Like becoming a new parent, celebrating the New Year involves promises to get in shape, a little bit of fear, and the prospect of cleaning confetti off your shirt. Have family-friendly New Years fun with today's Groupon: tickets to the First Night St. Louis Festival from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on New Year's Eve at Grand Center. Choose from two options:

• For $10 you get two adult tickets (ages 13+; a $16 advanced value, or a $20 value at the door)
• For $5 you get two children's tickets (ages 6-12; an $8 advanced value, or a $10 value at the door)

The First Night St. Louis Festival is an annual arts and culture festival that’s a family-friendly, alcohol-free way to ring in the New Year. Catering to nearly 15,000 guests at 14 different venues in the Grand Arts Entertainment District, this supernova of music, theater, and art features approximately 75 different artist groups and entertainers. The revelatory sights and sounds include two fireworks shows, blasting revelers into the future to greet 2011.

Admission is free for children 5 and under.

Reviews

The St. Louis Beacon reviewed the 2009 First Night St. Louis Festival, and previewed this year's celebration as well:

• Finding creative ways to help New Year’s Eve partiers look back and move forward has become a tradition for the planners of First Night, an annual celebration of the arts that takes place across the country and had its first run in St. Louis in 1992. – Elia Powers and Sam Washburn