New Year’s Game Ideas

Challenge your guests to write a short resume from the previous year and like most real resumes it will not all be truthful. Last Year’s Bogus Resume is a great way to get guests talking about what has been going on in their lives the past year as the new year approaches.

The Set Up: It is time for the guests to write their resumes. Provide slips of paper and pens for each New Years Eve party guest. Ask them to write down their name, two true things about themselves that took place that year(the previous 365 days) as well as one lie. The truths and the lie should be something surprising, bizarre or interesting that the other party guests would not expect. Keep the answers short and to the point, any extra information will help the other guests. For example; “I met a Russian pop star” or “I ate chocolate covered crickets”.

People often draw a blank when trying to think of interesting truths so here are a few suggestions you can share with them to hopefully inspire an idea:

Once everyone is done have them fold their resumes and place them in a bowl.

The Rules: Draw one of the resumes from the bowl and read all three statements aloud. Have each guest write down who they think wrote that resume(just for fun, no points awarded). Once they are done, reveal the true author who will then read aloud all three statements again and ask the guests to write down the one they think is a lie. Correct guesses earn two points and incorrect guesses are one point each for the author. Once all of the business of the game is complete the author explains the truths and tells any funny or interesting associated stories.

When the discussion slows down, draw another resume from the bowl and repeat the process. When the bowl is empty and all of the resumes have been read, the person with the most points is declared the winner.

Allow Plenty of Time: Be aware that this is not a quick game. The set up will take around ten minutes and you should expect an additional five minutes per player for each round. The payoff is easily worth the time and effort since the stories your guests tell about their truths can be the highlight of the party.

If you have a sharp and focused group of players this game can last a surprisingly long time. Try to keep the pace of play rapid, sometimes guests will take forever trying to get it right.

The Set Up: Have your guests sit in a circle in a large open area and select a random player to start.

The Rules: The first player will say, “My New Year’s resolution is __________” filling in the blank with whatever resolution they choose. It can be realistic like “to lose weight” or outrageous like “to become President of the United States”. For purposes of example the first person said ”to lose weight”. The person to the left of the starter(clockwise) goes next. They will say, ” My New Year’s resolution is to lose weight or __________” filling in the blank with whatever they choose. The third person would say the entire phrase including both of the previous answers(in order) and add a third.

This continues moving left around the circle with each person repeating what the previous person said and adding an additional New Year’s resolution until someone forgets a previous resolution, messes up the order or in some way makes a mistake. That person is out and leaves the circle. The person to the left of the person that is now out starts the game over again from scratch. Continue playing and eliminating players until only one person remains. That person is a very deserving winner.

If the Game is Taking Too Long: Sometimes this game can bog down with guests taking long turns. If your game starts to slow down or even from the very beginning you can add a five second rule. So if any player on their turn goes for more than 5 seconds without adding to the list they are eliminated.

This game is an excellent choice to lead off your New Year’s Eve party. Since you play it passively throughout the event, it is a good idea to start it as soon as possible.

The Set Up: The first thing to do is to select a taboo word, meaning a word(or short phrase) your guests are not allowed to say. The most obvious choice is “New Year” which will work just fine, but if you wish you can choose another word like eve, resolution, midnight, or anything you wish that is likely to be said frequently at your party. Now you need tokens. Clothespins are commonly used since they are easy to clip onto and remove from clothing without doing any damage.

The Rules: To start the game inform all of your guests of the taboo word. Give them each a token and explain to them that whenever they say the taboo word they will lose their token to the first player to call them out. Now start the game. If Aunt Sue accidently says the taboo word and Cousin Earl is the first to point out her mistake, then Aunt Sue must give Cousin Earl her token. Now Sue has no tokens and Earl has two tokens. The only way for Aunt Sue to get a token back is to be the first to call out someone else when they say the taboo word.

The game continues throughout the party until a predetermined time close to the end when the game is called to a halt. The person who has the most tokens at the close of the game is declared the winner and gets a prize.

Craft Option: You can add silver or gold ribbons, stickers, paint or anything else you can imagine to your tokens. Since guests will be wearing them throughout the party , many people choose to fancy them up.

New Years as a holiday does not offer a lot for kids. Christmas has Santa, Easter has a bunny, Halloween has costumes and trick or treating but New Year’s Eve has a ball dropping well past the bedtime of most children. That does not sounds like much fun to a kid. If there are going to be children at your party, it is a good idea to make a Kidzone away from main party activities. Board games are a great addition to your Kidzone, but instead of just letting them play set up a tournament that will raise the stakes to keep them interested and having fun.

The Set Up: Start off by seeing what board games you have in your home. You want to make sure that each game is complete and has all of its pieces to ensure that it will be wholly playable. If you are short on age appropriate games ask some of your guests that have kids coming to bring board games that they know the kids will enjoy. Set up your Kidzone with the board games in a quiet area where the kids can have their fun without all the distractions from the adult party.

The Rules: Award one point for every player in a game to each kid(win or lose). So if four kids play a game of Candy Land they are guaranteed at least four points for that game. The winner is given additional points that are based on the average time it takes to play the game. Award one point per ten minutes of expected playing time. For example, Chutes and Ladders has a stated play time of 15-45 minutes. Average that to 30 minutes and the winner of a game of Chutes and Ladders gets an additional three points. The expected play times are usually on the board game box but can be found online if you cannot find it on the box.

If you have a lot of kids there could be multiple games going on at the same time and score keeping might become difficult for them to do on their own. If you have some older kids playing they can help with the score keeping, if not have an adult check in with kids from time to time to assist with keeping track of the points. Near the end of the party stop the tournament and the person with the most points is declared the board game champion and gets a prize.

Suggested Games: Candy Land, Sorry, Chutes and Ladders, Connect Four, Clue Jr., Scrabble Jr.

Resolutions are what a person wants to change about themselves or their lives. Learning the resolutions that other people are making spices up your New Year’s Eve party as the guest socialize and learn more about each other.

The Set Up: Give each of your guests a small piece of paper and a pen. Have them write down their resolution for the new year, keeping it hidden from the other guests. Ask them to omit any specific information from their resolution that would make the guessing easy, for example instead of “I resolve to spend more time with my wife Brenda” they should write “I resolve to spend more time with my spouse.” Once they are done, gather up the resolutions, put them in a bowl and give each of the guests a clean sheet of paper.

The Rules: Pull a resolution from the bowl and label it as #1. Read the first resolution out loud and instruct your party guests mark it as #1 and write down which guest they think made that resolution. Continue with the process for #2, #3, etc… until you have read them all and all guests have completed their answers.

Now go back to the first resolution and reread it to the group. The person who wrote it should reveal themselves as the author and give a short explanation as to why they picked that as their resolution. Anyone who accurately picked the right person gets one point and the game continues. Once you have finished with them all the person who has the most points is the winner.