New Year's Eve Noisemaker

A New Year's Eve noisemaker is a fun project for kids and adults alike. This simple craft will only take a few minutes to put together and it give you a surprisingly loud and festive noise when you shake it. Here's how to make your own New Year's Eve noisemaker.

• Paper towel roll
• Card stock
• Wrapping paper (optional)
• Stickers (optional)
• Scissors
• Tape or glue stick
• Stickers or other decorations

Cut pieces of card stock wide enough to wrap around your paper towel tube with some overlap. Cut one about four inches long, one six inches, eight inches and ten inches. Cut the card stock into fringe about a quarter of an inch wide that takes up about half the length of the card stock.

Start with the longest piece of cardstock and tape or glue it to the paper towel roll, about half way down the tube. Add the next longest one, overlapping the ends of the card stock. Repeat until all four pieces are attached.

Decorate the "handle" by covering with extra card stock, construction paper or wrapping paper. It can then be further embellished with stickers, or let your kids draw or write on them.

The New Year's Eve noisemaker in the picture features stickers from Jolee's Boutique. The stickers I used were technically for a wedding, but Jolee's also has a New Year's collection of stickers that would work quite nicely.

Using stickers to decorate your New Year's Eve noisemaker is a quick and easy way to make them just a little fancier. But it's also great to get the kids involved by having them decorate the noisemakers, and they'll work just as well either way.

These noisemakers are really easy to use; just grab them by the handle and shake. The paper pieces hitting each other makes a kind of clapping sound that is quite festive.

Actually, this would be a fun craft to do at your New Year's Eve party. All your guests could make their own noisemakers and then take them home at the end of the night. Or if you're looking for something for the kids to do after Christmas dinner, sit them down with this craft and you'll be ready to toast the new year a whole week early.

This project would also be great for other holidays when something noisy is called for, such as the Fourth of July or even birthdays. Kids love to make this craft, and to use it, and it's lots of fun for grown-ups, too.

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