Kiss the year goodbye and welcome in the new one with a celebratory gathering to remember!
With Christmas right around the corner, holiday gatherings full of food and games are happening more frequently now than at any other time of year. People are cleaning and decluttering to make room for decorations to be placed throughout the house and for guests to be welcomed by the dozen. This is especially true as we turn our eyes towards the biggest party evening of all — New Year’s Eve. As you can imagine, people are already planning how they will spend the exciting night. So if you’re looking for some unique inspiration, check out these exciting party game ideas and activities that are sure to give your guests an unforgettable entrance into the New Year.
2020 memories and stories with prompt cards
For this game, guests will close their eyes and reach their hands into a bowl filled with prompt cards. These cards will have various sentences written on them such as “Tell us about the best place you visited in 2020” or “Recount a time from this year when you were at your happiest,” and people will have to go around the room answering the request on their paper.
This is not only a great way to retell special moments or events from the year, but also to hear funny or silly stories from your other guests. If you want to spice it up a bit, you can add specific requests for specific people. For example, “Johnny: tell the room about that time this year when you……” Just make sure that you won’t embarrass anyone too much in the process.
New Year’s themed poker tournament
What better way to entertain your guests than with a New Year’s Eve themed poker tournament full of competition and strategy? Transform your space into a glamorous venue with casino-styled decorations and centerpieces, setting the scene for a realistic gaming environment.
If some of your guests have experience with the game while others are only beginners, you may want to divide into two groups for separate tournaments based on skill level. You’ll also need to decide the type of poker you want to play as the game has many variants besides Texas Hold’em such as Omaha, Seven Card Stud, and Five Card Draw. For the beginner table, you can even give your first-time players a crash course in the different types of poker hands that are unique and special depending on the variant. Once they are equipped with enough general knowledge, appoint a designated dealer and begin your first tournament. Make sure to set limits on how much players can win or lose so that everyone enjoys themselves.
New Year’s resolutions guessing game
In a similar way to the prompt-style game, you can play a New Year’s resolution guessing game amongst your guests. Because most people normally have at least one or two goals for a fresh year, get everyone to write down their own personal resolutions on a sheet of paper and then drop them into a bowl. Shuffle the papers around and have each person take out a slip and guess which resolution belongs to which person. Obviously, this is much better if everyone in the group knows each other well, but even if you have just met for the first time, perhaps you will be able to guess more accurately than you think!
Whether or not you follow through with them, most people set some form of resolutions before the beginning of a new year
Trivia games from the year’s events
Another fun and engaging game activity for everyone involved, New Years Eve trivia will test your guests’ knowledge of 2020 by asking questions concerning the year’s main events. Topics can include politics, music, film, social media, sports, celebrity news, world events, and more. Divide into teams and see who can remember the most facts. If you’d rather do trivia that centers more around the actual evening rather than the entire year, New Year’s Eve focused trivia can also be a fun way to see how much your guests know about the night’s culture in other parts of the world.