Countdowns And Banter: 10 Things We Love About Celebrating an Irish New Year

Christmas is over and the countdown to 2013 has begun! Was 2012 good to you or are you looking forward to the promise of a new year?

Whatever your stance on the coming year, chances are you’ll be out on December 31st celebrating it just like the rest of us. And rightly so, sure wasn’t the year hard enough anyway? We definitely deserve a bit of a celebration.

Earlier this festive season we regaled you with tales of typically Irish things that we absolutely love doing over Christmas. And like Christmas, there are a few typically Irish things that we love doing on New Year’s Eve…

10. Having six New Year countdowns, just for the craic: It doesn’t matter that it’s now twenty minutes into the New Year, you’re still going to count that sucker down, just to make sure that everyone, absolutely everyone, knows that it is now 2013. Huzzah!

9. Drinking sparkling wine instead of proper champagne: Mainly because your Mammy doesn’t believe in forking out money for a decent bottle of champagne when it’s only you and your cousins that are going to be drinking it anyway. Buckfast, anyone?

8. Having a house party. With your relatives: New Year’s eve is the only time that it is ever acceptable to attend a house party with your Mam, your Dad, your younger siblings and your Granny. Fact.

7. Clapping after the countdown: Because nothing welcomes in a new year better than giving it a good old round of applause. (Note: it is mandatory to clap after every countdown you partake in).

6. Wearing a stupid hat all night long: The more outrageous the better because, let’s face it, your hat needs to stand out from all the other crazy hats out there. Bonus points if you’re planning on complementing your stupid hat with a pair of bespangled ‘2013’ glasses.

How are you planning on celebrating this New Year's Eve?

5. Celebrating the New Year with the National Anthem: Chances are the first song you hear in the brand-spanking new year of 2013 will be the National Anthem. Straight after the countdown, in pubs across the nation, the strains of the National Anthem will begin. It’s tradition.

4. Having banter with your relatives: On the sacred night of New Year’s Eve, everyone lets their hair down a little bit. You could find yourself in a dance-off with your uncle George or having immense banter with your Mam. Just go with it!

3. Going mad texting even though all the lines are down: As soon as the clock strikes midnight, us Irish people immediately grab our phones and start texting New Year wishes to all our nearest and dearest like lunatics. It doesn’t matter that the lines have gone down or that our long lost auntie Nora won’t actually get the text until March, by god, we’ll still do it anyway!

2. Making overly optimistic resolutions: “I am joining the gym first thing tomorrow!” You declare to all your friends and family. By the time tomorrow rolls around, you realise what a fool you were to even suggest such a thing. The same goes for telling everyone you’ll run the 2013 Dublin Marathon, shave all your hair off for charity and go running with the bulls in Spain…

1. Getting the shift: As soon as the clock hits midnight, you grab the nearest single man and have a shift, just cause it’s the New Year like.