Games for a New Year party: 18 with rules

These ten games cover most New Year crowds, and each one has full rules further down the page.

1. Hourly balloon countdown: pop one balloon every hour and follow the instructions hidden inside.
2. Whose resolution?: read anonymous resolutions aloud while everyone guesses who wrote each one.
3. Year-in-review trivia: team rounds of questions about everything your group did this year.
4. Guess the month: guests study photos from the year and guess when each one was taken.
5. Timeline sort: teams arrange the year's biggest moments in the order they happened.
6. Blind sixty: close your eyes and stand up when you think exactly 60 seconds have passed.
7. Toast roulette: draw a name and a topic, then give that guest a 30-second toast.
8. Fortune writers: write a hopeful or funny fortune for the guest sitting on your left.
9. Confetti straw race: move pom-poms from a bowl to a cup with a straw before the timer runs out.
10. Bubble-wrap countdown: children stomp away the last ten seconds of the year.

Choose three to five games for the night: one icebreaker, one team game, one game about the year and one loud game for the minutes before midnight. The table sorts all 18 by group size, energy and the crowd they suit best. Treat the player counts and times as rough guides, and adjust them for your own room and guest list.

Countdown games give the evening a shape, so guests feel midnight approaching instead of staring at the clock. Start the balloons early in the evening and save the lineup for the final minutes before the countdown.

1. Write a task on each slip, such as "group photo", "everyone shares a highlight of the year", "the next song is a dance song" or "start the next game".
2. Roll each slip up, push it into a balloon, then blow it up and tie it. Mark the hour on the outside.
3. On each hour, a guest pops that hour's balloon and reads the task aloud.

How to win: there is no winner; the last balloon, popped at 11:55, says "Pour the cider and find a noisemaker."

1. Everyone sits with eyes closed, and the host says "Go" and starts the stopwatch.
2. Players stand when they think one minute is up, with no counting out loud.
3. The host quietly notes the time each player stood, then announces who came closest to 60 seconds.

How to win: the player closest to exactly 60 seconds wins. Play it at about 11:50 as a warm-up for the real countdown.

1. Draw a clock face on each plate, each showing a different hour from 1 to 12.
2. Hide the plates around one or two rooms, some low for little ones and some higher for older kids.
3. Kids find all twelve, then lay them in a circle from 1 to 12, like a real clock.

How to win: the whole group wins when the circle is done; give a small treat for finding the 12 o'clock plate.

1. Split the room into teams of roughly equal size.
2. On "Go", each team lines up by birthday month, using only gestures and fingers to share their months.
3. When a team thinks it is done, everyone raises a hand, and the host checks the order out loud.

How to win: the first team in the correct order wins; play it at 11:45 so the whole room is standing and close together for the countdown.

Resolution games work for almost every crowd, because the guests supply all the material themselves. Keep them light and optional, since nobody should have to share a personal goal they would rather keep private.

1. Everyone writes one resolution, real or silly, without a name, and drops it in the bowl.
2. The host mixes the bowl and reads each slip aloud, one at a time, in a dramatic voice.
3. The room calls out guesses, and the writer owns up after three wrong guesses or one right one.

How to win: a point for each right guess; the writer who fools the most people gets a prize.

1. Everyone writes one easy challenge, such as "call a grandparent every Sunday" or "try one new recipe".
2. Fold the slips in half and mix them thoroughly in the bowl.
3. Each guest draws one challenge and may trade it back into the bowl once for a different one.

How to win: nobody wins tonight; the guests who keep their challenge through January win a call or a coffee at the next get-together.

1. Sit in a circle and give everyone a slip of paper, a pen and a small envelope.
2. Each guest writes a fortune for the person on their left, such as "This year you finally beat your sister at cards."
3. After midnight, everyone opens their fortune and reads it aloud.

How to win: the room votes for the best fortune, and its writer picks the first song of the new year.

1. Point to one side of the room for the first answer and the opposite side for the second.
2. Read a question, such as "Would you rather take one long trip or six weekend trips next year?"
3. Guests walk to their side, and one person from each side gives a reason.

How to win: there is no winner; for a scoring version, guests guess where the host will stand first.

Ten would-you-rather questions to read out:

• Learn a language or learn an instrument?
• A year of breakfast for dinner, or dinner for breakfast?
• Read 12 books or watch 12 classic films?
• Wake up at 6 every day, or never set an alarm?
• One big party or twelve small dinners?
• Start a garden or adopt a pet?
• Run a race or learn to dance?
• Take a road trip or a train trip?
• Cook every night or never cook?
• Keep a journal or take a photo a day?

Year-in-review games look back at the twelve months your guests just lived through. Ask about your own group's year rather than the national news, so everyone has a fair chance and every answer is something you can check with the people in the room.

1. Pick three of the four round templates below, write eight questions for each and check every answer.
2. Teams huddle over each question for about thirty seconds and write down one agreed answer.
3. While the next round is played, the host marks the last one and posts the running totals on a whiteboard or the TV.

How to win: the team with the highest total after the last round; break a tie with one closest-number question, such as how many photos the host took this year.

1. A week before, ask each guest to send one photo from the year with the month it was taken.
2. Put the photos in a slideshow in random order, without names or dates on the slides.
3. For each photo, teams write down the month and whose photo it is.

How to win: award one point for the correct month and another for the correct person; the team with the most points wins.

