Family Friendly New Year's Fun in Fort Lauderdale

While you may have plenty of other holiday planning to do before you even start to think about your New Year’s Plans, New Year’s Eve will be here before we know it.  As always, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach are host to numerous New Year’s events.  Many of these events are for adults only, but if you have young children and would like to ring in the New Year by doing something special with them, Fort Lauderdale is a good place to be.  The Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown is a family friendly favorite that promises to be fun and exciting for all ages.  Held on 2nd Street SW between 2nd and 5th avenues, the event is just a couple of blocks away from downtown Ft. Lauderdale apartments.  Festivities start at 4:30 PM on the 31st and run until 3 AM on January 1st, 2014!

Games

For little ones, the highlight of Fort Lauderdale’s Downtown Countdown is unquestionably the Kids Zone.  Designed to appeal to children of all ages, the zone has an array of carnival-style games, inflatable bounce houses, obstacle courses, face painting, and more.  Hula hoop contests and other various showdowns are all on the agenda.

Live Music

The Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown has an excellent soundtrack.  Live rock bands and professional disc jockeys take turns entertaining the crowd, pausing so that attendees can be charmed by the FSU marching band and cheerleading squad.

Countdown

The namesake of this great Fort Lauderdale event is not for naught.  As 2013 draws to a close, the tens of thousands of people at the Downtown Countdown will prepare to ring in the near year in unison.  Counting down loudly with one minute remaining, energy mounts when “TEN! NINE! EIGHT!” are reached.  As the clock strikes midnight, heralding in the start of 2014, a large illuminate ball drops and the crowd goes wild.  If your children are too young to be out so late or you don’t think that they would make it until midnight, they can still experience the magic and excitement of celebrating the New Year with the dropping of the ball.  A warm-up drop occurs at 7 PM for this purpose, giving you plenty of time to tuck your children into their South Florida apartment beds and return for the midnight celebration.

Fireworks

Rather than giving attendees cause to wind down and retire to their luxury Ft. Lauderdale apartment homes, midnight brings even more energy at the Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown.  Just as the lighted ball is released, a spectacular fireworks show begins.  One of the most impressive New Year’s fireworks displays for one of the largest New Year’s celebrations in the southeastern United States, this show keeps momentum high for several minutes longer.  Once it draws to a close, the music and dancing start up again and revelers continue to celebrate until 3 AM.  If your children (or you!) get sleepy, you can of course retire to your downtown Ft. Lauderdale apartment at anytime.

Doing the 21 and over thing can be a great deal of fun, but it is always nice to ring in the New Year with the entire family.  Returning for its 4th annual year, the Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown has quickly become a Ft. Lauderdale tradition.  This year, Ft. Lauderdale apartment dwellers will mingle with out-of-towners who make the trek to see their Clemson Tigers or Ohio State Buckeyes play in the Orange Bowl on January 3rd.  To them, the Downtown Countdown serves the dual purpose of ringing in the new year and inciting excitement for the game that lies ahead.