Happy Noon Year! at Pretend City Children’s Museum

More than 100 families put on their party hats and held onto their noisemakers at Pretend City Children’s Museum while awaiting the big countdown on Thursday. The countdown to noon, that is.

The Irvine museum hosted its annual Noon-Year’s Confetti Countdown for the tikes, tots and maybe even the adults who won’t make it to midnight, but still want to join in on some New Year’s Eve fun.

Families huddled shoulder to shoulder at the museum’s center Thursday morning as the countdown commenced.

At the stroke of noon, a machine showered guests with confetti.

“Happy Noon-Year!” parents cheered with their children. Music blared throughout the museum for the event’s big dance party after the guests counted down.

Lake Forest resident Gregg Danielson took his wife and 3-year-old daughter to the countdown. Danielson said he was pretty sure his daughter wouldn’t stay up until midnight, but that Noon-Year’s was the big event his family of three was looking forward to.

“Other than this, we’ll just get takeout and stay at home,” he said with a laugh. “But the confetti, the countdown and the dancing here — it’s just a big party for everyone and the kids.”

Pretend City also had three other countdowns for families at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.