New Year's Eve Facts for Kids

New Year's Eve is the holiday before New Year's Day, on December 31, the last day of the current year.

Today, Western countries usually celebrate this day with a party which ends with a group countdown to midnight. Party hats, noisemakers, fire crackers and drinking champagne are fairly common during this holiday.

Many towns also have fireworks shows or other noisy ways to start the new year. Places like Berlin, Chicago, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, London, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Toronto, and Tokyo are well known for their New Year's Eve celebrations.

New Year's Eve is also a work holiday in some countries, such as Australia, Argentina, Brazil, France, Mexico, the Philippines, and Venezuela.

Chinese New Year
Omisoka (Japan)

Images for kids

HKN's Davido entertaining the crowd at the Lagos Countdown 2012 in Nigeria
The burning of dolls is a local tradition in the city of La Plata.
Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro hosts one of the world's largest fireworks displays on New Year's Eve, attracting millions of spectators.
Over one million visitors crowd the streets and beaches of Valparaiso each New Year's Eve.
Crowds gather annually on New Year’s Eve in Times Square, New York City to attend the countdown to the ball drop at midnight. In addition, a worldwide audience of one billion or more watch the Times Square Ball drop on various digital media platforms.
Countries where the main celebrations of the New Year are other day than on 1 January
Fireworks display in Hong Kong.
Tokyo Tower on New Year's Eve, 2012
Fireworks in George Town, Penang on 1 January 2018
Fireworks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fireworks display in Manila Bay in front of the SM Mall of Asia
The Taipei 101 fireworks show in 2009.
Fireworks at Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand 2019
Prague New Year Fireworks
New Year fireworks over Copenhagen
Fireworks in the forest of Ruka on New Year's Eve in Kuusamo, Finland
Midnight – Millenáris, NYE 2017
New Year fireworks over Reykjavík, Iceland
Romexpo indoors during Vanghelion New Year's Eve party.
Madrid's Puerta del Sol on New Year's Eve, 2005.
Gothenburg fireworks on New Year's Eve, 2008.
New Year's Eve decorations in Kadıköy, Istanbul.
New Year celebration in Kyiv
Thousands of Brits gather in central London for New Year celebrations, including fireworks at the London Eye at midnight.
Hogmanay fireworks in Edinburgh.
A Mari Lwyd c. 1910–1914. Traditionally carried from door to door during Calennig in Wales
Casablanca fireworks display
New year celebrations, including fireworks at the Burj Khalifa at midnight
Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations
John Masey Wright and John Rogers' c. 1841 illustration of "Auld Lang Syne".
Sydney's "waterfall" firework display in 2008
Fireworks in Melbourne, Australia, 2008
Fireworks in Brisbane, Queensland, 2012
Fireworks in Canberra, Australia, in 2017 with Parliament House to the left.

New Year's Eve facts for kids

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Images for kids

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