{"id":483947,"date":"2026-01-01T04:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T04:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/483947\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T04:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T04:35:11","slug":"philadelphia-families-ring-in-2026-before-bedtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/483947\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia families ring in 2026 before bedtime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ritvi, 3, came to the countdown with her parents and twin sister. Her favorite part of the event was singing songs. Her new year\u2019s wish: more playtime.\n<\/p>\n

Her mother, Moksha Laxmi, said celebrating New Year\u2019s Eve together as a family is especially meaningful after recently moving to the United States.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part, we feel here, [is] we get to spend so much time with them, personally,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have twins, so double the trouble, double the fun and triple the excitement.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Alice, 6, said she\u2019s most excited about starting gymnastics in the new year.\n<\/p>\n

Her father, Trevor Higginson, said he brought Alice and her three siblings to the countdown to ring in 2026 together.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great time for us to be able to have a celebration that\u2019s not at night time, which is great so that we can help them get excited about the new year and the events we\u2019ll be doing and the goals,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were just talking about goals the other day, and we\u2019re excited for them to be able to try to accomplish those \u2014 so it\u2019s fun.\u201d
\n\"AThe Please Touch Museum welcomed more than 3,000 people to its annual \u201dCountdown to New Year\u2019s\u201d daytime event for kids on Dec. 31, 2025. (Courtesy of the Please Touch Museum)\n<\/p>\n

Nearby, the Montler family picked up New Year\u2019s decorations ahead of the 11 a.m. countdown. Ryan, 7, an aspiring scientist, said the best part of the party was navigating a maze. His brother Colin, 6, enjoyed play cooking because he wants to be a chef when he grows up. His goal for the new year is to get more Pok\u00e9mon cards.\n<\/p>\n

The countdown event is one way for children to start the new year finding joy and curiosity through play, Haye said, which is at the heart of the museum\u2019s mission.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a place where families can explore different activities with our exhibit spaces,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can just enjoy each other\u2019s moments, just talking and sharing a smile with one another, and also learning and growing as we\u2019re playing.\u201d
\n\"JazzyJazzy the Clown (left) and other performers helped kids and their families ring in 2026 at the Please Touch Museum on Dec. 31, 2025. (Brandon Ballard\/Please Touch Museum)\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ritvi, 3, came to the countdown with her parents and twin sister. Her favorite part of the event…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":483948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,145751,1448,2830,1311,182743,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-483947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-new-years-eve","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-please-touch-museum","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115817986383262282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}