Keely is a genealogist and freelance writer with years of experience writing about everything from gene science to holiday celebrations.

A New Year Word Game

Everyone loves to challenge their mind and, of course, each other in fun word games that are perfect for young and old alike. If you're looking for something fun for the family to do this New Year's Eve, why not challenge each other to this fun word hunt

The challenge is to find how many words you can create using only the letters in the words "Happy New Year"?

Word Puzzle Rules

We want this to be fun, but there are a few simple rules to make sure it's fun for everyone!

• Only use the letters that appear in the phrase "Happy New Year."
• No reusing letters that have already been used.
  
• No doubling up letters that aren't already doubled. (Hint: Only P, A, and E appear twice.)
• You don't have to find an anagram of all 12 letters at once; new words can be between 2 and 12 letters long.
• The words must be real words that can be found in the dictionary.
• Optional rule: Decide as a family if you'll allow proper nouns and names.

How to Play

There are a few ways to play depending on your preference and the ages of those who want to play!

• Work Together: Work together to come up with a list of everyone's words.
• Pair Up: If you have younger elementary-aged children, it might be a good idea to pair up one adult or older sibling with one child and another adult or older sibling with another child. Older siblings will love helping the younger ones as they will be determined to beat Mom and Dad!
• Work Individually: If there are only older children or adults, consider having a competition among each other. Tally the lists and see if you can beat it next New Year's Eve!

Consider having a fun prize for the winner.

Words Found in "Happy New Year"

Over 153 Words Found!

There are a total of 153 words in the lists above that all appear in Webster's Dictionary that I have personally confirmed! There may be words that have been missed and any suggestions to add to the list are welcomed! Just leave a comment below. But, remember, they must be words that stand on their own (no prefixes, suffixes, etc.) and that can be found in the dictionary.

How many did you find? Take our poll and let us know!

Most importantly, have fun and relax as you celebrate the new year with loved ones. If your group can't get enough New Year's Eve or New Year's Day activities, you might also like this New Year's Trivia Game. It's a quiz you can either take by yourself or solve together as a group.

© 2013 Keely Deuschle

Comments

https://happynewyearmemes.com/ on November 06, 2019:

have a great year

John on January 11, 2017:

Happen

Miss.K on April 10, 2014:

I love it!!

DREAM ON on February 05, 2014:

Even though the new year is already into February I love playing word games with friends.Here's to lots of fun in every day of life. Thank you so much for sharing,

Rylee on January 29, 2014:

Weepy

Keely Deuschle (author) from Florida on January 03, 2014:

Yappy Hewn Are to Ewe, too, RTalloni! I love word games, especially ones that really make you put your thinking cap on!

Keely Deuschle (author) from Florida on January 03, 2014:

rebeccamealey, these types of games are a lot of fun in classrooms, too! Last year at my son's school, one of the classes challenged the others in a similar word game at Christmas! It was a lot of fun watching the kids try to think of words to add to the class list!

RTalloni on December 31, 2013:

Yappy Hewn Are! ;) And viva word games! :)

Rebecca Mealey from Northeastern Georgia, USA on December 31, 2013:

Ha ! Cute! I use to do this word game every holiday when I taught elementary school. What a cool idea to share!

Keely Deuschle (author) from Florida on December 26, 2013:

Thank you, poetryman6969! Let me know if you give it a try! Happy New Year!

poetryman6969 on December 26, 2013:

Cool idea.