Happy New Year Messages: What to write in a New Year’s card

A New Year's card with a blue cover that's covered in gold, light blue and white spangles sits on a gray surface that's scattered with gold star-shaped confetti, gold balloons and a gold party horn.

A new year brings us new hopes, dreams, plans and the always-aspirational New Year’s resolutions. But it also brings us a chance to pause and reach out to the people in our lives!

New Year messages are becoming more popular these days, both because November and December can be so hectic with holiday hustle and bustle and because the people we care about are diverse in their personal end-of-year traditions and celebrations.

So if you’re planning to save the new year for your annual correspondences—or if it wasn’t your plan and you just missed the holiday sending season (hey, it happens!)—below are some examples of New Year messages you might add to your cards and letters and such.

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Short and Simple New Year Messages  

Look, we all know it’s been a long year, and who knows how much effort the new one will require? Maybe you’re tired or maybe you just don’t want to wear out your writing hand before we’ve even hit January. Either way, we think some of these short and simple new year messages might help you go a little easier on yourself.

  • Cheers to a great new year!
  • Yay for (year)!
  • Gotta love a shiny new year.
  • Wishing you every good thing in the new year!
  • Break out the noisemakers and have a festive new year!
  • Here’s to a new year full of fresh hope and possibility.
  • New year, same wonderful you.
  • A new year means new beginnings, new joy and new hope.
  • Happy New Year with lots of love!
  • Here’s to fresh starts and glad hearts!
  • Happy woo-hoo year!

New Year Messages for Friends  

Whether it’s a bestie you see all the time, an old schoolmate or co-worker you’ve kept in contact with or someone you haven’t spoken to in a while and want to catch up with, friends are always worth reaching out to with a New Year message. Here are a few friendly ways to wish pals past and present a happy new year.

  • Hope this new year brings lots of quality time spent with good people like you.
  • Raising a glass to our friendship as we ring in the new year. Cheers!
  • Thinking of you and looking forward to all the great times we’ll share this year!
  • I have a feeling this is going to be a great year for our friendship.
  • It’s a new year to be grateful that you’re in my life.
  • Here’s hoping our paths cross more often in the new year.
  • Hope to see lots of your wonderful life on our socials this year!
  • New year, same amazing you. Happy New Year to someone who’s perfect as-is.
  • Cheers to another year of us being total bad asses!
  • Here’s to another year of being friends…and being fabulous.
  • So happy our friendship is another year older.
  • Yay for another year of us getting into trouble together.
  • We’re starting fresh, stuntin’ hard and staying fly! Happy New Year, fam.

New Year Messages for Family  

Maybe you just spent the holidays with them. Maybe you haven’t seen them since that one Thanksgiving way back when. Or maybe it’s something kinda in between. Whatever kind of relationship you may have, family is family forever, so here are some New Year messages that might work for your relatives near and far. 

  • Wishing you lots of time with the ones you love most and hold closest in the new year.
  • Hope this new year brings lots of new adventures, sweet memories and family fun together.
  • Another year means more get-togethers, more favorite traditions, more shared memories for our family.
  • Wishing a very happy and healthy new year to someone I’m so grateful to call family.
  • Thinking of all the good times we’ve shared as family in the year behind us and looking forward to sharing even more in the new year!
  • A brand-new year means 365 new reasons to be grateful for family like you.
  • There’s nothing like family, and as we start a new year, I’m glad you’re in mine.
  • New year, same old family. That’s two reasons for me to smile.
  • Hope you have a happy new year, and I’ll see you at the cookouts.
  • One year’s ending, but thankfully family is forever. See you in the new year!

Professional New Year Messages  

They’re your co-workers, customers, business partners, side-hustle helpers and others who are part of your working world—and they’re about to start a whole new year of alarm clocks and coffee pick-me-ups just like you. Consider some of these New Year messages to start them (and your work relationship) off on the right foot.

  • Here’s to success in the new year.
  • Wishing you prosperity and many good things this year.
  • Looking forward to another year of getting to work alongside you.
  • Cheers to another year of keeping our cameras off in meetings as much as possible.
  • New year, more work. Glad we’re in it together.
  • Wishing you joy, success, and many goals reached.
  • [2025] is going to be a great year for [business name] thanks to you!
  • New calendar year, same fiscal year. May both be great!
  • More happy to you—year over year!
  • Thanks for all you’ve done to help our success and here’s to more of it in the new year!
  • Here’s to a new year of helping each other smile at work.
  • If I have to work this year, at least it’s with someone like you.

Romantic New Year Messages  

Who said romance is dead? Not this year, it isn’t! Spouses, romantic partners, significant others, sweethearts, soulmates—whatever you call each other, you can kick off a happy new year of sharing your heart with some of these loving messages.

  • New year, same us. Love that.
  • I’ll love you as much this year as ever.
  • A New Year’s prediction: I’ll be happily loving you through everything it brings us.
  • New year, new reasons to smooch. That’s what I call happy.
  • Just think of all the great stuff we’ll get up to this year!
  • A whole new year of possibilities for showing you how much I love you.
  • Calendar changes. Love stays.
  • Here’s to 365 more days together to hold hands and smooch faces.
  • Another year for us to grow together, into our forever.
  • For the new year, I resolve to keep touching your butt.
  • A new year means many more days that I get to build happiness with you.
  • It’s another “us” year! Here’s to all our new dreams coming true!

