With New Year’s Eve just around the corner, I thought it was probably about time to start sharing some new games for the year! I already posted my popular New Year’s Eve trivia games and New Year’s would you rather questions – and today it’s all about bingo! My favorite way to celebrate New Year’s Eve with kids is by doing countdown boxes like I did at this New Year’s Eve party. Inside each box is a fun activity to do and this New Year’s Eve bingo is definitely making an appearance this year!
Supplies
Bingo doesn’t need much, just a few things you already have around your house!
Bingo cards – you can get 12 free in this post or you can get more cards in my shop here. You need one per person playing. Bingo markers – you can use candy, mini erasers, actual bingo markers, cereal, or dried black-eyed peas would be fun for New Year’s Eve! Calling sheet – included with the printable at the bottom of this post, you’ll need to print out two copies. Cup/bowl – use this to hold the images that you’ll be calling out Prizes – I have a bunch of New Year’s Eve themed prizes at the bottom of this post!
Just one side note on the bingo cards – I went with a bright and colorful theme for the cards because I’m really hoping next year is bright, hopeful, and full of glitter and confetti. More so than this year anyway!
New Year’s Eve Bingo Prep
Give out bingo cards to everyone or let them choose their own cards (not recommended for young kids who might make a fuss about things). Pass out bingo markers along with the bingo cards. I like to give people paper plates to put their card and markers on or give them a little bag with markers inside just for organization sake. Print out two copies of the calling sheet. Cut up the squares on one of the sheets and put them into your bowl/cup. Keep the other printed calling sheet whole – you’ll place the cut out images on top of the full sheet to keep track of what you’ve called. The other option is to laminate the calling sheet and just mark them off with a dry erase marker as you call out images – works great! Now you’re ready to actually play! It’s bingo. I feel like most people now how to play regular bingo but just in case, I’ll do a quick play by play to explain how the game works. The more important thing to read (if you’re familiar with bingo) are the alternate bingo options below this section. That’s what makes bingo really fun!
How to Play
My guess is most people know how to play bingo but in case you don’t or just want a refresher, I’ll write up quickly how to play! The most important part to read is the additional ideas and variations I have after these basic instructions! Once everyone gets their cards and markers, it’s time to play. Start by having everyone cover their free space. Whoever is calling should choose one of the pieces from the bag/bowl/etc. and show the picture to the group and call it out (e.g., firework, glasses, bottle of sparkling cider). Anyone who has a matching image should cover it with a bingo marker. Wait for a second then call another image. Keep calling until someone gets a bingo, traditionally five in a row either horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. After someone gets a bingo, you can either quit the round and have everyone clear their cards and just give out one prize for that game. Or you can keep playing from there and let multiple people bingo during the round. I recommend the latter if you have a lot of prizes like we typically do for our annual Christmas bingo game. The person who bingo wins the prize for the round or they can go pick a prize of their choice from the prize table. Start another round and play again until someone gets another bingo! Keep playing until you’re out of prizes or you’re just done playing.
Alternate Bingo Options
Instead of just keeping standard bingo, try changing up what you use as a bingo each game. These are just a few of the different things we’ve used in the past that are considered a bingo.
Four corners – cover all four corners on your cardPostage stamp – cover any four spaces together in a square (postage stamp) on your card. Or you can make it more complicated and make it four spots in a corner. X – cover all the spaces going both ways diagonally to make the letter XT – cover the top row and the middle row to make the letter TCross/Plus – cover the center horizontal row and the center vertical row to make a plus sign Friendly Free – mark off all of the spaces touching the free space Biggest Loser – we do one of the above PLUS whoever is the last person to get a marker on the board gets the first prize. We typically do this every game regardless since we do a lot of prizes. Bring a Friend – whoever bingos gets to choose a friend to bingo with them a choose a prize (this works best if you have lots of people/prizes, not if you have one prize per game). Play until – If someone hasn’t won yet, play until that person gets a bingo. This is a great way to make sure that everyone gets a bingo.
New Year’s Eve Bingo Prizes
You can either do larger prizes with one prize per game, kind of like they do on a Disney cruise, or you can do lots of individual prizes. The way my family plays bingo is that everyone brings a couple of small prizes to add to the bingo table so we have a whole bunch of prizes to play for! Then each game there are a number of winners and everyone gets to pick a prize when they get a bingo. I’ve included a number of bigger prize options below that would be great if you’re doing the one winner a game idea. If you need smaller prize options for lots of winners, check out my Christmas music bingo game!
Gift cards in the amount of the year you’re celebrating (e.g., $20 gift card for the year 2020)Beauty products or beauty gift baskets with things like body soaks, face masks, and bath bombs. Meeschell is a great place to get high-quality ones that are all natural, women made, and reasonably priced! Video games and video game consoles like any of our favorite Nintendo Switch games including the brand new Ring Fit Adventure.Movie/streaming gift cardsSmall Kitchen Appliances – we love our Cosori Air Fryer and Instant Pot but any small kitchen appliances typically go over well. Experiences – any of these experience gifts for kids would make a great prize!
Expert Tips
Laminate the bingo cards so you can use them year after year! Then just use dry erase markers to mark them off instead of markers. This is ideal if you have lots of toddlers or pets running around that might mess up cards. Pass out cards to people to save time. All of the cards have the same images on them, so it really doesn’t matter who gets what card. Buy extra bingo markers if you’re using something edible like M&Ms or cereal. People tend to snack on them, especially kids, and you don’t want to run out. Have treats and snacks available to enjoy during the game. For New Year’s Eve, I prefer these spinach artichoke cups, bacon wrapped dates, and of course buffalo chicken dip. Or if you want something a little sweeter, these Rolo cookies and these sugar cookie bites are always a huge hit!
More New Year’s Eve Games
New Year Games – 20 of the best games all in one place! New Years Trivia – four fun New Year’s trivia games all about things that happened in the past year, one of my most popular posts! New Year would you rather questions – a fun game full of asking each other and answering silly questions about the new year!New Year scattergories lists – can you come up with unique words for different letters without matching others? New Years Eve dice game – roll the dice, win candy, and share memories of the past year!
Download the New Year’s Eve Bingo Cards
Enter your first name and email address in the form below to get the printable PDF. You will receive a link to download the PDF to your email within minutes. If you do not see the form below, click here to get to it. If you would not fill out the form, you can get a copy in my shop here. The PDF will include:
Instructions 12 unique New Year’s Eve bingo cardsCalling sheet – you’ll need to print out two of these
If you do not immediately receive the email, make sure to check your promotions, spam, and junk folders!
