On New Year's Eve the hours before midnight are the hard part. These games fill them. The phone games have questions about the year behind you and the one ahead, and the classic games work for a living room full of friends or a family with kids trying to stay awake.
Several of them work for an early countdown with kids as well as for the real one.
1. Charades
Players: 4 or moreAges: 6 and upYou need: slips of paper, a pen, a bowl and a timer
- Everyone writes New Year's Eve words or phrases on slips of paper and folds them into the bowl.
- Split into two teams. One player draws a slip and acts it out without speaking or pointing at objects.
- Their team has one minute to guess. A correct guess scores a point.
- Teams take turns until the bowl is empty. The team with more points wins.
With young kids, let the actor make sounds and leave the timer off.
2. Fishbowl
Players: 6 or moreAges: 10 and upYou need: slips of paper, pens, a bowl and a timer
- Each player writes three things from the past year on separate slips: people everyone here knows, movies, songs or family events.
- Split into two teams. In round one, a player has one minute to get their team to guess as many slips as possible, using any words except the ones written down.
- When the bowl is empty, count each team's slips and put them all back.
- Round two allows one word per slip. Round three allows only acting.
- The team with the most slips after three rounds wins.
Use the same slips in every round. By round three the group knows them, so a single gesture is often enough.
3. Two truths and a lie
Players: 3 or moreAges: 8 and upYou need: nothing
- One player says three things about themselves. Two are true and one is made up.
- Everyone else votes on which one is the lie.
- The player reveals the answer, and each person who guessed right scores a point.
- Go around the room until everyone has had a turn.
For New Year's Eve, limit the statements to things that happened this year. You can also play two resolutions and a lie, where one of the three is a resolution the player has no plan to keep.
4. Guess the resolution
Players: 5 or moreAges: 8 and upYou need: paper, pens and a bowl
- Everyone writes one resolution on a slip of paper without showing it, then folds it into the bowl.
- One person reads the slips aloud, one at a time.
- After each slip the group guesses who wrote it. The writer stays quiet until the guessing ends.
- Give a point for each correct guess, or leave out the scoring and play for laughs.
Ask everyone to print in capital letters so the reader cannot recognize the handwriting.
5. Countdown balloons
Players: 2 or moreAges: 3 and upYou need: balloons, paper slips, a marker and a pin
- Before the party, write one small activity on each slip, such as a dance break or a round of hide and seek.
- Push a slip into each balloon, blow it up and write a time on it. Make one balloon for each hour or half hour until your midnight.
- When the clock reaches a balloon's time, a child pops it and the group does the activity inside.
- The last balloon holds the countdown.
For young kids, set the last balloon for 8 p.m. and count down to an early midnight. Noon works too.
6. Freeze dance
Players: 3 or moreAges: 3 and upYou need: music and one person to pause it
- One person controls the music while everyone else dances.
- When the music stops, the dancers freeze in place.
- Anyone who moves or wobbles is out and helps watch for movers in the next round.
- The last dancer left wins.
Call out a pose before each stop, such as a firework or a clock striking twelve, and the dancers have to freeze in it.
7. Musical chairs
Players: 5 or moreAges: 4 and upYou need: sturdy chairs and music
- Set the chairs in a circle facing outward, one fewer than the number of players.
- Players walk around the chairs while the music plays.
- When the music stops, everyone sits. The player left standing is out.
- Remove one chair and play again until two players circle one chair. Whoever sits on it wins.
With small kids, put cushions on the floor in place of chairs so nobody gets knocked off a seat.
8. Pass the parcel
Players: 4 or moreAges: 3 and upYou need: a small prize, wrapping paper and music
- Before the party, wrap a small prize in many layers of paper. You can put a sweet or a party hat between the layers.
- Players sit in a circle and pass the parcel around while the music plays.
- When the music stops, the player holding the parcel takes off one layer.
- Whoever removes the last layer keeps the prize.
Tuck a question about the year between the layers, such as "What was your best day?", for the unwrapper to answer.
9. Keep the balloon up
Players: 2 or moreAges: 4 and upYou need: one balloon and some open floor
- Move breakable things out of the way and toss a balloon in the air.
- Players tap it to keep it off the floor. Nobody may hit it twice in a row.
- Count the taps out loud. When the balloon lands, start again and try to beat your record.
Count down from 20 with each tap. If the group reaches zero before the balloon lands, everyone shouts "Happy New Year".
10. Who am I?
Players: 4 or moreAges: 7 and upYou need: sticky notes and a pen
- Each player writes a famous person, character or animal on a sticky note and sticks it on another player's forehead without showing them.
- Take turns asking the group yes or no questions about who you are.
- A yes earns another question. A no passes the turn to the next player.
- Play until everyone has guessed their note.
For a New Year's Eve round, write things from the party itself: the clock, a party horn, the host.
11. Party bingo
Players: 4 or moreAges: 6 and upYou need: handmade bingo cards and pens
- Before the party, draw a grid of five by five squares for each guest. Fill the squares with things likely to happen tonight, such as someone yawning or a balloon popping.
- Put the squares in a different order on each card.
- Guests cross off a square when they see or hear that thing happen.
- The first person to cross off five in a row shouts "Bingo" and wins.
Leave a few squares blank and let guests write in their own predictions when they arrive.
12. Time capsule predictions
Players: 2 or moreAges: 6 and upYou need: paper, pens and a jar or envelope
- Everyone writes three predictions for the coming year: one about themselves, one about someone else in the room and one about the world.
- Sign the papers and seal them in the jar without reading them aloud.
- Store the jar with the holiday decorations so you find it next December.
- Next New Year's Eve, open the jar and read the predictions aloud. Each one that came true scores a point.
Younger kids can draw their predictions. Write a caption on the back so you can tell a year later what the drawing meant.
13. Werewolf
Players: 7 or moreAges: 10 and upYou need: slips of paper or playing cards to deal secret roles
- One person is the narrator and secretly deals the roles: two werewolves, one seer, and villagers for everyone else.
- At night all players close their eyes. The werewolves open theirs and silently pick a villager to remove. Then the seer wakes alone and points at one player, and the narrator signals whether that player is a werewolf.
- By day everyone opens their eyes, learns who was removed and argues about who the werewolves are. The group votes one player out.
- Repeat night and day. The villagers win when both werewolves are out. The werewolves win when they equal the villagers in number.
A game runs about 20 to 30 minutes, so two games fill the slow hour before midnight. With more than 12 players, add a third werewolf.
14. Year in review quiz
Players: 4 or moreAges: 10 and upYou need: paper, pens and questions written by the host
- Before the party, the host writes 10 to 20 questions about the group's own year, like "Who moved house in spring?" or "Which movie did we all watch on the summer trip?"
- Split into teams of two or three and give each team paper and a pen.
- The host reads each question twice and the teams write their answers.
- Swap papers to mark them. The team with the most correct answers wins.
Ask each guest to hand you one question about themselves when they arrive, so the host is not the only person who knows the answers.
Open one, pick who's playing, and pass the phone around. Each has its own New Year's Eve list.
Updated November 2026.