HOUGHTON — Families gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the Houghton Elementary gymnasium on Monday night for the second year, with a countdown celebration that started at 8 p.m. and a sparkling grape juice toast.

The event was sponsored by the Copper Country Great Start Parent Coalition, who identified a need for activities around New Year’s Eve that were good for families with both very young children and children getting into high school.

“If you have both, it’s hard to find something the whole family can do,” organizer Liz Holden said.

In the gymnasium, games, books, crafts, snacks were available, and a DJ played family-friendly music, with part of the floor cleared of tables so people could dance and play with balloons under dance floor lighting.

“I love that we count down at 8 o’clock,” Charity Emkin said.

Emkin was sitting at a table making shaker noise makers out of paper plates, pinto beans and macaroni with several kids. She said the party lets kids burn off energy, and the early countdown means that parents can either get to bed on time, or hire a babysitter and still go out for their own celebration.

Emkin said her 4-year-old daughter Roux had “a blast” at last year’s party, and heard one of her favorite songs, “It’s Raining Tacos,” for the first time.

“It’s a family classic now,” Roux’s father Benjamin Emkin said.

Lukai Zhai and Mengmeng Qiao brought their son George and daughter Alex back to the party for the second year, too. They said last year the kids, including Alex, had a lot of fun dancing.

The Parent Coalition is an organization dedicated to helping parents in the Baraga, Houghton and Keweenaw County area find the resources they need for their families, and also have representation to local education institutions. They also organize family friendly events like the New Year’s Eve party.

They wrapped up a diaper drive on Monday, having collected more than 1,500 diapers for the Keweenaw Family Resource Center.

“We’re sharing all the diapers and wipes with the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter Home,” Holden said.

Last year they did a spring egg hunt too, which this year they plan to do again, with some changes. They are hoping to schedule it a bit later in the year so they can move the event outside.