15 Facts About New Year's Celebrations That Might Surprise You

Here are 15 things you probably didn't know about New Year's Eve! See how many you knew.

1.New Year's Eve ranks fourth on Americans' list of favorite holidays, with 41% of the population calling it their favorite.

Predictably, 78% of Americans love Christmas. Thanksgiving and July 4th came in second and third, respectively.

2.But that doesn't mean everyone actually stays up until midnight. At least 48% of parents plan to "count down" at 9 p.m. with their kids.

WalletHub reported that 12% of Americans fall asleep before midnight, anyway.

3.And 3% of Americans don't plan on celebrating at all.

For some, New Year's Eve is an extremely overrated holiday.

4.Usually, the most popular destination in the US for New Year's is Orlando, but this year, WalletHub called Virginia Beach, Virginia, the best city for celebrations.

Usually Disney World is one of the most popular locations for celebrations, but this year, the firework display is going virtual. Instead, WalletHub identified the best cities to celebrate the start of 2021, taking into consideration factors like the number of COVID-19 cases, safety, and the cost of food delivery. Virginia Beach, Virginia; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Plano, Texas came out on top.

5.Normally, a million people flock to Times Square to see the ball drop.

That's the average attendance for New Year's Eve in Times Square, according to WalletHub. This year, though, Times Square will be closed to all crowds.

6.The ball weighs 11,875 pounds, and is covered in 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles.

The building that houses the ball is almost entirely empty — and Insider took a look around.

7.The ball has been dropped annually since 1907, with two notable exceptions — due to World War II light restrictions, Times Square remained dark in 1942 and 1943.

Not even COVID-19 can stop the ball from dropping.

8.Usually, more than 56 tons of trash are left in Times Square after the celebrations, including 1.5 tons of confetti.

It takes 300 sanitation workers between 12 and 16 hours to clean it all up.

9.More than 360 million glasses of sparkling wine are consumed on December 31.

All that alcohol also makes NYE the drunkest night of the year — the average blood-alcohol concentration is .094%, more than the legal limit.

10.That sparkling wine might be why 28% of Americans need to get hangover food delivered from restaurants on January 1.

According to Google, Louisville, Kentucky, was the most hungover city in America on January 1, 2019.

11.If you want good luck, you should eat 365 black-eyed peas.

In Spain, however, people eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight.

12.The beginning of a new year is also about resolutions. The most popular New Year's resolution is to exercise more.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans want to add some physical activity to their routine. Eating healthier (54%), saving money (51%), losing weight (48%), and reducing stress (38%) round out the list.

13.Eighty percent of resolutions fail by February.

Keeping resolutions is difficult.

14.Crime also sees a bump on December 31 and January 1. The most popular day for car theft is January 1, with 2,571 cars getting jacked on the first day of 2018.

New Year's Eve ranked sixth, with 2,122 cars stolen.

15.But January 1 is also the biggest night for illegal "celebratory gunfire."

Celebrate the start of a new year — but make sure you stay safe, too.

Link:Insider