There’s no better way to celebrate a new year than while gathering your friends and family and throwing a little party. You’ve got the drinks, the food, and the music… the only thing missing are some games to play before the clock strikes 12! Looking for some games to play to get the party going? That’s where we come in. Here are the 30 best New Year’s Eve Party games, including New Year’s Eve party games for families, New Year’s Eve party minute to win it games, and creative DIY New Year’s Eve party games if you’d like something a bit more hands-on.
Psst! If you’re hosting an adults-only party, we’ve also hot a list of the best NYE party drinking games!
NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY GAMES FOR FAMILIES
Here are the best New Year’s Eve party games for families that everyone will enjoy, both adults and kids!
1. COUNTDOWN BALLOON POP
If you’re hosting a New Year’s party, you’ve no doubt got some balloons lying around. Turn this into a game by writing an activity on a piece of paper, putting it in a balloon, and blowing it up. Repeat so that you have as many balloons as needed for the game. Every player should pop one balloon every hour leading to midnight. So, if you have 10 people attending the party, which starts at 7 pm, you should have 50 balloons altogether.
Activities you can write include:
- Speak in a different accent for the rest of the hour
- Only lie for the rest of the hour
- Hop on one foot when moving from one place to another.
- Finish your drink
- You’re Question Master! If someone answers a question of yours, ask them to take a drink.
2. YEAR IN REVIEW
Ready for some trivia regarding the year? Before the party, prepare some questions about the past year. You can make them a combination of news snippets or more personal events, such as:
- Which was the number-one movie of the year?
- Which artist sold the most albums this year?
- Who graduated this year?
- Who moved houses this year?
Whoever gets the most answers correct wins!
3. RESOLUTION GUESSING GAME
Prepare some slips of paper. Have everyone write down one of their resolutions on a slip of paper, fold it up, and then shuffle everything together. Read out each resolution one by one, and have all the players guess who made that resolution.
4. NEW YEAR’S JEOPARDY
Who doesn’t love to play some Jeopardy? There should be 6 categories, with 5 questions for each category, that players can choose to win as much “money” as possible. Categories for New Year’s Jeopardy can include:
- Events of the Year
- Family Moments of the Year
- Top Songs
- Top Movies
The player with the most “money” by the end of the game wins Jeopardy.
5. WHAT’S IN YOUR PHONE?
For this game, everyone will need their own phone. Challenge players to find a specific photo or text from the year. The first player to find a specific photo or text that completes the challenge wins 3 points, the second player 2 points, and the third player 1 point. The player who wins the most points by the end of the game wins. Examples of challenges include:
- A selfie with an animal
- A photo of a sleeping animal
- A group selfie of at least 5 people, including yourself
- A photo taken abroad
- A photo of the ocean
- A text saying “I love you” to a parent
- A text sharing bank account details
- A text in all caps
Keep in mind that all photos and texts MUST be from the year!
6. NAME THAT TUNE
This is the perfect game to play for music lovers. In this game, you must play the first few seconds of popular songs from the year. All players must write down their best guesses on a piece of paper. One point for each correct title and another point for each correct artist! The player who wins the most points wins.
7. NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION BINGO
Bingo is a game you can play in pretty much any setting, including at a New Year’s Eve party. In this game, give each player a blank bingo card that they can fill with common resolutions. Then, in a circle, go around and ask each player to share one of their resolutions. The first player to cross out a line, whether it be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, wins.
8. PICTIONARY: YEAR IN REVIEW
One of our favorite board games that you can easily turn into a New Year’s Eve party game is Pictionary. But instead of playing standard Pictionary, have players draw moments or trends from the past year. You can either play this as a team game or an individual game, with a single person standing up in front of the group to draw something.
9. KARAOKE: YEAR IN REVIEW
One of our favorite party games is, no doubt, karaoke. While not a competitive game, it’s a quick way to raise spirits and get everyone to have a good time at the party. But here’s the catch: since you’re celebrating the year, people can only sing songs released that year!
10. BOARD GAME MARATHON
If you have a smaller group at the New Year’s Eve party, you could easily play some classic board games. A board game marathon is a super easy way to pass the time until midnight and is good fun, no matter how young or old you are.
Here are some of the best board games (and their rules) we recommend playing until midnight:
NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY MINUTE TO WIN IT GAMES
Minute to win it games are a hoot at any party. If you want to get the party started with some minute to win it games, here are the best challenges that are New Year’s-themed!
Psst! We’ve also got some Christmas minute to win it games and Halloween minute to win it games, if that’s what you’re after.
