Simple and fun New Year party games

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

For those who do not want to spend the New Year's holidays eating salads in front of the TV, Lifehacker has made a selection of simple and fun games. They are suitable for both friendly parties, corporate events and family gatherings.

Stalker sticker

Love Stalker? You can tickle your nerves not only at abandoned military-industrial facilities, but also at a party. This game is perfect for a company of close friends, and for an unfamiliar team.

Materials (edit)

Stickers (for example, in the form of snowflakes) - 5-10 pieces for each participant.

Players' challenge

Get rid of stickers.

rules

Distribute stickers to guests. You have to glue your stickers to other players' clothes and bodies, but without them noticing. If you are spotted, then the sticker that you failed to attach will end up on you. The winner is the one who gets rid of all the stickers first.

White elephant

- What are you pinned, what kind of fool is this?

- It's not a fool, it's a horse!

- Not a fig for yourself a present, well, a present … such a huge fool.

- You yourself are a fool, it's a horse.

- Well, where am I going to put her, such a fool? You could have pinned the carousel … Okay, like, thanks. m / f "Masyanya"

One of the kings of Siam was a cunning fellow. He gave a white elephant to noble, but unsympathetic people to him. The catch is that white elephants in the Thai region were considered sacred - they could not be worked on. Since then, the white elephant has symbolized an expensive, pompous, but impractical, and sometimes burdensome gift.

The eponymous New Year's game is a variation of Secret Santa. The only task is not to guess the desire of a friend, but rather to surprise him …:)

Materials (edit)

Present. It can be either new things (then discuss the budget in advance), or used ones (unnecessary, but it's a pity to throw it away).

Examples:

• collected works of Daria Dontsova;
• egg cutter;
• 1974 deer tapestry (original) and so on.

Players' challenge

"Make" your friend happy with your gift and "steal" yourself a bearable present.

rules

Place all gifts (preferably well-wrapped) in a common bag. Announce an exchange of gifts at an opportune moment in the evening. Number the guests. The first participant takes the gift out of the bag and unpacks it. This is one round of the game. Then the next lucky player gets his prize or steals it from the previous player. In this case, the person from whom the gift was stolen can take a new one from the bag or, if more than three rounds have been played, steal it from one of the participants.

There are two “no's” regarding gift “stealing”:

• you cannot steal a gift that has just been stolen from you - you need to wait at least one round;
• you cannot steal more than one gift per round.

Read about all the subtleties of the "White Elephant" and variations of the game.

Shine Christmas tree

Both children and adults love to decorate the Christmas tree. But it's one thing to dress up quietly, at home, with toys, garlands and tinsel, and another thing - at a party, race and don't understand what. This game will amuse participants and spectators. You can sing "… and now she came to us dressed up for a holiday" and take pictures with the original Christmas tree.

Materials (edit)

• Two small Christmas trees (artificial or live).
• Items that are theoretically not intended for decorating the Christmas tree. For example, a sock, ballpoint pen, stuffed toy, and so on.

Players' challenge

Show your imagination and decorate the tree with the proposed "decorations".

rules

The game can be built on the principle of a duel, or you can divide the participants into two teams and compete collectively. Determine the time for which the players (teams) must submit their tree design. To dress up it was more fun, pick up incendiary music. The winner is the one (those) who decorate the prickly beauty in the most original way.

Tarantines

One was played by gluing pieces of paper on the forehead and guessing who is who. Since then, this fun, known under the names "Who am I?", "I am a character", has a new name - "Tarantinki". But whatever you call it, the game is fun and addicting.

Materials (edit)

• Stickers.
• Pens.
• Violent imagination.

Players' challenge

Guess which character you are.

rules

The players form a circle and come up with a character for the neighbor to the right (or to the left - as they like). A character can be a hero of a book or a movie, a well-known historical or living person. To give the game a New Year's flavor, agree that the characters will be appropriate: Snow Maiden, Rudolph the deer, Peter the First (the founder of the modern New Year), and so on. Write the name of the hidden character on a sticker and stick it on your neighbor's forehead.

Then take turns asking questions about your characters. "Am I human?", "Am I male?", "Do I have horns?" and the like. The rest of the players can only answer "yes" or "no", so it is important to formulate the questions correctly. The game continues until everyone is declassified.

