New Year's Eve Fun Facts and Trivia

Everyone knows about the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square. Discover more about this and other traditions with our list of New Year's Eve fun facts.

1. Kissing your significant other is a favorite New Year's Eve tradition meant to guarantee a good relationship and affections throughout the next year.
2. Las Vegas, Disneyworld and New York City are billed as three of the top New Year's Eve destinations.
3. About 75% of American New Year's Eve parties involve 20 people or less.
4. The tradition of a ball drop to signal the passage of time began at England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833.
5. Dick Clark has not appeared on Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve special since 2003. 
6. The primetime New Year's Eve show has entertained Americans since Clark began it in 1973 with the exception of New Year's Eve 1999. That year, coverage of the millennium was broadcast throughout the country in a special titled, ABC 2000 Today. Clark did countdown the seconds to midnight as the East Coast welcomed the New Year.
7. Made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, the first New Year's Eve ball was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds.
8. Introduced on November 11, 2008, a new Times Square New Year's Eve ball weighs 11, 875 pounds. The 12-foot geodesic sphere is covered in 2,668 Waterford crystals.
9. Eating for good luck is a popular tradition in cultures around the world. Try 12 grapes at midnight (Spain), donuts (Holland) or black-eyed peas (American South).
10. The popular New Year's song, Auld Lang Syne, translates to "old long ago." Here, the first verse and chorus is translated into modern English courtesy of the website, Rampant Scotland.
    

          Should old acquaintances be forgotten
          And never be remembered?
          Should old acquaintances be forgotten
          and days long ago.

          Chorus:
          For days long ago, my dear,
          For days long ago
          We'll drink a cup of kindness yet
          For days long ago!
          And surely you'll have your pint tankard
          And surely I'll have mine.

As you wait for the clock to strike midnight, create your own version of trivial pursuit with questions about the history and celebration of New Year's Eve.

Q: The New Year has not always been celebrated on January 1. When did the original celebration take place?
A: Starting around the year 2000 B.C., the Babylonians observed the beginning of spring as the start of a new year.

Q: Who established January 1 as the start of a New Year?
A: Julius Caesar, who did so when he created the Juliun calendar

Q: What does the traditional New Year's song, Auld Lang Syne, mean?
A: Auld Lang Syne, written by Robert Burns in the 1700s, is Scottish for "old long ago."

Q: Who established the tradition of setting New Year's resolutions?
A: The Babylonians, whose most common resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.

Q: What is the most popular New Year's resolution in the United States today?
A: To lose weight

Q: Which city hosts the first major New Year's Eve celebration each year?
A: Sydney, Australia

Q: What year did the first New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square?
A: 1907

Q: Since its inaugural descent in 1907, the New Year's Eve Ball has dropped every year except two. Which two years did the ball not drop?
A: 1942 and 1943, due to wartime restrictions in New York City

Q. How many New Year's Eve balls have dropped in Times Square?
A. 8 - 1907; 1920; 1955; 1980; 1988; 1995; 2000; 2008