Funny New Year Messages  

Maybe the old year was a dumpster fire and you want to start someone’s year off with a little laughter. Or maybe you’re just looking for a place to try out some new stand-up material. Whatever your reason, if a funny new year message is what you’re looking for, try some of these amusing ideas.   

  • We made it to [2025]! (Well, I’m assuming we did, there was a brief gap between me writing this and you getting it.)
  • Hope this year is far less anxiety-inducing than the last!
  • It’s a new year, but same old us. Emphasis on old.
  • My New Year’s celebration will involve being in bed by 9. Hope you get to celebrate however you want.
  • Shouldn’t we be driving hovercrafts by now? Maybe next year…
  • Happy New Year! Let the countdown to ditching our resolutions begin!
  • It’s a new year, and anything can happen.
  • This New Year, let’s resolve to kick a little a**.
  • Best of luck on all your New Year’s resolutions! If you’re still keeping them at the end of January, you’ll be doing better than me!
  • Let’s celebrate this new year with enough champagne to make us do slightly questionable things.

Thoughtful and Heartfelt New Year Messages  

OK, so funny’s not the right tone for your new year message, and you’re looking for something a little more meaningful, a little sweeter, a little more like a Hallmark card. Believe us—we get that. And we got you with these ideas that are a little more tender-hearted.

  • Hope that looking back on [2024] makes you smile and looking ahead to [2025] fills you with joy as you consider the many wonderful possibilities.
  • Wishing you 365 new days of joy.
  • This year, I wish you more of the same. Because you’re doing great.
  • Hope this new year brings lots of fun adventures and many moments that make you smile.
  • Wishing you a whole new year of happy moments making wonderful memories.
  • Hope every day of this new year brings you reasons to feel grateful.
  • A new year means new hopes, and mine for you are all for joy.
  • Wishing you all things happy and hopeful and a wonderful year ahead!
  • A one-of-a-kind person like you deserves a one-of-a-kind new year.
  • You’re on my mind as I greet the new year, and I hope it’s a great one for you!
  • Here’s to the end of a year that just flew. Here’s to the next one, all shiny and new.

Christmas or Belated Christmas New Year Messages  

Christmas comes and Christmas goes, the halls get decked and undecked again, and no matter when your new year messages go out, maybe you want to acknowledge December 25 with a note about the happy holiday itself. Here are some of our ideas— practically gift-wrapped for you—for what you might say when the yuletide is still on your mind.

  • Happy Belated Christmas and Happy Beautiful New Year!
  • I hope you have a great year!*
    *In case I forget the holiday card again, remember all holidays are included in said year.
  • You know what they say: Good things come to those who wait a few extra days. Merry belated Christmas!
  • What this card lacks in timeliness, it makes up for with happy new year wishfulness!
  • Hope your Christmas was very merry and your new year is hugely happy.
  • My New Year’s resolution this year is to send my Christmas cards on time. Hope all your holidays have been happy!
  • Maybe next December I’ll be on top of things enough to send an actual Christmas card. Until then, Happy New Year!
  • Hope your Christmas was magical and your New Year’s celebration is memorable.
  • I hope it’s not too late to send glad tidings for a happy New Year.

Faith-filled and Spiritual New Year Messages  

Every new year brings its own new blessings as well as reasons to be prayerful for the year ahead. These new year message ideas might help you to include a little of your personal faith into your wishes to others.

  • Wishing you all the blessings a new year can bring.
  • “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
  • Happy New Year blessings to you and yours.
  • Prayers for a bright and blessed new year.
  • May God watch over and guide you in all you do this year.
  • Hope this new year is full of God’s little wonders.
  • Wishing you a new year full of love and light.
  • Happy New Year and Glory to God!
  • Thanking God for a new year and wishing you all His blessings.
  • May your glorious faith sustain you and your loved ones in the new year.

New Year Messages of Encouragement and Support  

For some, the new year comes with anxiety, worries, concerns about what the next 365 days will bring and even feelings of discouragement or sadness. And for these folks, even the smallest glimmer of hope in a new year message will mean a lot. Here are some encouraging and supportive ideas of what to write.

  • Each new year brings a new kind of hope.
  • Sending hopes for better days in the new year.
  • There’s nothing like a new year to bring on that motivation!
  • New year, new possibilities, same old me here for you, no matter what.
  • Cheering you on in all the exciting challenges ahead for you this year!
  • It’s going to be big year for you, but you’re ready for it!
  • This is the year of YOU.
  • This is going to be your year.
  • I have a suggestion for your word of the year this year: THRIVE!
  • Wishing you a happier new year.
  • Goodbye to last year, hello to what I hope is the best year.

 

Thanks for visiting and reading! We hope these tips helped and that you are poised for a very happy new year indeed!

 

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