AUBURN – Deb Cote and her husband used to enjoy long, relaxing New Year’s Eve dinners. With two small children at home, they savored the time alone.

But the Cotes won’t be going out to celebrate this year. They can’t find a baby sitter.

“We’ve basically said it’s not worth it for us to look anymore,” Deb Cote said.

New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest nights of the year, and for some area parents, like the Cotes, it is also one of the most frustrating.

Trusted baby sitters are often booked weeks or months in advance. Neighborhood teenagers party rather than watch younger kids. Friends and family members who would volunteer to baby-sit any other day have New Year’s plans of their own.

Some parents have scoured the region in search of a sitter for the night.

Others have given up the hunt for good.

Said Cote, “I think we’re sort of in the mode of, Let’s stay home for the next couple of years.'”

Planning early

Leah Poulin started looking for her sitter a few weeks ago.

She was willing to pay $3 to $5 an hour for someone to watch her two children, ages 10 and 3, for a few hours on New Year’s Eve. She and her husband wanted to go out to dinner, maybe have a couple of drinks. They didn’t plan to be back late.

But Poulin, a stay-at-home mom and a member of the Lewiston School Committee, struck out when she called friends and family. No local teenagers wanted the job, either.

Other parents told her she should have started looking in November.

“It’s not our turn (to go out). That’s how I look at it,” she said. “Next year we’re definitely planning earlier.”

Local parents say they usually find their sitters through family members or other parents. The lucky ones know teens who will baby-sit for some extra money or even as a favor.

However, for most kids who watch other kids, New Year’s Eve seems to be a time to relax with friends, not to work.

On Thursday morning, a group of 10 local baby sitters, ages 11 to 14, gathered at the American Red Cross office in Lewiston for a class on baby-sitting. It’s a serious group, spending 45 hours of class time on everything from first aid and infant CPR to distracting children who complain of boredom.

Yet, even those pros plan to take this night off. None of the 10 planned to work the holiday night. Almost every one planned time with friends.

Their instructor, however, will be working.

“I’m watching a friend’s children,” teacher Kelly McCormick said. It’s an appointment made about three and a half weeks ago, when her friend came to her in desperation.

“She couldn’t find anyone else,” McCormick said.

Donna Levasseur, owner of Donna’s Daycare Center and Preschool in Lewiston, said she briefly considered keeping her child-care center open for New Year’s Eve. The demand was there, she said. But like others, Levasseur wanted the night off.

“I can guarantee we’d have had a full house, though,” she said.

Alternate plans

Others say no one has even asked them.

Sheri Pearson owns Precious Moments, a small child-care center in Auburn. The mother of a 4-year-old son, she said she knows how hard it can be to find a baby sitter on New Year’s Eve, so she’s willing to stay open that night. But, “I haven’t had anybody ask,” she said.

Brittany McNally, a 13-year-old from Lewiston, said she often baby-sits for family friends and neighbors. She’s willing to work New Year’s Eve, she said, but by Wednesday no one had asked.

She figured her regular clients were planning to stay home.

“If I get asked, I’ll go,” she said.

Many parents who were unable to find a sitter have since made alternate plans. Some are staying home to celebrate the night with their kids.

Deb Cote will ring in the new year in her Auburn home with her husband and their two children. During the evening, they’ll be joined by her brother, his wife and their 10- and 7-year-old children.

After all, Cote said, her brother and his wife weren’t able to find a sitter, either.

“We just figured we’d make it a family night of games and movies,” she said. “And then send the kids to bed.”

Staff writer Dan Hartill contributed to this report.