Creative ways to celebrate the beginning of 2016

Counting down the hours until the new year can be exciting, as the world anxiously anticipates the adventures in store for the months ahead.

Celebrating the new year dates back thousands of years to the ancient Babylonians, who celebrated a new year come the first full moon after the spring equinox. The new year is now commemorated in various ways across the globe. According to History.com, one million people gather in New York City’s Time Square to watch the famed crystal ball drop each year. Across the pond in London, celebrants watch thousands of individual fireworks launch over the Thames River. In Sydney, Australia, roughly one million people line the shoreline each year to watch a fireworks show over the famed harbor.

To match the excitement of New Year’s festivities, each year party hosts and hostesses are on the lookout for innovative ways to entertain and ensure everyone has a blast. The following are a few ways to do just that as you and your guests prepare to close the book on 2015 and usher in 2016.

• Go bowling. New Year’s Eve probably isn’t a big league night, so it’s likely you can reserve a number of lanes. Book in advance to take advantage of affordable food and drink packages. Some alleys now offer more than just bowling, with live music or deejay entertainment as well. You do not have to be a professional bowler, either, as the goal of bowling with friends is to simply have some fun and make some lasting memories.

• Try a “first.” There is a first time for everything, and why not try something you have been thinking about doing for some time on the first day of the new year? Maybe you’re ready to tap into your adventurous side and try skydiving. Or, you may be looking to travel abroad to experience something you have longed to see, such as the Egyptian pyramids or the city lights in the romantic city of Paris.

• Cheer for every time zone. Thanks to the various time zones across the globe, “Happy New Year” is shouted multiple times throughout the night on New Year’s Eve. TimeandDate.com notes that, depending on how you define the time zone and if you include the International Date Line, there are 24 or 25 standard time zones. That gives revelers 25 opportunities to usher in the new year. Choose a country in each time zone, and then employ that country’s cultural traditions to celebrate the new year.

• Design a scavenger hunt. A fun activity for both adults and children, scavenger hunts can send guests in search of clues and answers based on things that happened over the previous 12 months. Include photos and other mementos when preparing clues.

Did you know?

Historians believe New Year’s resolutions can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient Babylonians, who lived in a region of Mesopotamia now known as Iraq. At the dawn of a new year, the Babylonians would promise their gods that they would return objects they borrowed and pay any debts they did not repay in the previous year. Babylonians believed keeping these promises would bring them the gods’ favor in the year ahead. Romans later adopted a similar practice, promising Janus, their god of beginnings and endings, that they would conduct themselves well in the coming year. Depictions of Janus typically include two faces, which are meant to symbolize his link to both the past (looking back) and the future (looking ahead). Early Christians also had a tradition similar to New Year’s resolutions, as they would spend the first day of the new year reflecting on mistakes they made in the past and resolving to improve themselves and avoid making such mistakes in the new year.