- It’s almost December 31, aka New Year’s Eve.
- To celebrate the end of this year, and the beginning of another, WalletHub compiled a list of fun facts and figures about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
- Did you know that over 360 million glasses of sparkling wine are consumed on New Year’s Eve?
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
As the Taylor Swift song goes, it was the end of a decade, but the start of an age.
To celebrate the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, WalletHub gathered trivia about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, from the amount of trash in Times Square to how many people march in Philadelphia’s Mummers Parade.
Keep scrolling to learn more about New Year’s, just in time to watch the ball drop.
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.
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.
And 3% of Americans don't plan on celebrating at all.
It makes sense - for some, New Year's Eve is an extremely overrated holiday.
The most popular destination in the US for New Year's is Orlando, Florida, closely followed by Anaheim, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
The two most popular cities happen to be the locations of Disney World and Disneyland - both parks hold New Year's celebrations.
At least 102.1 million people have to travel to get to their New Year's celebrations.
Although road-tripping isn't all it's cracked up to be, either.
Of those, over 6.7 million need to fly.
Over 3.7 million people will use other modes of transportation.
If you're heading to New York City to ring in the new year, prepare to break out your wallet. The average price of a dinner and a show for two in NYC on New Year's Eve is over $1,160.
New York is the most expensive city for celebrating in the country.
A predicted one million people will 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. The crowds will be controlled by 7,000 police officers.
This year's 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.
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.
More than 56 tons of trash is 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.
But back to celebrating: More than 360 million glasses of sparkling wine are consumed on December 31.
However, all that alcohol also makes NYE the drunkest night of the year - the average blood alcohol concentration is .094%, more than the legal limit.
That sparkling wine might be why 28% of Americans need to grab hangover food from restaurants on January 1.
According to Google, Louisville, Kentucky, was the most hungover city in America on January 1, 2019.
If you want good luck, you should eat 365 black-eyed peas.
In Spain, however, people eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight.
Speaking of January 1, the first day of the year has plenty of traditions of its own. Thirty-seven million people watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena on TV.
There are over 700,000 live spectators as well.
Philadelphia's Mummers Parade boasts 10,000 performers on January 1.
If you don't know what a mummer is, you're not alone.
A mummer, according to Rusty Martz, president of the board of directors of the Mummers Museum, is "any man, woman, or child involved in the fantasy of song, dance and costume splendor on each January 1st in the annual Philadelphia New Year's Day parade."
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.
Eighty percent of resolutions fail by February.
Here are some tips to help keep your resolutions.
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.
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.
- Read more:
- The 20 best US cities to celebrate New Year's Eve, ranked
- 11 of the swankiest New Year's Eve celebrations around the world for ringing in the new decade
- I rang in the New Year at an all-night rave in the Moroccan desert. It left Times Square in the dust.
- Stunning photos show New Year's Eve celebrations around the world