New Year's Eve Games

Games with paper and pens

Hand out index cards and pens as people arrive. These five work for any age and need no screen.

Guess the resolution

Players: 4 to 20. Time: 15 minutes. You need: index cards, pens, a bowl.

Everyone writes one resolution for next year on a card, without a name, folds it and drops it in the bowl.

The host draws the cards one at a time and reads them out. The room guesses who wrote each one, and the writer owns up after the guesses. A right guess scores a point.

The time capsule

Players: Any number. Time: 20 minutes. You need: paper, pens, envelopes.

Each player answers five questions from the looking back list on paper, seals it in an envelope and writes their name and next year on the front.

One person keeps the envelopes until next New Year’s Eve, when everyone opens and reads their own out loud.

Prediction cards

Players: 3 to 15. Time: 15 minutes now, 15 next year. You need: index cards, pens, one envelope.

Read out ten questions from the predictions list. Everyone writes an answer to each on their card.

Seal all the cards in one envelope. Next New Year’s Eve, open it and give a point for every prediction that came true. The top scorer is the group’s fortune teller for the year.

Year-in-review trivia

Players: 2 to 6 teams. Time: 20 minutes. You need: paper for each team; the host writes the questions in advance.

Before the party, the host writes ten questions about the group’s own year: who ran a race, where the summer trip was, which friend got a puppy.

Teams write their answers and swap papers to mark them. The questions about your own people get louder answers than any general-knowledge quiz.

Two truths and a resolution

Players: 4 to 12. Time: 15 minutes. You need: nothing.

Each player says two true things that happened to them this year and one resolution they won’t really keep.

Everyone else guesses which one is the fake resolution. Fool the room and you score a point.

Games on one phone

For the long middle of the night, when the snacks are out and nobody wants to set anything up.

Imposter

Players: 3 to 12. Time: 5 to 15 minutes a round. You need: one phone.

Pass the phone: every player sees the same secret word except one, the imposter. Each person says one word about it, then the group votes on who was faking.

Play it on the imposter game page. It’s the best pick for a big group waiting for midnight.

New Year’s Eve would you rather

Players: 2 or more. Time: About a minute a question. You need: this page.

Read a pair from the New Year’s Eve would you rather list below. On three, everyone points left for the first option or right for the second.

The smaller side has one sentence each to explain itself. For more pairs, the would you rather game shows how other players voted.

Pictionary

Players: 2 to 4 teams. Time: 15 to 30 minutes. You need: paper and a pen, or a whiteboard.

One player from a team draws a word from the Pictionary word generator while the timer runs. The team shouts guesses.

For a New Year’s round, the host can draw the year’s big moments for the group instead.

Never have I ever: this year

Players: 2 to 12. Time: 10 to 20 minutes. You need: one hand each.

Everyone holds up five fingers. Read a statement from never have I ever, and anyone who has done it this year puts a finger down.

The last player with a finger up wins. Limiting it to this year makes even old friends learn something new.

Most likely to: next year

Players: 3 to 12. Time: 10 minutes. You need: nothing.

Read a question from the most likely to lists. On three, everyone points at the person who will most likely do it next year.

Write down the winner of each round and check the list next New Year’s Eve.

Countdown and midnight games

For the last hour of the year, when the whole room should be in one place.

Balloon countdown

Players: Kids, any number. Time: All evening. You need: balloons, slips of paper, a marker.

Before the party, write a small task on slips of paper (do a silly dance, eat a snack, tell a joke), put one in each balloon and blow it up. Write a time on each balloon.

When each time comes, a kid pops that balloon and the room does what the slip says. The last balloon is the countdown itself.

Minute-to-midnight challenges

Players: 2 to 6 teams. Time: 20 minutes. You need: plastic cups, paper plates, a timer.

From 11:30, run short one-minute challenges: stack ten cups into a tower, keep a balloon in the air with a paper plate, or name 20 songs from this year.

Each win scores a point. The team ahead at 11:55 leads the countdown.

The toast round

Players: Any number. Time: 10 minutes. You need: something to raise, with or without bubbles.

At 11:45, go around the room. Each person raises a glass to one other person for one thing they did this year, in ten seconds or less.

Everyone gets toasted at least once. The host keeps track and toasts anyone who was missed.

Countdown charades

Players: 2 teams. Time: 15 minutes. You need: slips of paper, a bowl.

Each team writes ten things from this year on slips: a trip, a new pet, a song, a news story everyone heard about. Swap bowls.

Act them out in silence for the other team, one minute each. The team with the most guesses picks the music for midnight.

The first game of the year

Players: Any number. Time: 5 minutes. You need: nothing.

Right after midnight, everyone says one thing they want to do in the first week of the new year.

The rest of the room votes on which one is most likely to really happen. It sends people home on a good note.

60 questions for the countdown

Use the first list for the time capsule, the second for prediction cards and the third for a quick vote while you wait for midnight.

Jump to Looking back Predictions Would you rather

A plan for the night

Start with games people can join as they arrive, keep the quiet ones for mid-evening and finish with the games that get everyone on their feet.

New Year's Eve games for kids

• Bring midnight forward. Run the plan above four hours early and count down at 8 p.m., or at noon for toddlers.
• Use the balloon countdown. A balloon every half hour gives kids something to wait for and ends the evening on a pop.
• Pick the gentle questions. The would you rather pairs and the looking back list suit children; skip the prediction about the price of milk.
• Make noisemakers first. Dried beans in a paper cup with another cup taped on top is a craft and a countdown shaker at once.

Frequently asked questions