New Year's Eve party games

Games to fill the hours before midnight, with a family section and a grown-ups section. No drinking games needed.

Pick two or three, space them out, and save the best one for the last hour. Each game has one line on how to play and what you need.

Before the party

Decide whether you're counting down at real midnight or an early "kids' midnight."
Print ballots and cards, and have pens and envelopes ready.
Queue up a countdown on the TV or a phone so nobody misses it.

Year-in-review charades. Act out something that happened to your family this year while everyone guesses. Need: slips of paper, a bowl.
Balloon countdown. Put a small task or joke inside each balloon and pop one every hour until midnight. Need: balloons, paper slips.
Resolution guess. Everyone writes a resolution anonymously; read them out and guess who wrote each. Need: paper, pens, a hat.
New Year's bingo. Mark off party moments (someone yawns, confetti, "Happy New Year!"). Need: bingo cards, pens.
Time capsule. Each person writes a favorite memory and a wish for next year, then seal it to open next New Year's Eve. Need: paper, an envelope or jar.
Noon or early countdown. Count down to an early midnight so younger kids get the moment too. Need: a timer, noisemakers.

Countdown challenges. Starting at 11 PM, draw a quick challenge card every 10 minutes; winners collect tokens. Need: challenge cards, tokens.
Prediction ballots. Everyone predicts next year for themselves and the group, then seal the ballots to open next December. Need: ballots, envelopes.
This year trivia. The host reads questions about the past year's news, movies, and music; teams write answers. Need: question list, paper, pens.
Two truths and a lie: this year edition. Share three things that happened to you this year; the room guesses the lie. Need: nothing.
Who said it? Collect funny quotes from guests' year ahead of time and have everyone guess who said each one. Need: a list of quotes.
Best-and-worst of the year. Go around the room with one best moment and one "never again." Need: nothing.

The ball drop. The Times Square ball has marked midnight in New York since the end of 1907. Put it on the TV for the final countdown.
"Auld Lang Syne." Robert Burns wrote down the Scottish song in 1788, and it became the American midnight song through Guy Lombardo's New Year's broadcasts starting in 1929. Print the lyrics so everyone can sing along.
Twelve grapes. In Spain, people eat one grape for each chime at midnight for good luck. Cut grapes for small children.

That's it. Print the cards, set the countdown, and ring in the new year.