1. Write ten moments from your group's year on slips, such as a wedding, a new job, a move or a big trip, and make one identical set per team.
2. On "Go", teams lay their slips in order from January to December.
3. When every team has finished, the host reads the correct order aloud and teams check their own rows.

How to win: one point for each slip in the right position; the team with the most points wins.

1. Everyone writes five words about their year, without a name, such as "new city, new job, no sleep".
2. The host shuffles the slips and reads them aloud one by one.
3. Guests guess the writer, and the writer explains in one sentence.

How to win: a point for each correct guess; the best summary, by room vote, wins a prize.

These two games suit an adult crowd at home. Both work with sparkling cider or cocoa as well as anything else, so nobody has to drink to play.

1. Put every guest's name in one bowl and topics in the other, such as "your best decision this year", "your cooking" or "the way you text".
2. A player draws one of each and has 30 seconds to toast that guest on that topic.
3. Everyone raises a glass of whatever they are drinking, and the toasted guest goes next.

How to win: the room votes for the best toast of the night, and its maker leads the midnight countdown.

1. Partners sit back to back, each holding a pen and a small stack of slips.
2. The host reads a question, such as "Where did we eat the tastiest meal this year?" or "What made us laugh the most?"
3. Both partners write an answer privately, then reveal their slips at the same moment.

How to win: the couple with the most matching answers wins; double points for the last question.

Kids' games need simple rules, plenty of noise and an early finish. Most young children will not stay awake until midnight, so plan an early countdown that still feels like the real celebration.

1. Give each player a bowl of ten pom-poms, a straw and an empty cup.
2. On "Go", players pick up a pom-pom by sucking through the straw and drop it in the cup, with no hands.
3. Stop everyone when the timer reaches 60 seconds, then count each cup together.

How to win: the player with the most pom-poms in the cup wins the round.

1. Play an upbeat song, and everyone dances around the room blowing their noisemakers.
2. Pause the music at random, and everyone freezes in silence.
3. Anyone who moves or makes a sound sits out the next round.

How to win: the last dancer standing wins and starts the next song.

1. Lay one bubble-wrap square on the floor in front of each child, spaced well apart.
2. Count down from ten together, with one stomp per number.
3. On "Happy New Year!", everyone jumps with both feet.

How to win: everyone wins; save the leftover squares for a second countdown.

Keep balloons and popped pieces away from young children, and stay with them for the balloon countdown. Swap a paper slip in a paper bag for the balloons if your guests include toddlers.

Office games should be short, friendly and focused on the working year, with nothing that pries into anyone's private life. For a team celebration, try whose resolution?, year-in-review trivia about the team, timeline sort with the team's milestones, my year in five words and the predictions envelope below.

1. Everyone writes three predictions with their name, such as "We move to a new office" or "I finally finish the marathon."
2. The host seals the slips in an envelope and writes the date to open it.
3. At next year's party, the host opens the envelope and reads each prediction aloud.

How to win: one point for each prediction that came true; the best forecaster picks next year's first game.

For 30 or more guests, choose games everyone plays at once: year-in-review trivia in teams, blind sixty, the predictions envelope, next-year would you rather and the hourly balloon countdown. At work, keep slips anonymous and make sharing optional.

Yes. Bingo, name that tune, charades, a scavenger hunt and minute challenges all work with a New Year twist: bingo squares for things you'll hear tonight, songs from this year, charades of the year's moments and a hunt for party hats and noisemakers. Our Christmas party games guide has the full rules.

Mix a game for arrivals, a team game, a game about the year and a loud game right before midnight, with food in the middle. Here is how that works for one party.

Yes, and it saves you marking answer sheets at 10 p.m. When your invitation goes out through InviteBird, the Quiz lets you write your year-in-review questions once and use them in two ways.

• Before the party: guests answer the questions while they reply, and you decide when the scores appear.
• At the party: the big screen displays a code, everyone joins from their own phone under a nickname, and each question runs on a timer. A leaderboard appears between questions, the winner is crowned at the end, and nobody needs an app or a login.

The live game starts on the day of your event, and Demo Mode lets you test it on your own screen beforehand. Start from the pink New Year's Eve party design or another holiday invitation. Design free, pay when you send — from $9.99.

Serve food that guests can eat with one hand between games, such as sliders, a snack board, popcorn and a dessert tray. A long celebration needs more than snacks, so put out something hearty, like chili or a pasta bake, around 9 p.m.

Our party food calculator works out how much to make for your guest count, with kids as half portions. For an adult party, the drink calculator covers soft drinks, ice and anything else you pour. Buy sparkling cider for the midnight toast, so every guest, including kids and drivers, has a glass to raise.

A few games need a check against your guest list before you plan them.

• Drinking games: they leave some guests out, and the night is long. Every game here works with any drink.
• Questions about money, weight or relationships: keep resolution and prediction games light.
• Balloons around toddlers: use paper bags for the hourly tasks.
• Games after 11:58: leave the last two minutes for the countdown and the toast.
• Photo games without asking: let guests choose the photo they send.
• Long games late at night: after 11, choose games under 15 minutes.

Send your New Year wishes after the party, while the night is fresh. Our happy New Year wishes guide has lines for texts, cards and toasts.

An animated New Year card can go out on New Year's morning: write your message, schedule it, and send it by email or text for $4.99, no subscription. Text messages to US and Canada numbers go out between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time (noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays). One card can go to up to 50 people, each with their own name, at $2.99 for each person after the first.