Ice cubes

In Andersen's tale, a fragment of a magic mirror hit Kai in the heart and made him cold and insensitive. To prevent the spell of the Snow Queen from touching you, play this fun outdoor game.

Materials (edit)

• Ice cubes (the larger the size, the harder it is).
• Stopwatch.

Players' challenge

Melt ice cubes.

rules

You can choose two players and play several rounds, or you can compete in teams. The essence in both cases is the same: melt the ice in the allotted time (3-5 minutes - depending on the size of the cube). How? All means are good! Breathe on it, rub between your palms, tuck it under your clothes. The only restriction is that you cannot prick and melt with a lighter. The winner is the one who turns ice into water first.

New Year's forfeits

Translated from German "forfeit" means "bail". The game, where the participants gave some thing, and then "bought back" it, completing the task, they knew and loved back in the 19th century. Over the years, the game has acquired many variations. One of them is New Year's.

Materials (edit)

• A hat or bag for forfeits.
• Cards with tasks.

Players' challenge

Perform your fant.

rules

Players put one personal item at a time in a hat or bag. Then the presenter takes out these items in turn. The participant, whose phantom fell, must draw out a card with a task for himself and complete it. The assignments should be New Year's. For example, to depict the chiming clock, to sing the song "A Christmas tree was born in the forest" or to tell a poem about Santa Claus.

Drawing

Many people know and love the game "Crocodile", or in other words "Association". "Draw" (in English-speaking countries - Pictionary) is its analogue. This is a fun creative game that is best played with a large company.

Materials (edit)

• Drawing boards or paper.
• Markers.
• Cards with tasks.

Players' challenge

Guess what a player on your team is drawing.

rules

Prepare task cards. For a New Year's party, they can be like this: ice, Olivier salad, cotton wool beard, and so on. Divide into two teams. From each, choose the "artists" in turn. They have to draw what is written on the card. The task of the team is to guess the "code word" faster than the opponents. The team that guesses the most words wins.

Letter to Santa Claus

In childhood, everyone lied, told Santa Claus how well they behaved, and asked for gifts. This game will help you remember this children's fun. It is short and can be held right at the festive table.

Materials (edit)

Form with a letter to Santa Claus.

Players' challenge

Coming up with intricate adjectives.

rules

The legend is this: the host (hostess) of the evening wrote a letter to Santa Claus, but did not finish it. Guests need to help him (her) with this - add adjectives to the message. The text of the letter can be thought up specially for the assembled company. Something like this:

_ Santa Claus!

All _ guests are looking forward to your _ arrival. Our _ women and at least _ men gathered to spend the old year, which brought many _ events to everyone. New Year is the most _ holiday of the year. With _ mood we will say _ toasts, lead _ round dances for you, dance _ dances! The _ New Year is finally coming!

After writing the missing words, the letter is solemnly read out to the guests. The more extravagant the adjectives, the funnier it will turn out.

New Year's "Mafia"

"Mafia" is a youth role-playing game. In recent years, it has become so popular that tournaments are even held on it. If your friends love to "hunt criminals", invite them to play "Mafia" in the New Year's manner.

Materials (edit)

Cards with New Year characters:

• presenter - a New Year tree;
• Commissioner - Santa Claus;
• doctor - Snowman;
• maniac - squirrel;
• girl - Snow Maiden;
• mafia - penguins;
• civilians are deer.

Players' challenge

Save the life of the deer and track down all the penguins.

rules

Before the party, you will have to do a little tinkering - to make cards for the New Year's "Mafia". With a color printer, internet, cardboard and glue, this is not a problem. The game itself is played according to the classic rules. Only the commands need to be adapted: "The city falls asleep, the penguins wake up …".

Snow woman

This is an active outdoor game. She will take you back to childhood and burn the calories you gained during the New Year's feast. The number and age of players is not limited.

Materials (edit)

• Snow (preferably sticky and a lot).
• Carrots, buckets, mittens and other attributes of a snow woman or snowman.

Players' challenge

Blind the snow woman. To make it more interesting, you can complicate it: mold the largest snow woman.

rules

Divide into two teams. Set a time to make a snowman. Have fun!

All adults were children at first, only few of them remember this. The little Prince

What do you play at New Year's parties? Share your holiday ideas in the comments.