13 New Year's Eve party games

Predictions for next year

Players

4 to 40

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

10 and up

You need

A card per guest, pens and an envelope

1. Give each guest a card with five prompts about next year: a big news story, a hit film, the price of a coffee, something the group will do together.
2. Guests fill in their predictions and sign the card.
3. Read a few aloud if their writers are happy to share them.
4. Seal the cards in an envelope marked: open next New Year's Eve.
5. Next year, score a point for each prediction that came true.

Year-in-review quiz

Players

4 to 40, in teams

Minutes

30

Ages

12 and up

You need

15 to 20 questions the host writes about the year, answer sheets and pens

1. Write questions about the year: news, sport, films, songs, and a round about things the group did together.
2. Split into teams and hand out answer sheets.
3. Read each question twice.
4. Teams swap sheets and mark them while you read the answers.
5. Announce the winners just before the countdown.

Without a printer: Teams number any sheet of paper.

For this game: Printable trivia answer sheets

New Year trivia

Players

2 to 40, in teams

Minutes

15 to 25

Ages

10 and up

You need

The question set, paper and pens

1. Read the New Year questions aloud, one at a time.
2. Teams write their answers.
3. Reveal each answer with its short explanation.
4. Plan the last question to end a few minutes before midnight.

Without a printer: The host reads the questions from a phone.

For this game: New Year trivia questions

Resolution charades

Players

6 to 30, in two teams

Minutes

20

Ages

8 and up

You need

Cards with common resolutions and a one-minute timer

1. Write resolutions on the cards: learn to juggle, run a marathon, read more books, eat more vegetables, learn a language, clear out the garage.
2. An actor draws a card and acts it without speaking.
3. Their team has one minute to guess the resolution.
4. Teams alternate, and the more right guesses wins.

Without a printer: Write the resolutions on scraps of paper.

For this game: Printable blank charades cards

Guess the year

Players

4 to 30, in teams

Minutes

20

Ages

Teens and adults

You need

The decades question set, paper and pens

1. Pick an event, film or invention from the question set and describe it without its date.
2. Teams write down the year they think it happened.
3. The exact year scores 3 points and a guess within five years scores 1.
4. Play 10 to 15 events and total the points.

Without a printer: Read the events from a phone.

For this game: Decades trivia questions from the 50s to the 2010s

Two truths and a lie: year edition

Players

4 to 15

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

12 and up

You need

Nothing

1. Each player thinks of two true things they did this year and one believable invented one.
2. On their turn, they say all three.
3. The others vote on the invented one.
4. Everyone who spots it scores a point.
5. Stick to things you are happy to share, and pass if nothing comes to mind.

For this game: Two truths and a lie ideas

Draw the year

Players

4 to 20, in two teams

Minutes

20

Ages

8 and up

You need

Cards with things from the past year, a whiteboard or paper, markers and a timer

1. Before the party, write things from the year on the cards: a big event, a popular film, a new trend, the group's summer trip.
2. An artist draws a card and draws it for their team, with no letters or numbers.
3. The team has one minute to name it.
4. Teams alternate, and the team with the most right guesses by midnight wins.

Without a printer: Write the ideas on scraps of paper.

For this game: Printable drawing game cards

Countdown challenges

Players

2 teams, any size

Minutes

One minute each, spread through the evening

Ages

8 and up

You need

Plastic cups, ping pong balls, a bowl, chopsticks, small candies, a feather and a timer

1. Plan one challenge for each hour until midnight.
2. Examples: build a tower of 20 cups, blow a ping pong ball across a table into a bowl, move 20 candies between bowls with chopsticks, keep a feather in the air by blowing.
3. On the hour, each team sends one player and starts a one-minute timer.
4. A team scores a point for each challenge completed within the minute.
5. Hold the last challenge just before the midnight countdown.

For this game: One-minute party games

Countdown balloons

Players

3 to 20

Minutes

One balloon per hour

Ages

4 and up

You need

A balloon for each hour of the party, slips of paper and a marker

1. Before blowing up each balloon, put in a slip with an activity: a dance party, a joke round, a snack, a game of charades.
2. Write the time to pop it on the outside of each balloon.
3. On each hour, a child pops that balloon and the group does the activity.
4. Pop the last balloon at midnight, or at an earlier countdown for young children.
5. Pick up burst balloon pieces straight away, because they are a choking risk for small children.

Noisemaker freeze dance

Players

3 to 30

Minutes

10

Ages

3 to 10

You need

Music, and a noisemaker or party horn per child

1. Play dance music and let everyone dance with a noisemaker in hand.
2. When it stops, everyone freezes.
3. When the host shouts happy New Year, everyone blows their noisemaker and the music starts again.
4. Anyone who moves during a freeze makes a funny face at the host and keeps playing.

Party hat decorating contest

Players

3 to 20

Minutes

20 to 30

Ages

4 and up

You need

Plain paper party hats or card cones, stickers, glitter glue, markers and tape

1. Give each player a plain hat and share out the supplies.
2. Set a timer for 15 minutes.
3. Everyone wears their hat in a parade around the room.
4. Vote for winners in several categories: sparkliest, funniest, most colorful.

New Year scavenger hunt

Players

3 to 20, alone or in pairs

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

5 and up

You need

A checklist of things to find in the house and a pencil per team

1. List 12 to 16 things to find: a clock, a calendar, something gold, something that makes a noise, a party hat, the number 1.
2. Say which rooms are in play.
3. Teams tick off each item and write where they found it, leaving it in its place.
4. The first team to find everything, or the one with the most finds after 15 minutes, wins.

Without a printer: Write the list on any paper, one copy per team.

For this game: Printable scavenger hunt checklist

New Year bingo

Players

3 to 30

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

6 and up

You need

A card per player, the call list and counters

1. Print the cards and the call list.
2. Call the words in a random order: countdown, confetti, midnight and the rest.
3. Players mark each called word.
4. A full line calls happy New Year, and the caller checks it.
5. Play one last full-card round in the minutes before midnight.

Without a printer: The caller reads the whole list first, and each player draws a 3 by 3 grid and picks nine words from it.

For this game: New Year's Eve bingo