Get Ready To Ring in 2024 With These 40 Creative New Year's Eve Traditions

New Year's Eve is a time to reflect on the passing year and focus on the goals you'd like to achieve in the coming year. It's a time to remember all of the hardships and accomplishments you've lived through and a time to reminisce on all of the loved ones you've had by your side through everything. NYE is also a time to party! This holiday is a celebration, so it's no wonder there are plenty of New Year's Eve traditions you can choose from as you count down to midnight.

From parties and concerts at various venues to parties hosted at home, and even the Times Square ball drop, there are plenty of ways to celebrate New Year's Eve. Not only are the events themselves considered traditions, but the foods we eat on this day and the things we wear are also believed to impact how the coming year will go. 

If you're looking to participate in a new tradition or two this year, look no further. We have a list of the 40 best New Year's Eve traditions for you to read, enjoy and take part in! 

Related: Closing Our Eyes While Opening Our Hearts—30 Transformative New Year's Prayers

40 New Year's Eve Traditions

1. Host a Party 

This is probably the most popular tradition for New Year's Eve. Who doesn't like to celebrate with friends and family in the comfort of home? A significant perk of hosting a party at home is that you aren't out late on the roads with everyone else who has been celebrating the holiday. 

2. Watch Fireworks

Fireworks are a bright and mesmerizing part of New Year's. Getting together with friends to watch them is a fun tradition for all! 

3. Listen to "Auld Lang Syne"

Bid farewell to the passing year by playing this traditional song for everyone to sing along to! 

4. Make a Toast 

What better way is there to start a new year than to toast to all the good times from the previous year? Doing so may even allow some of that prosperity to spill over! 

5. Bang Pots and Pans Together 

Commemorate the final strike of midnight by making noise of your own! Pots and pans are certainly loud enough to show your holiday spirit. Participating in this tradition will certainly start your year off with a bang! 

Related: ‘How Eating 12 Grapes on New Year’s Eve Led to Me Finding My Soulmate'

6. Use Noise Makers

A more modern option than simply banging pots and pans together, party horns can be festive and serve a purpose! 

7. Wear Polka Dots 

In the Philippines, the tradition of wearing a round-themed dress is said to be good luck and to bring prosperity full circle into the coming year. 

8. Watch the Ball Drop 

New York City on New Year's Eve is the perfect combination. Even if you can't be there in person, watching it on TV can be just as exciting! What matters most is the people you have surrounding you as the new year begins. 

9. Toss a Coin 

Throwing a coin in the air at midnight is said to increase wealth. There are also variations of this tradition that say you should place coins in each corner of your home and in nooks and crannies to increase your chances of receiving wealth. 

10. Drink Champagne 

This bubbly beverage is associated with joyous occasions and has been widely accepted as the drink to have on New Year's Eve. 

Related: 10 New Year's Party Cocktails

11. Countdown to Midnight 

Increase the anticipation as your whole crowd joins together in counting down the seconds to midnight! 

12. Kiss at Midnight 

Starting off the new year with a smooch is a good way to ensure that you have romance throughout the year and symbolizes a strengthening of ties with your special someone. 

13. Dress for the Occasion

Sequins have been a more common choice for quite some time, however, comfortable clothes are your best friend on a night like New Year's Eve! Choose whatever outfit makes you feel and look your best and it could positively impact your goals for the year. 

14. Light Sparklers 

In ancient times, fire and noise were thought to dispel evil spirits and bring luck into your life. Lighting sparklers is one way to honor that belief! 

15. Throw Water Out a Window 

In certain areas of the world, throwing a bucket of water out a window on New Year's Eve symbolizes renewal. In other areas, it is thought to ward off evil. Either way, we think this is a pretty good tradition to begin participating in! 

16. Eat Hoppin' John 

Hoppin John is a dish comprised of peas, most commonly black-eyed peas, rice and pork, and should bring luck and peace in the year to come to whoever eats it on New Year's Eve. Hoppin' John is traditionally served with golden cornbread and collard greens for their similarities to gold and paper money. 

17. Choose Your First Guest Wisely 

In Scottish folklore, your first guest of the year should be a tall, dark man as that was who was thought to be the best protection against Vikings. The traditional gift to bring as a first guest was coal, salt, shortbread and whisky to signify the provision of basic needs of heat, food and drink. 

18. Do the Polar Bear Plunge 

Submerging yourself in ice-cold water on New Year's Day has been a tradition since the early 1900s. If you're wondering why in the world anyone would want to willingly become a human icicle, most of the time these events are centered around charities as fundraisers. So if you're impervious to the cold, consider this as your new tradition to participate in! 

19. Exchange Gifts 

In Soviet Russia, Christmas was banned and so the tradition of gifts being exchanged on New Year's was born. Instead of Santa Claus bringing presents, Grandfather Frost is the bearer of joy and toys and is accompanied by his granddaughter Snegurochka the snow maiden. This tradition could come in handy for any of those gifts that didn't quite make it on time for Christmas!

20. Make a Resolution 

Or, make multiple! There's no limit when it comes to how you'd like to change your life for the upcoming year. They don't have to be huge, but should be things you can easily hold yourself accountable to stick with. 

Related: 55 New Year's Resolution Ideas for 2024

21. Smash a Plate 

It doesn't have to be a plate, it could be any old or already broken dish. In Denmark, it is a tradition to throw a dish at a loved one's front door. So if you wake up to broken china on your front porch, don't be alarmed! It simply means someone who cares for you is wishing you good luck in the new year. 

22. Leap Into January 

Leaping off of a chair and into the new year brings good luck and banishes bad spirits, or so say the people of Denmark. We think it's worth the risk of a twinged ankle if it keeps bad spirits at bay! 

23. Take a Short Trip 

Do you want your upcoming year to be full of travel? Then implement the tradition of Columbia that simply requires you to run around the block holding an empty suitcase. Participating in this tradition as a group could be a great opportunity for some healthy competition. Make this run around the block into a race and whoever comes back to where the race began first receives a travel-themed gift!

24. Wear White

Brazilians believe that wearing white on New Year's Eve is a great way to bring peace into your life. A symbol of purity and innocence, white is also a bold and classy fashion choice! 

25. Hang Onions On Your Front Door 

In Greece, onions represent fertility and good luck. The thinking is that since onions sprout even when no one pays attention, hanging them on the front door will invite that prosperity into your life. 

26. Open Doors and Windows

Another tradition from the Philippines, this one is to air out the old year and welcome the new into your home. Hopefully, you live in a similarly mild climate so you won't also let all the heat out!