New Year's Eve Partybration

I’ve never really been one for celebrating New Year’s. Most years we have always stayed at home, relaxing and rarely do I make it to midnight. This year though I thought it might be fun to do something. Of course that meant something we could do with the girls because they are everything to me and no celebration is complete without them. Celebrating with the girls meant something we could do during the day and again meant very little chance of actually making it to midnight.


I looked at the First Night Celebrations in Montpelier and Burlington, but they were expensive and not something that I thought the girls would enjoy very much. After much online searching, I found the New Year’s Eve Partybration at Santa’s Village. I had heard positive things about Santa’s Village, so I thought it could be fun. The Partybration was designed for kids with the celebration ending at 9:00PM rather than 12:00AM. Admission was also all inclusive for rides, activities, food, drinks, and fireworks. Even though it was over an hour and a half drive, I thought we couldn’t go wrong.

Fortunately we have had a very mild winter, so temperatures were in the mid-30’s, which is positively warm for Vermont. We did bundle up though as we knew after a few hours even 30’s would be cold. The Partybration is a popular event, but Santa’s Village was ready for it. There were several rides open and the workers were all friendly and helpful.

One of the things that really attracted me to Santa’s Village is that Malia could ride many of the rides. Normally when we go to these places, Gideon and I take turns riding with Hadley and trying to keep Malia occupied without running all over the place.

She wasn't too sure about the carousel at first

Hadley loved it

After a few rides we headed for the food, and we weren’t disappointed. Not only was the food all inclusive, but it was actually good, not what you would expect for amusement park food. Throughout the evening/night we went through a whole pizza, 6 hot chocolates, 2 pretzels, popcorn, and three bags of mini donuts.

Santa Claus was also there, resting up from his big night. Once Malia got her candy cane she was off, but Hadley gladly got a picture with Santa and thanked him for all of her presents. Then we got to meet Santa’s reindeer. We found that they really like apple slices.

Playing in Santa's sleigh

She loved the reindeer

Waiting for the Ferris Wheel

The fireworks started at 8:00. We were in line for a ride and thought we would either miss the fireworks or not get to ride after waiting in line for about 35 minutes. We had great timing though as we got to watch the fireworks from the Skyway Sleigh, which does an aerial tour of the park.

We had so much fun that we bought a season pass so we can go back this summer and for next year’s Partybration. We were heading home at 9:00, and the girls fell asleep in the car almost immediately. We made it home and in bed before midnight yet again. It was one of our best New Year’s ever!