Ten, nine, eight… while you wait for midnight, test your friends with these New Year riddles with answers. There are 35 riddles about clocks, calendars, resolutions and fireworks – easy ones for kids and tricky ones for the grown-ups at the party.
Contents
- Easy New Year Riddles for Kids
- Riddles About Time
- Funny New Year Riddles
- Hard New Year Riddles for Adults
- More Riddles
- Frequently Asked Questions
Easy New Year Riddles for Kids
1. I have 12 months, 52 weeks and 365 days, but on 1 January you throw me away and get a new one. What am I?
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Answer: A calendar.
2. I have two hands and a face, and at midnight on 31 December both my hands point up. What am I?
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Answer: A clock.
3. I go up with a whoosh and burst into colours at midnight. What am I?
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Answer: A firework.
4. I’m a promise you make on 1 January and often forget by February. What am I?
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Answer: A New Year’s resolution.
5. What is the last thing you take off before going to bed on New Year’s Eve?
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Answer: Your feet off the floor.
6. What does a calendar do when its year is over?
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Answer: It goes to pieces – it has no more days left.
7. What month has the most fireworks?
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January – the first minute of it!
8. I’m a sparkling drink people toast with at midnight. What am I?
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Champagne (or sparkling juice for kids).
9. I’m a big glittering ball that drops in New York’s Times Square at midnight. What am I?
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Answer: The Times Square Ball.
10. What do you say to everyone at 12 o’clock on 1 January?
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Answer: “Happy New Year!”
Riddles About Time
11. What is always coming but never arrives?
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Tomorrow.
12. What can you never catch, though it always runs?
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Time.
13. What happens once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
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Answer: The letter M.
14. What goes up but never comes down?
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Answer: Your age.
15. How can you go ten days without sleep?
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Answer: Easy – you sleep at night.
16. How can New Year’s Day and Christmas Day fall in the same year?
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Answer: They always do – New Year’s Day is 1 January and Christmas is 25 December of the same year.
17. What can you break even if you never pick it up or touch it?
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Answer: A promise – like a New Year’s resolution.
18. What has 12 faces but no eyes, and is used all year?
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Answer: A calendar (12 pages).
19. What has hands but cannot clap?
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Answer: A clock.
20. What can be cracked, made, told and played?
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Answer: A joke.
Funny New Year Riddles
21. What did the calendar say to the clock on New Year’s Eve?
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Answer: “Your time is up – my days are numbered!”
22. Why was the calendar so popular?
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Answer: Because it had a lot of dates.
23. What’s a cow’s favourite holiday?
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Moo Year’s Eve.
24. What does a kangaroo say on 1 January?
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Answer: “Hoppy New Year!”
25. What did the champagne bottle say at midnight?
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Answer: “It’s time to pop!”
26. What did the past year say to the new year?
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Answer: “Your future looks bright!”
27. Why did the man stay up on New Year’s Eve with a ruler?
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Answer: To see how long he could stay awake.
Hard New Year Riddles for Adults
28. I was born on 31 December and my birthday is always in summer. How?
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Answer: You live in the Southern Hemisphere (like Australia), where December is summer.
29. A man was born in 1990 and his 10th birthday party was in 2030. How?
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Answer: He was born on 29 February – he only has a true birthday every four years.
30. Which three consecutive days follow each other without being Monday, Wednesday or Friday?
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Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
31. A clock strikes 12 in 11 seconds. How long does it take to strike 6?
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5 seconds – 12 strikes have 11 gaps of 1 second; 6 strikes have 5 gaps.
32. If 2027 starts on a Friday, on which day does 2028 start?
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Answer: On a Saturday – 2027 has 365 days, which is 52 weeks plus 1 day.
33. A man says: “The day before yesterday I was 25, and next year I’ll be 28.” What is today’s date?
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1 January – his birthday is 31 December. Two days ago (30 Dec) he was 25, he turned 26 yesterday, turns 27 this year and 28 next year.
34. What can you hold without touching, and make every 1 January?
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Answer: A resolution.
35. What has a beginning, a middle and an end, but nobody knows how it turns out until 31 December?
Show answer
Answer: The year.
More Riddles
- 60 Christmas Riddles
- The Hardest Riddles in the World
- 1000+ Easy Riddles
- Logic Puzzles with Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good New Year riddle for kids?
“I have 12 months, 52 weeks and 365 days, but on 1 January you throw me away and get a new one. What am I?” – a calendar.
What is a hard New Year riddle?
“A man was born in 1990 and his 10th birthday party was in 2030. How?” – he was born on 29 February.
What day does 2027 start on?
1 January 2027 is a Friday.