New Year’s Eve. The one night of the year when everyone tries to get together with loved ones to celebrate the ending of one year and the start of a new one. If you are planning to stay in this year and are looking for some fun ways to pass the time as that clock is counting down to midnight, these top 10 games to play on New Year’s Eve with family will have you all in stitches.
1. Highlights of the Year
This is one of our favourite ‘games to play’ on New Year’s Eve, simply because it holds so much meaning.
On small strips of paper, write out a series of different questions relating to the previous year. They could be things like ‘When do you think you laughed the loudest this year?’ or ‘What main event had the most impact on you this year?’. As each one is drawn out, get each guest to take turns answering it.
This is a great game for going back over the year that was and remembering all the funny, weird and wonderful things that happened.
2. Guess the Resolution
What is a New Year’s Eve tradition without a slew of New Year’s resolutions we probably are not going to be able to keep?!
With this game, each family member writes down what their main New Year’s resolution is for next year and places it into a bowl. These are mixed up and, one at a time, they are drawn out and read. With each one, family members must guess who wrote the resolution.
3. Collect the Kisses
Midnight is notoriously celebrated with loud cheers and affectionate hugs and kisses.
To celebrate this with a fun game, hide a number of Hershey’s Kisses around your house before the party begins. When everyone has arrived, announce that they have until midnight to find and collect as many of the chocolates as they can. This can simply be done through the course of the evening and the winner is the person with the most ‘kisses’. at the end of the night!
4. Clock Drop
For this game, write the numbers 1 to 12 around the inside of a paper plate so that it resembles a clock face. On another plate or in a bowl, place a large number of coloured M&Ms.
To play, each player must use a straw to suck up M&Ms one at a time and place each one directly over each number. This is actually harder than it sounds! The person who completes this in the quickest amount of time is the winner.
5. Balloon Tennis
This is a fun game that kids (and adults) can play both inside or outside the house!
Simply blow up some balloons, grab a fly-swatter, and stand on either side of a piece of string that has been strung between two chairs or poles as a net. Then, watch on as players try to hit the balloon over the net without popping it, but with enough force to have it make the distance.
6. Pin the Hand on the Clock
Just like pin the tail on the donkey, this is the perfect New Year’s Eve game for little kids who are looking to pass the time!
Get a piece of cardboard and draw a large clock face on the front of it, then draw a large clock hand pointing up to the 12. Cut out a number of small clock hands from another piece of cardboard and, while blindfolded and after being spun three times, get the kids to try to put the small hand directly over the large one to show midnight.
The closest pin to midnight on the clock wins!
7. Time Capsule
This one is not so much a game, as a New Year’s Eve activity.
On the night, take a Polaroid photo of each person and get them to write on the back of it what their hopes and dreams for the following year are. You could get them to list five things that they hope to achieve or would like to happen. Place each photo in an envelope with the guest’s name on it and, the following year on New Year’s Eve, open them up and see how many of their wishes came true.
8. News Headline Charades
It is common at the end of each year for news channels to highlight all of the major stories for the last year.
In this game, each family member can each come up with a list of major stories that headlined the news throughout the last year. Each of these stories is then written down on a slip of paper and put into a bowl. One by one, each guest must draw a headline out and act this out to fellow guest using charades.
The first one to guess it then has the next turn!
9. Two Resolutions and a Lie
This is a little bit of fun to see just how well your family really know you!
In a twist on the classic game ‘Two Truths and Lie’, have each guest stand up and announce their three resolutions for the coming year. Two of them will be the truth and one will be completely made up.
See if your family can guess which one is the lie.
10. Ball Drop
Finally, this is a fun little game that is hilarious to watch and harder than it sounds!
Players must stand on a chair and attempt to drop ping-pong balls into a bucket on the ground behind the chair, while being timed (you can choose your own time limit, depending on the age of players).
Before the time is up, each player must successfully land three ping-pong balls into the bucket.
We love playing party games, and New Year’s Eve is one of the best nights of the year to get together with family to play them! What are your family favourites? Let us know if the comments below!
If you’re up for a night our instead this New Year’s Eve, check out our guide to family friendly New Year’s Eve events on this year, or find out where you can see New Year’s Eve fireworks.
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