The best New Year's Eve party games for adults come in three sizes: quick icebreakers while people arrive, one main event that fills the hours before midnight, and a small ritual at the stroke of twelve. Most parties have the first and the last and nothing in between, which is why they sag at 10:30. Below are the games, then a plan for the night.
Icebreakers for the first hour
Keep these short, no setup, playable with a drink in one hand.
- Resolution guessing. Everyone writes one resolution on a card, anonymously. Read them out one at a time; the room guesses who wrote each.
- Two truths and a lie, this year's edition. Three things that happened to you this year. One is false.
- Predictions for next year. Everyone writes three predictions about the group ("Sam moves house", "someone gets a dog"). Seal them in an envelope to open next New Year's Eve.
- Who said it? The host collects quotes from the group chat this year. Read them out; guess the author.
A main event for the middle of the night
This is the part most hosts skip. Pick one and give it 90 minutes to two hours, starting before ten.
Year-in-review trivia. The host writes 15 to 20 questions about the year: news, films, songs and, best of all, the group's own year. Teams of three or four, answers on paper, scores read out at 11:30.
Charades or "heads up" with the year's films and songs. Write titles on slips beforehand. Teams take turns against a one-minute timer.
A blind sparkling wine tasting. Four bottles at different prices, in paper bags, numbered. Everyone ranks them, then you reveal which was which.
A murder mystery that ends at midnight. Everyone gets a character a few days ahead and arrives in costume. Three rounds of questions, secrets and clues fill the evening, the vote opens at a quarter to twelve, and the killer is revealed as the year turns. It gives the night a story and a finale. A masked-ball mystery works especially well, because the whole room can unmask at midnight. More on the masks: masquerade party ideas.
Rituals for midnight
- The countdown, obviously, ideally on a TV with a live broadcast so nobody argues about the time.
- An unmasking, if guests came masked.
- Time-capsule letters. Everyone writes a short letter to themselves. Seal them; hand them back next year.
- Balloons with prompts. Fill balloons with slips of paper ("toast the person on your left", "tell us your best moment of the year") and pop one each at midnight.
Time-zone toasts
If the party starts early, toast each new year as it arrives somewhere else. Here is when midnight lands in other places if you are on US Eastern time. Subtract an hour for Central, three for Pacific.
| Midnight in | US Eastern time |
|---|---|
| Sydney | 8:00 am |
| Tokyo | 10:00 am |
| Paris, Berlin, Rome | 6:00 pm |
| London | 7:00 pm |
| Rio de Janeiro | 10:00 pm |
| New York | 12:00 midnight |
London at 7 pm makes a good start for a dinner party. Toast with whatever you are serving.
A plan for the night
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 8:00 | Guests arrive. Drinks, food, resolution guessing. |
| 9:00 | Dinner or a buffet. Two truths and a lie at the table. |
| 9:45 | Main event begins: Round 1 of the mystery, or the first trivia round. |
| 10:20 | Round 2. Refill drinks. |
| 10:55 | Round 3. |
| 11:45 | The vote, or the final trivia scores. |
| 11:58 | Countdown on the TV. |
| 12:00 | Unmask, toast, reveal the killer. Time-capsule letters. |
For 20 or more guests, run the main event in two rooms, or seat two people on each character. Our large group guide has both.
With Sleuth Night
Our Murder at the Masquerade is built for this night. It is a masked ball in Venice in 1888 where nobody unmasks until the killer is named, so if you time the vote for 11:45, your guests take their masks off at midnight. It plays 6 to 14 guests, about two hours: three rounds of 20 to 30 minutes, then the vote and the reveal. Each guest gets a private link with their character on their phone, the clues show on your TV, and the host plays too. There is nothing to print or ship in the week between Christmas and New Year. Setting up is free and you pay $29 when you press Start Round 1. For a group of 12 players or 8 players, see those pages, or read more on the New Year's Eve murder mystery party page.