Guide · New Year’s Eve

15 New Year’s Eve party games.Photo challenges and ideas until after midnight, ready to print.

People take lots of photos on New Year’s Eve, but mostly from ten to twelve onwards: the countdown, the fireworks, blurry hugs. The evening before disappears into everyone’s phones. Small photo challenges give the party a programme that runs alongside everything else, from arrivals and the year in review to resolutions. They work for adults, for families with children and for ten guests as well as forty. Here are 15 ideas in five rounds, to print, to play for points or to add straight to your album as moments.

· 5 min read

How to use the games with bleibt

  1. 01

    Create the album. Choose a title, the date and a look for the night, such as Black & Gold. Set the date to 31 December: uploads open on that day and keep working after midnight. You can design and test it for free; to use it on the night, you unlock the album with a package.

  2. 02

    Add the rounds as moments. Each of the five rounds below becomes a moment, and you can copy its description as is. Every moment gets its own QR code, so uploads land in the right place.

  3. 03

    Share the QR codes and the link. The main code goes at the entrance, the moment codes wherever the round is played: the dinner table, the TV, the door to the outside. Anyone arriving later gets the link in the group chat.

The 15 New Year’s Eve games

1 point per challenge · 3 points for the jury’s favourite in each round

01
Moment 1

Arrivals

The first minutes of the night: outfits, sparkle, who arrives with whom. Faces welcome, surroundings too.

  1. 1.Your New Year’s Eve outfit from head to toe, with the detail you’re proud of
  2. 2.A group shot with everyone who’s already here
  3. 3.The buffet or the dinner table, before anyone digs in
02
Moment 2

The year in review

What was your year like? A picture from your camera roll, three words, a moment re-enacted. The review happens on the side.

  1. 4.Your favourite photo of the year, uploaded straight from your camera roll
  2. 5.Your year in three words, as a voice message
  3. 6.A short video: re-enact a moment from this year, the others guess
03
Moment 3

Before midnight

Games until the countdown starts: charades, predictions, the games table. As long as someone keeps the camera rolling.

  1. 7.A short video: someone acts out a film or song of the year, the others guess
  2. 8.Your New Year prediction: what will happen next year? As a voice message
  3. 9.The faces around the games table at the tensest moment
04
Moment 4

Countdown & midnight

The last seconds of the old year and the first minutes of the new one. Film fireworks from a safe distance, never while lighting.

  1. 10.A video of the countdown, from ten to zero
  2. 11.The first group shot of the new year
  3. 12.The sky above you, filmed from a safe distance
05
Moment 5

Resolutions

What are you planning? Resolutions as voice messages, a greeting to everyone who’s missing and the first morning of the year.

  1. 13.Your resolution for the new year, as a voice message
  2. 14.A short video greeting for everyone who couldn’t be there tonight
  3. 15.New Year’s morning: breakfast, leftover confetti or the first walk

You can add the questions from challenges 5, 8 and 13 as voice prompts in your album. An album holds up to three, exactly one per voice challenge, so everyone sees the question right before recording.

A game with points, no voting app needed

bleibt collects the pictures; the scoring happens by hand. Form teams of three to five, by table, family or group of friends. Each team enters its team name in the name field when uploading, so the jury can see later which picture came from whom. Every completed challenge earns one point. Before the countdown, the jury opens the album on the TV or projector, goes through the first three rounds moment by moment and awards three bonus points per round for its favourite picture. Rounds 4 and 5 follow after midnight or over New Year’s breakfast. Keep score on a sheet on the fridge. Anyone who would rather stay out of the picture can sit on the jury.

Where your QR codes belong

Print the codes on matte paper; glossy film reflects candle and room light. In the QR card designer, pick the matching moment under “Code leads to”, and uploads land straight in the right round.

FAQ

The short answers.

What’s a fun thing to do on New Year’s Eve?

Something that runs through the whole night and stays afterwards. Photo challenges give the party a programme from arrivals to New Year’s morning, and on 1 January you have every picture, video and resolution in one album.

Which games work with a lot of people?

Team games where not everyone has to play at the same time. The challenges run alongside the party, and teams of three to five work for ten guests as well as forty. Whoever is eating or dancing joins in the next round.

Do the games work for adults and for families?

Yes. No challenge requires alcohol, and all of them work with children and teenagers too. For fireworks the same rule applies at every age: film only from a safe distance, never while lighting.

Do guests need an app?

No. The QR code or link opens the upload straight in the phone’s browser. Nobody who uploads needs an account. Set the date to 31 December, and uploads work in the evening and after midnight.

Can we listen to the resolutions next New Year’s Eve?

Yes, if the album is still running then. Its term starts on the date you set: 6 months with Moment, 12 with Memory, 24 with Bleibt. With 12 months the album ends just before the next New Year’s Eve. So choose Bleibt, extend the album by twelve months in time, or download the voice messages beforehand.

Ready for the countdown

Create your New Year’s Eve album. You already have the games.

Try it free, no credit card. Your guests need no app and no account.

Build an album for freeMore on New Year’s Eve photos