New Year’s Eve games: 9 party games and family games for New Year’s Eve
Fun games on New Year’s Eve create a lively party atmosphere and make the time until midnight fly by. Whether you are celebrating with a small group of friends or organising a large New Year’s Eve party, we have some New Year’s Eve games for everyone. You don’t have to go to any trouble or spend a lot of time preparing for our New Year’s Eve games. They will fit perfectly into your evening and make your celebration an unforgettable experience.
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New Year’s Eve games: Ideas for large and small groups
If you’re planning a big New Year’s Eve party, you need the right decorations and an evening full of activities. We have gathered a list of fantastic New Year’s Eve games for your party here that are easy to organise and guaranteed to pass the time until the turn of the year with a lot of fun and laughter.
New Years’ Eve icebreaker game: Chair bingo
This New Year’s Eve game is a great icebreaker and helps your guests get to quickly know each other. For this fun New Year’s Eve game, all you need to do is make a circle of chairs. The important thing is to put one less chair in the circle than there are players. Get everyone to take a seat while you take your first turn in standing in the middle. The New Year’s party game involves the person in the middle saying something about themselves that they think will apply to as many others as possible. For example: ‘I like the colour blue’ or ‘I am a big football fan’. Everyone that agrees with your statement must get up and look for another chair. At the same time, the person in the middle also tries to take a chair which would leave someone else stranded in the middle. It’s a great game to get to know some new things about each other and get some exercise at the same time!
Fun New Year’s Eve games: Karaoke/Lip-Synch battle
Even if you are celebrating New Year’s Eve with a small group of friends, you can still enjoy a party atmosphere. A fun New Year’s Eve game that you can also play in pairs, or a smaller group is karaoke. If you have a karaoke game for your video console, you can start right away and sing to your heart’s content. Otherwise, you can watch YouTube videos and have a fun evening without any preparation.
If you don’t like singing, you can have a lip-synch battle. Just move your lips to the song and put on a unique performance. Air guitar, your own dance choreography, or an extra theatrical performance will get you extra points here. Who has what it takes to be a superstar? Find out!
Charades as a New Year’s Eve game: Pantomime time
Lots of giggles and silly behaviour are part of what makes this New Year’s Eve game so much fun. You can work as individuals or in teams. All you need for charades are pieces of paper, pens and a small box or bag. Everyone writes down what they want to act out on their paper. To make it easier, you can agree on certain genres beforehand: for example, professions, films, or celebrities. Then you take it in turns to act out what you wrote down and see how quick the other teams can guess.
Simple New Year’s Eve games: Sinking battleships using pizza boxes
This is a version of the classic ‘Battleships’ game. If you’re just a small group, then you can organise a ‘sinking battleships’ tournament to find the overall winner. Old pizza boxes will give you have a nice big playing field to make your New Year’s Eve fun. Of course, you can also use shot glasses instead of crosses and turn it into a New Year’s Eve drinking game.
Traditional New Year’s Eve game: Who am I?
‘Who am I?’ is an essential part of a New Year’s Eve party because it’s so easy to organise. Sit in a circle and each player receives a sticky note and a pen. Next everyone thinks of a character or famous person and the person sitting next to them must guess who they are. They can be actors, cartoon characters, or even fairy tale characters. Then everyone sticks the labelled piece of paper on their neighbour’s forehead. The aim is to guess one’s own character by asking clever yes or no questions.
Games for New Year’s Eve: Pimp your outfit
For this New Year’s Eve game, you have to collect as many accessories as possible in a big bag beforehand. Clothes like Ugly Christmas Sweaters or masks and wigs are great items for this New Year’s Eve game. Sit down at a table and place the bag in the middle. Each player takes turns rolling the dice. Whoever rolls a 6 or a 1 must blindly reach into the bag and put on whatever they can grab. In no time at all, everyone will be dressed up in fun accessories that will make your outfits unforgettable and perfect for those party photos.
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Don't forget...
Create a photo corner for your party. All you need to do is decorate the background and add some fun accessories such as party hats, glasses, or masks. This will create great photos that will capture your memories forever.
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Challenging New Year’s Eve games: The category game
A nice and quick pen-and-paper game for large groups is the category game. You don’t have to use the traditional categories, but you can come up with new ones in a New Year’s Eve theme: for example, ‘New Year’s resolution’, ‘This happens at 0 o’clock’ or ‘Embarrassing party moment’. If you’re having a themed party, you can probably come up with some aropriate catchphrases. It’s a sure way to start the new year laughing and in a good mood.
Family New Year’s Eve games: My favourite moments of the past year
This New Year’s Eve game is very quick to prepare. It is a great game if you are celebrating New Year’s Eve with the whole family and/or inviting good friends. First, hand out small notes and a pen to your party guests. Now everyone writes a question on their notes. For example: ‘What did you enjoy the most last year?’, ‘What was your favourite day?’ or ‘What would you have done differently?’ Then the slips of paper are shuffled and drawn one after the other. Take turns answering the questions and learn something about each other.
Funny party game for New Year’s Eve: Pass the hat
In this game for your New Year’s Eve party, all you need is a hat from your cupboard and you’re ready to go. Your party guests sit down in a circle and try to pass the hat around. The catch is that you are not allowed to use your hands. It’s an opportunity for creativity and contortionism. Each player has 2 attempts each round to pass on the New Year’s Eve hat. Whoever fails or uses their hands is out of the game. Who will be the last to pass the hat and win? Give it a go and find out.
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