Discovery Lab Hosts Noon Year's Eve Celebration For Families

Not everyone can wait until midnight to ring in the New Year, so Discovery Lab is helping families in Green Country celebrate early.

Noon Year's Eve is an annual event the children's museum started more than a decade ago.

"This family-friendly celebration offers the excitement of a New Year's countdown without having to stay up late," Executive Director Dr. Ray Vandiver said.

That is what drew Chris Firey in. He and his 4-year-old son Noah go to Discovery Lab often to play but have never been on New Year's Eve.

"This fits our schedule better," he said. "I am not going to make it to midnight, so this is perfect for us."

The timing of the event, while nice, is only part of the reason Lindsay Smith brought her kids William, 7, and Sofia, 5.

"A lot of things are about drinking and stuff on New Year's Eve, and I wanted something for the kids that we could all do together," she said.

Noon Year's Eve has music, hands-on science activities, experiments, and a balloon drop at noon with over 22,000 balloons.

"To blow up 22,000 balloons takes lots of staff, volunteers, and weeks of time to put together," said Dr. Vandiver.

Before the countdown begins the kids could make their own masks, slip and slide on a sock skating rink, play in the Ballapalooza exhibit, or go down the tape slide. 

Instead of fireworks, this Noon Year's Eve party has a fire eater. Her demonstrations are a fun way to teach kids about combustion and heat transfer.

"We got to see some fire experiments over there, and it was really cool," 9-year-old Harper Harrison said.

Sticking with the Winter WonderLab theme of "fire and ice," the museum also demonstrated how to freeze balloon animals using liquid nitrogen

"I am an assistant principal at an elementary school," said Smith. "So, it is all about education for me and giving them experiences."

Noon Year's Eve sells out every year, so people are encouraged to get tickets early. Those will go on sale again in November 2025.

For more information about Discovery Lab visit https://www.discoverylab.org/.