11. BALLOON BLOW COUNTDOWN
In this challenge, players must blow up and tie 10 balloons in under a minute! Try not to get too lightheaded with this game. If you have younger kids playing, you can lower the balloon count to 5 or even 3.
12. RING IN THE NEW YEAR
Set up several bottles a few feet away from the players. Then, have players toss rings onto the object. The goal? Try to ring all of the bottles within a minute.
13. CONFETTI CLEAN UP
This is a very frustrating minute to win it game. In this game, spread out some confetti across a table, making a bit of a mess. Then, give each player a single spoon to transfer the confetti into a plastic or paper cup. If you want to make the game even more difficult, give each player a straw to suck up the confetti instead!
14. CHEERS TO THE NEW YEAR
This is one of the best New Year’s Eve party minute to win it games for adults. In this minute to win it challenge, players must stack plastic champagne glasses in a pyramid. If you want to up the stakes a bit, fill the champagne flutes with a bubbly of your choice. Don’t let it fall!
15. NEW YEAR’S BALL DROP
Set a small cup by everyone’s feet. Players must then drop a ping pong ball directly into the cup before the minute is up.
16. PARTY HORN KNOCKDOWN
Give a party horn to each player and place plastic cups on a table about a blown party horn’s distance away. Players must take turns using their party horn to knock down all the plastic cups within a minute.
17. BLOW THE HORN
This is a similar New Year’s Eve minute to win it game in which players must use a party horn to push small, lightweight objects, such as a pom-pom, across a table. But make sure the object doesn’t fall off!
18. COOKIE COUNTDOWN
One of the best New Year’s Eve party minute to win it games for kids is Cookie Countdown! This is a very popular mini-game in which players must move a cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands.
19. BALLOON POP CHALLENGE
In this game, players have one minute to pop 10 balloons. But the twist is that you can only pop them by sitting on them! You’ll all be laughing out loud in no time at all.
20. SILVER BELL STACK
You no doubt have some silver bells or jingle bells leftover from Christmas, so why not use them for this New Year’s Eve minute to win it game? In this game, players race to stack as many jingle or silver bells as possible into a tower. The tallest tower by the time the minute is up is the winner.
CREATIVE DIY NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY GAMES
Do you, your friends, and your family love to do something creative? Here are the best DIY games to play for New Year’s Eve. Let’s get crafty!
21. YEAR IN REVIEW TIME CAPSULE
A time capsule is a great way to commemorate the year. Gather random items that represent the year in some way and seal them in a box. Keep it closed until the same time next year when you can open it and reminisce!
22. FORTUNE COOKIE MESSAGES
Why not create your own fortune cookies? Have everyone write some funny or serious fortunes for the new year for everyone to open when the clock strikes 12. You can find plenty of fortune cookie recipes online!
23. NEW YEAR VISION BOARD
If you have a vision of what you’d like the next year to look like, you, your friends, and your family can all work on your own vision boards. Prepare magazines, markers, stickers, newspapers, and glue sticks to design a vision board for what is in store for the upcoming year. This is a great way to manifest your dreams.
24. RESOLUTION JAR
In this activity, everyone should write down their resolutions and pop them in a jar to remain closed until the next New Year’s.
25. DIY PHOTO BOOTH
A photo booth is a great activity to have on the side at any party. For New Year’s Eve, prepare some props, such as glasses, hats, or speech bubbles, that everyone can use for their Instagram post.
26. NEW YEAR’S SLIME
Do you have guests who are obsessed with slime? Provide some glitter and confetti, and make as much sparkly slime as you want!
27. LANTERN WISHES
Instead of releasing balloons at midnight, why not try a more creative and sustainable alternative, such as lantern painting? In this activity, everyone paints lanterns with their wishes for the year. Then, everyone can take them home to use as decoration.
28. DIY PHOTO GARLAND
Have everyone bring some printed photos from the year to the party. Then, as an activity, everyone can create a garland for them to take home to display the year. Provide some glitter, glue, string, clips, stickers, and other decorations that everyone can use to make their photo garland even more special.
29. MAKE YOUR OWN PARTY HAT
Grab some plain party hats, glitter, markers, stickers, streamers, and so much more so that everyone at the party can design their own hat. Vote for your favorite!
30. HANDPRINT NEW YEAR’S TREE
A super easy way to incorporate everyone into a fun activity is to paint the trunk and branches of a tree onto a very large piece of paper, cardboard, or canvas. Then, at the party, everyone can paint over their hand and press it onto the canvas to create handprint leaves. When the “leaves” dry, everyone can label their hand with a goal for the next year or a memory of the previous year.
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