New Year’s Eve with children is a long wait for one minute. Countdown bags break the wait into hours, and this page gives each hour a reason: at that very moment, somewhere on Earth, it is midnight and the new year is starting. Paris at six, London at seven, Rio at ten, home at twelve, if you are on Eastern time.
Midnight, hour by hour
The times below are for 31 December 2026. The page works them out for any time zone, with daylight saving where a place has it, as in Sydney and Santiago in their summer.
| Your clock | Eastern time | Central time | Pacific time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 pm | Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome | London, Lisbon, Dublin | Fernando de Noronha, Brazil |
| 7 pm | London, Lisbon, Dublin | Cape Verde, the Azores | Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires |
| 8 pm | Cape Verde, the Azores | Fernando de Noronha, Brazil | San Juan, Halifax |
| 9 pm | Fernando de Noronha, Brazil | Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires | New York, Toronto |
| 10 pm | Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires | San Juan, Halifax | Mexico City, Chicago |
| 11 pm | San Juan, Halifax | New York, Toronto | Denver |
| Midnight | New York, Toronto | Chicago, Mexico City | Los Angeles, Vancouver |
What is on each tag
- A clock face showing the time to open the bag, so children can watch the real clock catch up.
- The place where it is midnight then, and the other cities that share the moment.
- Happy New Year in their language, such as Bonne année! in Paris or Feliz Ano Novo! in Rio, where the page has it.
- One custom there, such as the twelve grapes in Mexico City or the white clothes on Copacabana beach.
- A box for what is inside, filled from your list or left blank to write in.
The last tag is home: Happy New Year and the year in big numbers.
A passport for the trip
Tick the passport page and a sheet with a box for every stop prints after the tags: the time, the place, the greeting and a square to stamp, put a sticker on, or draw the flag. It turns the evening into a trip around the world that ends at your own front door.
Making them
- Pick your time zone, the hour of the first bag, and midnight or noon.
- Type what goes in each bag, one per line, or leave it blank.
- Download and print at 100 %, cut on the gray lines, and glue a tag on each paper bag.
- Line the bags up in order, and open one each hour.
What it costs
Nothing. No account, no watermark, no email. For the rest of the evening, New Year’s Eve bingo plays with the family’s own photos and the paper crown carries the new year on its front. More is on the New Year page.
Questions
What are New Year's Eve countdown bags?
Paper bags, one for each hour of the evening, each with the time it may be opened and something small inside: glow sticks, a game, a snack, party hats. Children open one every hour until midnight, which turns a long evening into a row of small events. Here every bag also stands for a place where the new year is starting at that moment.
When is it midnight around the world if we are on Eastern time?
On 31 December 2026, from 6 pm Eastern: Paris, Madrid, Berlin and Rome at 6 pm, London, Lisbon and Dublin at 7, Cape Verde at 8, Fernando de Noronha in Brazil at 9, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires at 10, Puerto Rico and Halifax at 11, and New York at midnight. The schedule tab works this out for your own time zone.
Can we do a Noon Year's Eve instead?
Yes: choose Noon, and the bags count down to midday, for children who will be asleep by midnight. It is a real New Year somewhere at noon too: on Eastern time noon is midnight in Bangkok and Jakarta, and the last tag says so.
What should we put in the bags?
Small things that fill the hour: glow sticks, a noisemaker to decorate, a card game, popcorn for a movie, pajamas, a dance party song list, confetti for midnight. Type one per line and each prints on its bag's tag, or leave the box blank and write in it.
How big are the tags?
3¾ × 5 inches, four to a sheet of US Letter or A4, sized for the front of a paper lunch bag. Print at 100 %, cut on the gray lines, and glue or tape one on each bag.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The time zone comes from your own device and the times are worked out in your browser, as are the tags. Closing the tab erases them.