5 Latin American New Year’s Traditions to Try With Your Kids

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new years eve traditions Traditions, rituals, and superstitions are my favorite part of New Year’s. Perhaps you watch the ball drop, share a midnight kiss, or eat pork and sauerkraut. My traditions are rooted in Latin American culture and I’ve been doing them for as long as I can remember. The best part is they are kid-friendly. I can’t wait to share them with my kids once they are old enough to stay up until midnight!

5 Latin American New Year’s Traditions

If you’re curious and want to try something different with your kids this New Year’s Eve, here are five of my favorite Latin American New Year’s traditions. You can do just one or try them all! 

  1. Eating grapes

    The first 12 seconds of the new year are reserved for this tradition. At the stroke of midnight, eat 12 grapes with each ding-dong of the clock to bring in good luck. Each grape represents a month of the new year, but also a wish! Make a wish on each grape as you eat it, but chew carefully! It can be quite a mouthful to accomplish this task so quickly.

  2. Pick the right underwear

    The color of your underwear at midnight should correspond with what you want to manifest in the new year. Wear yellow for happiness, white for peace, green for money, red for love, or blue for health. 

  3. Pack your bags

    This is probably my favorite tradition! Do you want to travel in the new year? Then at midnight (or shortly thereafter) take an empty suitcase and run around the outside of your house with it. To make it more exciting, think of the places you want to visit as you do it.

  4. Sweep

    Grab your broom and give your house a good sweep, making sure to brush the dust out your front door. This symbolizes “out with the old” and is meant to cleanse your home of bad vibes and prepare it to welcome all the good in the new year.

  5. Throwing water

    Fill a bucket or pot with water and then throw the water out your front door at midnight. This symbolizes tossing out your woes and renewal in the new year. Be sure to watch your step in the morning as it will be very icy out your front door.

Which one of these will you be trying? Comment down below and share with us on social media! Remember to tag us @desmoinesmom and @evaateresaa

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Eva Morales
Eva lives in WDSM with her husband, Zack, and daughter, Kate (2019). She is a prosecutor with the Polk County Attorney's Office where she handles primarily child welfare cases. Outside of work, Eva enjoys recreating Pinterest recipes that are beyond her level of expertise, trying to find the perfect skincare routine, and buying way more on Amazon than she needs to. Eva shares openly about her experiences involving Zack's deployment, her high-risk pregnancy, Kate's NICU stay, and just about anything else you might care to ask about. She's a big fan of podcasts, personality tests, the Shark VacMop, and ordering her coffee "kid temp" at Starbucks. Connect with her on Instagram @evaateresaa

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