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We usually allow our kids to throw a New Year's party which includes tons of fun games. Not only does this create lasting memories, but it also promotes clean and safe fun for our teens.
COVID precautions might prevent you from having a large party, but you can still have a "party" with your family and some New Year's themed and silly games. These games can be played with elementary school-aged children through adults.
I posted a plan of what we've done before here....https://brunkle1990.wixsite.com/website-3/post/new-year-s-party-with-countdown-balloons
This year, we've got 8 games planned. Here are the games we are going to play - most of which have New Year's themes:
1) Don’t Look Back, Just "A Head"
Supplies: Cotton balls and New Year’s Eve party hats
How to Play: Give one player a bag of cotton balls and give the other player (from the same team) a New Year’s Eve party hat. For the game, player 1 must stand behind player 2 and toss cotton balls over player 2’s head. Player 2 must try to catch the cotton balls without turning around and looking back and their teammate, just by stretching and reaching to catch the cotton balls. First team to catch five first wins.
The other team player is standing behind me and tossing the cotton balls over my head to try to land them in the party hat.
2) Midnight Kiss
Supplies: Chocolate kisses, Sharpie marker
How to Play: Before the party, write 12:00 (or midnight) on the bottom of 5 Hershey’s kisses. For this game, lay out 50 chocolate kisses, including the five with the 12:00 on the bottom, on a table with the bottoms facing down. Player must go through and select one kiss at a time, trying to find one with a 12:00 on the bottom. If it has a 12:00, they are done. If it doesn’t have a 12:00, player must eat the chocolate kiss before choosing another. Allow each participant to search for one minute before changing players.
Write 12:00 on 5 of the kisses.
3) Noise-Maker Blow
Supplies: New Year’s Eve noisemakers, black-eyed peas, table
How to Play: Player must use just a New Year’s Eve noisemaker/blower to blow a dried black eyed pea from one end of a table to the other. First person to knock off their black-eyed pea wins. To make the game more of a team competition, make it a relay race where team members take turns after completing one length of the table - have the next player in line blow the black-eyed pea back to the next side.
Blow the black-eyed pea with the noise maker blower. To make it a relay race, the next team player should blow the pea back across the table and so on.
4) Chubby Bunny
Supplies: Marshmallows, large bowl for each team
How to Play: Participants take turns placing marshmallows in their mouths and saying the phrase, “Chubby Bunny.” Player who can no longer say the phrase intelligibly are eliminated from the round. The last player remaining is the winner. Rules: If a player spits out a marshmallow, they are eliminated from the game. Players may not chew the marshmallow, eat, them or swallow them whole or they are disqualified. Players may not rearrange marshmallows in their mouths with their fingers.
Chubby Bunny is a favorite game of my teenagers.
5) Saran Wrap Ball Game
Supplies: Several rolls of saran wrap, small gifts to roll in the ball (candy, lottery tickets, $1 bill), pair of dice
How to Play: Prior to the party, use several rolls of saran wrap to load a saran wrap ball with small gifts. It works best if one person holds the ends of the saran wrap while another person wraps. When making the ball, use separate pieces of saran wrap every several feels and go every which way with the pipes to make unraveling more challenging. With a large group, try using two large balls and start hem on opposite ends of one another. To begin play, have one person unwrap while the person on their right rolls a pair of dice, trying to roll doubles. Once doubles are rolled, the ball is passed to the next player and the sequence begins again. The person with the saran wrap ball doesn’t stop unwrapping until the person to the right rolls doubles. This creates suspense and adds urgency to the game. Each player gets to keep whatever treasure falls out of the saran wrap when it their turn to unwrap. Roll the dice to see who starts the game - for example, the first person to roll a six starts the game. To make the game more complicated, wear winter gloves or oven mitts while unwrapping the ball.
Making the Saran Wrap Ball by wrapping candy prizes in multiple layers.
Don't forget to change directions often to make it harder.
The completed Saran Wrap ball.
6) Candy Cane Drop
Supplies: Several boxes of candy canes, two chairs, string, towel
How to play: Tie a string between two chairs, similar to a clothesline. Fold a towel and put it underneath to cushion the candy canes when they fall. Player stands on a chair. Player has one minute to drop as many candy canes as they can and have them hook on the string.
Participants stand on the chairs and compete to see who can drop more of the candy canes onto the string.
7) Homemade Tele-strations
Supplies: Several paper squares, cut in about 3 by 5 sizes, enough for each player of the game. Pens
How to play: Have each participant write a word or phrase on a piece of paper and then turn the paper over and place the words in a stack, passing to the right. The first person in line, grabs the stack, looks at the first word or phrase and places the word at the back of the stack and on a new sheet of paper, draws what they believe represents that word or phrase. After completing their drawing, the whole stack is passed to the next person who looks at the drawing and places it at the back of the stack. Then, on a new sheet, they write a word or phrase to represent that they think the drawing represents. This keeps going around the team, back and forth between word/phrase and drawing until the original word makes it back to the writer. There is no winner, just lots of giggles as you see how much the word/phrase changed throughout the game.
8) Human Christmas Tree Competition
Supplies: Red and green crepe paper streamers, non-breakable Christmas balls, and a large yellow paper star - one piece of tape (only) to be used for the star
How to play: Choose one person to be the human Christmas tree. The player or team has one minute to wrap the “tree” in streamers and decorate with ornaments and/or stick on bows and the star. Judges determine the best tree.
Red & Green Streamers will make this look more like a tree.
For some added fun, add ornaments or stick on bows and a star.
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