New Year Traditions Around the World, Wishes and a Gift in Telegram

New Year is the one holiday almost every country shares, and it is celebrated at midnight on 31 December with food, a countdown and a wish. What happens around that midnight differs a lot: in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan it is the biggest family night of the year, in Ukraine it sits a week after Christmas, and in Spain the whole country eats twelve grapes against the clock. Here are the traditions worth knowing, what to write to the people you love, and how to send a gift to someone you will not see that night.

New Year 2027 at a glance

How is New Year celebrated in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine?

Across the former Soviet countries, New Year's Eve took over the role Christmas plays elsewhere: the decorated tree, the family table, the presents. The night usually runs the same way:

• The table. Olivier salad, "herring under a fur coat", mandarins and whatever the family is known for, laid out by late evening and eaten slowly until well after midnight.
• The address and the chimes. Just before midnight the head of state speaks on television, then the clock strikes twelve and everyone raises a glass.
• The wish. A popular custom is to write a wish on a scrap of paper during the chimes, burn it, drop the ash in your glass and drink it before the last stroke.
• Ded Moroz and Snegurochka. Grandfather Frost and his granddaughter bring the children's presents in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and visit school and office parties.

Ukraine has moved further from that calendar. Since 2023 Christmas is on 25 December and St Nicholas Day, when children traditionally find presents under their pillow, on 6 December. New Year's Eve is still the big party of the season, but it now comes at the end of a month of holidays rather than being the main one.

New Year traditions around the world

• Spain: twelve grapes. One grape for each stroke of midnight, for twelve lucky months. Keeping up is harder than it sounds.
• Scotland: first-footing. At Hogmanay the first visitor over the threshold after midnight sets the luck for the year, ideally carrying a gift such as coal, shortbread or whisky.
• Japan: 108 bell strikes. Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times on New Year's Eve, one for each of the earthly desires in Buddhist teaching.
• Brazil: white clothes and seven waves. On the beaches of Rio people dress in white and jump seven waves, making a wish for each.
• Denmark: jumping into the year. At midnight people jump off chairs and sofas to leap into the new year.
• United States: the ball drop. The ball in New York's Times Square drops in the last minute of the year, watched on screens across the country.

New Year wishes you can send

A few lines, written for this page, for the people you are most likely to message:

• For your family: Happy New Year. Whatever the year brings, I know where home is, and that is the best thing I could wish for.
• For a friend far away: I will raise a glass to you at midnight, even if we are in different time zones. Here is to a year where we finally meet.
• For your partner: Every year with you has been better than the one before. I do not see why this one should be any different.
• For colleagues: Thank you for this year: the good ideas, the patience and the deadlines we made together. Rest well, and happy New Year.
• Short and warm: May the new year be kind, calm and full of good news. Happy New Year!

What to give for New Year

New Year is the present-giving night in much of Central Asia, so the list is long, but the gifts people remember are rarely the expensive ones:

• something they mentioned in passing months ago;
• a plan rather than an object: tickets, a trip, a dinner you cook;
• for a group, a gift exchange: a Secret Santa draw means each person buys one good gift instead of ten small ones;
• a countdown: an online advent calendar with a message for every day of December, sent as one link;
• and for someone far away, a call at midnight and a gift that actually arrives.

A New Year gift that arrives in Telegram

Telegram gifts are real items that appear in the recipient's profile, bought with Telegram Stars and sent in a chat. For New Year the obvious one is the Champagne Bottle, at 50 Stars; the Gift Box costs 25 Stars and the Teddy Bear 15. They arrive the minute you send them, which is the point when you are in Almaty and your family is in Kyiv, or the other way round.

The standard way to send one is covered in how to send a Telegram gift, and what Stars are and what they cost in what Telegram Stars are. There is also a second way, the one we built: in Gift Club you can win a Telegram gift and pass it on with a link.

How to pass on a gift you won in Gift Club

1. Win one. Gift Club is a Telegram mini app. Its boxes, scratch cards and games such as Plinko and Minefield pay out in Stars and in Telegram gifts; every prize in the Gifts box is a Telegram gift. They are paid games: a round costs Stars, and a round can lose.
2. Open it in your collection. A gift you win lands there. You can send it to your own Telegram account, exchange it for Stars, or give it away.
3. Create a gift link. Choose Send to Friend and create a link. The gift is locked while it waits to be claimed.
4. Send the link with your wishes. Your friend opens it and claims the gift in the Gift Club app, and it appears in their collection. You get a notification when it has been claimed.

Two things to know before you press send. A gift link is one-time, and the gift goes to whoever claims it first, so send it in a private chat, not in the family group. And if nobody has claimed it yet, you can cancel the link and the gift goes back to your collection. You cannot claim your own link.

Try it in Telegram

Open Gift Club, claim your Sparks and play a Spark round before you stake anything.

Play Gift Club

In-app Stars can't be redeemed or withdrawn. 18+.

What this app is, plainly

New Year is a family holiday, so this is worth saying directly. Gift Club's games are paid, they are for adults, and winning a gift is never guaranteed: you can spend Stars and win nothing. The return each game is designed to pay back is published, and a round can be checked after the fact; both are explained in the RTP index and in provably fair verification. If what you want is simply to send someone a gift, buying it directly in Telegram is the certain route.

FAQ

What are the most common New Year traditions?

A countdown to midnight, a toast, a wish for the year and a family meal are shared almost everywhere. Local customs add the rest: twelve grapes in Spain, 108 bell strikes in Japan, first-footing in Scotland, and the chimes and a burned wish in the former Soviet countries.

Is 1 January 2027 a day off?

In Kazakhstan 1 and 2 January are public holidays, and in Uzbekistan 1 January. In Ukraine 1 January stays in the Labour Code, but under martial law holidays bring no extra day off.

When is Christmas in Ukraine?

On 25 December, since 2023. St Nicholas Day, when children get presents, moved to 6 December at the same time.

Can I send a New Year gift in Telegram?

Yes. Buy a gift in Telegram and send it in a chat, or pass on a gift you won in Gift Club with a gift link. The Champagne Bottle gift costs 50 Stars.

What if the wrong person opens my gift link?

The gift goes to whoever claims it first, so send the link in a private chat. If nobody has claimed it yet, you can cancel it and get the gift back.

Keep reading

• Secret Santa generator — draw names for the family or the office, one private link per person.
• New Year Giveaway Ideas That Survive December — for running a draw in a channel or community.
• How to Send a Telegram Gift — the standard route, step by step.