North Texas kids ring in 'Noon' Year's Eve

A flower ball drop at the Dallas Arboretum with bubbles bursting like floating fog machines.

Dozens of balloons at the Shops at Highland Village.

Mounds of confetti flying at the Fort Worth Museum of Science.

North Texas is officially a "Noon Year's Eve" region.

Parents and children celebrate Noon Year's Eve.

What We Know: Noon Year's Eve is something experts say is a great way to help kids understand the concept of looking ahead and having dreams they can work to achieve in the next 365 days.

The concept is something Dallas Arboretum spokesperson Kelsey Carter says she heard about in Chicago and borrowed.

For organizers and attendees, it's something that's more than not having to stay up late. It's about setting goals and having dreams.

What They're Saying: Lyndse Ellis and her kids, 12-year-old Kent and 11-year-old Kendse, opted to celebrate the new year at noon instead of midnight to avoid "cranky kids."

"We thought, let's go out. The weather is good, the sun is shining," Lindse Ellis said. "Celebrate at noon instead of staying up with cranky kids at midnight."

"I prefer it at noon, over midnight," Kendse said. "I get tired and I'm more of a morning person."

Carter says the event gives parents a chance to build on a goal-setting for their children.

"Kids live in the moment all the time," Carter said. "Thinking of what they can be and what they will be. Their goals and aspirations as they grow up. It gives parents an opportunity to build on that."

Carter says they purposely call it hopes and dreams and not resolutions.

"We call it hopes and dreams on purpose," Carter said. "As adults we think of it as resolutions, but we are wanting it to have that positive implication. We're not changing things. Their kids are perfect the way they are, but they are still growing and that growth is what they will see in 2025."

To reinforce the concept, the kids write their hopes and dreams on a wall.

Among the messages on the wall was a hope for grandparents to visit in 2025 and to be the best big sister ever.