Kid-Friendly New Year’s Eve Events in Clearwater-St. Pete

Looking for kid-friendly New Year’s Eve events in the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area? We’re rounding up New Year activities for kids around Pinellas to help you find the best pre-midnight fun for your family.

We are two local moms and all our kids are still too young to make it until midnight to celebrate the new year.

Below you’ll find the New Years events for kids for 2023. We’ll update this list for 2024 when dates become available.

Let’s ring in the New Year!

Great Explorations

• LOCATION: 1925 4th St N, St. Petersburg, FL 33704
• TIME: 10:30am-2:00pm
• Website

Great Explorations is an interactive children’s museum in St. Petersburg. For New Year’s Eve, they have a celebration at noon for kids.

The event runs from 10:30am-2:00pm, with a confetti drop at noon to stimulate a midnight celebration.

Here’s our full guide to Great Explorations.

Munchkin Town

• LOCATION: 14100 US-19 Suite 130, Clearwater, FL 33764, USA
• TIME: Noon
• Website

Munchkin Town is an indoor play space for kids 6 years old and younger. They host a noon New Year’s Eve event that would be good for preschoolers and toddlers.

They also had a special fireworks themed activity on the New Year’s Day.

First Night Art in the Park

• LOCATION: North Straub Park, 400 Bayshore Drive
• TIME: 4-8pm
• Website

First Night Art in the Park in St. Petersburg has been a family-friendly New Year’s Eve event for over 30 years. It’s a free event too! You’ll find music, interactive activities, lots of art, and performances.

ZooTampa

• LOCATION: 1101 W. Sligh Avenue, 33604
• HOURS: During regular zoo hours
• Website

ZooTampa has a great New Year’s Eve celebration for kids because they celebrate a countdown every hour. This is perfect for families who have to work around nap schedules that may make noon celebrations tricky.

They also have kids activities and music with DJ’s throughout the zoo on New Year’s Eve. Check out our guide to ZooTampa before you go.

Glazer’s Children Museum

• LOCATION: 110 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa
• TIME: 9:30am-3:00pm
• Website

Glazer’s Children Museum is a cool children’s museum located in downtown Tampa. It is another good spot for celebrating New Years with kids in Tampa Bay because they do hourly countdowns. This adds a lot of flexibility for families with napping kids.

They have hourly balloon drops, countdowns and activities in the museum to help you celebrate early in the day.

Busch Gardens

• LOCATION: 10165 N McKinley Dr, Tampa
• TIME: Regular park hours
• Website

Busch Gardens has all their Christmas Town events still happening on New Year’s Eve, including special shows and beautiful Christmas lights (check out our post on Busch Gardens’ Christmas Town).

In addition, they have special fireworks and music to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

At-home activity

Looking for a fun at home activity to do with kids? Check out our post on our New Year’s around the world activities to help you celebrate all day long, with lots of fun and simple ideas. This is how Malena’s family celebrates and it is lots of fun.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

• LOCATION: 249 Windward Passage, Clearwater, FL 33767
• TIME: During regular aquarium hours
• Website

Clearwater Marine Aquarium doesn’t have a specific New Year’s Eve celebration but they do continue their special Sea of Joy holiday activities and decorations through Dec 31st. There are special holiday activities happening throughout the day. Check out our guide to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium before you go.

Disney & Orlando Theme Parks

All the theme parks in Orlando also hold special New Year’s Eve events. We want to highlight Disney’s New Years because they do two things that make it a good New Year’s Eve celebration for kids — they have early fireworks and they hold NYE events on the 30th too.

Magic Kingdom has fireworks and a countdown around 6pm on both Dec 30th and Dec 31st making it kid friendly (they do it again at midnight).

NOTE: crowds at Disney around the holidays are crazy, so this kids’ NYE event is best for people with annual passes or who are already planning a Disney holiday trip.