recognized family friendly and alcohol free new years event focused on cultural activities. It is held in almost every major city in the world (i.e. First Night Alexandria, First Night Boston, First Night Austin, etc.). The idea is not to keep the young kids up until midnight or watch fireworks (unless they are old enough). In fact, it starts very early and some even have an early countdown at 7 or 9 before the real one. I disagree that New Years is just for adults. It is a celebration of the past year and a welcome to the new year which is nice to share with your family. Many adults with kids WANT to go out and celebrate and they should have a venue. If adults want to go out to party alone later, they can do that too! Anyway crisp, I don't mean to come down hard on you personally so please don't be offended (you probably dont have kids). I hope you have a great NYE!

Doggie Bus: Accept my apologies for choice of adjective!

Happy Holidays to all!

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by ISOnewplace

Actually, that is more of a local attitude and while it is no surprise, it is none the less disappointing given that almost every other major city in the world disagrees. "First Night" is an internationlly recognized family friendly and alcohol free new years event focused on cultural activities.

Not true. It's only celebrated in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Great Britain. There are still another 191 countries left in the world.

And you should respect other cultures especially Miami's since you decided to move here and nobody is imposing anything on you. Just because a city doesn't have the same cultural activities that you grew up with, it doesn't mean they lack culture or are beneath you. What's the point of being so cultural and intellectual if you look at other cultures with contempt?

First_Night
Contempt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ISOnewplace]

Wow...you're making a lot of assumtions here. The fact that you actually had to spend time googling to appear knowledgeable and then actually spent time doing it just to disagree, says a lot. If the contempt shoe fits...

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by ISOnewplace

Wow...you're making a lot of assumtions here. The fact that you actually had to spend time googling to appear knowledgeable and then actually spent time doing it just to disagree, says a lot. If the contempt shoe fits...

Well it's not celebrated here and I had no idea what it was. Nothing wrong with learning about other cultures, you could try that sometimes, and if I wanted to appear knowledgeable I would have not quoted Wikipedia. Trust me.

[nicsma2002]

ISO, I forgot to mention - as a literature tie-in, I always read the picture book First Night by Harriet Ziefert to the kids. We own a copy, but I'm sure you can get it from the library. It has nice repetition that the little ones love.

The only reason I know about First Night is from my friends up in the midwest talking about it. Nobody down here knows what that is. I'm a longtime Miamian and I would not have known of it otherwise, as the media doesn't mention it much here. Maybe it'll catch on someday here. In the meantime, like I said, you're on your own with kid-friendly New Years Eve celebrations!

Btw, I think I should mention in case you don't know, as I'm not sure how familiar you are with Miami culture - some people - a few, not many - like to fire their guns on New Years Eve here. Usually they point them in the air straight up and shoot, but I remember a couple of years ago at a block party a guy shot into a sofa that was outside and unbeknownst to him was a teen on the other side who died as a result. You hear about stray bullets here and there hitting windows and sometimes people. This is not widespread - it seems to happen more in certain neighborhoods than others. However, because of this, I am wary as to where I take the kids on New Years and how long we are outdoors. Every year I hear the news remind people, "do not fire your guns on New Years Eve," but of course there's always someone who does it anyway.

Whatever you end up doing, good luck, have fun, and stay safe!

[ISOnewplace]

Nicsma, thank you again for your comments. Wow, that's pretty scary. We decided to have a nice family friendly house party with some friends. Maybe I will start a first night coaltion next year .

Princess: Not sure how my comments about Miami not having a family friendly venue add up to "cultural intolerance" and intellectual snobbery. The fact is, it doesn't have a family venue and I have the right to be disappointed about that. I also think that the CITY/COUNTY/STATE often has its priorities a bit skewed as is evidenced in our educational standings and yes, sometimes I think that is crappy.

Princess you are throwing stones at a glass house and you know nothing about where I am from, what languages I speak, the ethnicity of my family, where I have lived etc. Because I have posted a comment that I do not like some of the value systems exhibited in Miami does not a bigot make!

Honestly, your comments are more telling about you. You were pretty quick to make assumptions and lob a bias at me. Intolerance is a two headed monster, don't kid yourself. If you only knew the irony here, you would be embarrassed.

I hope you have a good holiday celebrating it however you like. I hope your new year brings you the opportunity to expand your horizons!

I'm done here!