2026 Year in Review: 100 Questions to Look Back on Your Year

How to do a year in review

You don’t need a planner or a template. Pick the format that fits the people you are with:

• On your own. Set a timer for 20 minutes, pick six questions from the first list and write the answers down. Scroll through your camera roll first; photos bring back months you’ve already forgotten.
• As a couple. Make it a date. Go to a favorite restaurant or cook at home, take turns asking questions and save the “looking ahead” ones for dessert. There is a full list of end of year questions for couples if you want more.
• With friends. Draw questions at dinner, hand out the 2026 awards below, or drop one question a day into the group chat during the last week of December.

Year in review questions to ask yourself

1. What are three words that sum up 2026 for you?
2. What was the best day of your year, start to finish?
3. What did you do this year that last year’s you would not believe?
4. What took up more of your time than it deserved?
5. Which goal from January did you quietly drop, and was that the right call?
6. What did you get better at without really trying?
7. What was the hardest thing you dealt with, and what got you through it?
8. Which habit stuck this year?
9. What did you spend money on that was completely worth it?
10. What did you spend money on that you regret?
11. Which person did you see less of this year, and do you miss them?
12. When did you feel most like yourself?
13. What are you proud of that nobody else noticed?
14. What is something you finally stopped worrying about?
15. Where did you feel at home this year?
16. What did your body need this year that you didn’t give it?
17. What is a belief you held in January that you don’t hold anymore?
18. Which small daily routine made your year better?
19. What is a mistake you made that taught you something useful?
20. If 2026 were a chapter in a book, what would its title be?

Year in review questions for couples

1. What is a small thing I did this year that you secretly loved?
2. When were we the best team this year?
3. What is the dumbest thing we argued about?
4. Which lazy Sunday was the perfect one?
5. What is one thing I got better at this year?
6. When did you miss me the most?
7. What was the best surprise either of us pulled off?
8. Which moment this year made you think you picked the right person?
9. What is a new inside joke we made this year?
10. Which friends did we have the best time with?
11. What did we buy together that we use every day?
12. What is one thing about us that changed this year, for the better?

For a longer, couples-only list with questions about your relationship and the year ahead, see our end of year questions for couples.

Year in review questions for friends

1. What was your biggest fail this year?
2. Which app ate most of your screen time?
3. What is the most random thing you googled this year?
4. What was the wildest night of your year?
5. Which outfit from this year are you secretly proud of?
6. What was the best compliment you got?
7. What is the dumbest way you hurt yourself this year?
8. What is the best thing you cooked?
9. Which group plan actually happened, and which one died in the chat?
10. What did you get into this year that nobody saw coming?
11. Which message did you regret sending the second you sent it?
12. What was the best trip you took, even a short one?
13. Who in this room had the biggest glow-up?
14. What is a trend you joined and would rather forget?
15. What was the best night we had together this year?

Deep reflection questions

1. What is the biggest lesson this year taught you?
2. What changed your mind about something important?
3. Which conversation this year will you never forget?
4. Who do you wish you had thanked properly?
5. Which worry turned out to be nothing?
6. Who came into your life this year and made it better?
7. What advice would you give the you from last January?
8. Which tough decision are you glad you made?
9. What did you let go of, and how does it feel now?
10. Which version of you showed up most this year?
11. What are you taking with you into next year?
12. What do you need to forgive yourself for before the year ends?

Funny year in review questions: the 2026 awards

Read each award out loud, count to three and everyone points at the winner. Whoever gets the most fingers has to explain themselves.

1. Worst haircut of the year
2. Most screen time, by a mile
3. Best excuse for cancelling plans
4. Most dramatic reaction to something small
5. Biggest impulse purchase
6. Most likely to still be writing 2026 in February
7. Best accidental photo
8. Most voice notes sent
9. Strangest new hobby
10. Most “I’m never drinking again” statements
11. Best travel disaster story
12. Most improved cook
13. Worst sense of direction on a trip
14. Most suspicious online order
15. Friend who carried the group chat

Want more games where everyone votes? Play Who’s Most Likely To or read our hot seat questions.

Month by month: a 2026 recap

Go around the table and take one month each, or answer all twelve on your own. Open your photos from that month before you answer.

1. January: What did you promise yourself, and how long did it last?
2. February: What was the coziest night of winter?
3. March: What was the first thing that made you feel spring was coming?
4. April: What is a plan you made that actually happened?
5. May: Who did you spend the most time with?
6. June: What did the first long, warm evening look like?
7. July: Where were you on the hottest day of the year?
8. August: What was the best thing you did with your time off, or the thing you wish you had?
9. September: What did you start fresh after the summer?
10. October: What was your best night out, or best night in?
11. November: What are you grateful for from the past year?
12. December: How do you want to spend the last few days of the year?

(If you live in the southern hemisphere, swap the seasons. The questions still work.)

Looking ahead: questions to plan 2027

1. What do you want to try for the first time next year?
2. Which habit are you leaving behind in 2026?
3. If 2027 had a theme word, what would it be?
4. Which concert, trip or event can’t you miss?
5. What do you want to say yes to more often?
6. Which resolution are you never making again?
7. Which fear would you like to face?
8. Which city have you never been to but want to visit?
9. Which splurge are you allowing yourself?
10. How do you want to celebrate your next birthday?
11. Where do you want to be by this time next year?
12. Which tradition from this year are you definitely keeping?
13. What would make 2027 a good year, in one sentence?
14. Who do you want to see more of next year?

Make it a game

The lists above work on their own, but a game keeps the conversation going without anyone having to play host.

Draw and answer. Write ten to twenty questions on slips of paper and put them in a bowl or a glass. Take turns drawing one; the person who draws answers first, then everyone else. Each player gets one pass.

Guess who wrote it. Everyone writes an anonymous answer to the same question, like “best day of the year”, and the group guesses who wrote which. It works best with old friends.

Year in Review in the Duoo app. Duoo, an iPhone and iPad app with party games for two to eight players, has a Year in Review game with cards in five categories: Us, Friends, Deep, Spicy and Looking Ahead. It runs offline on one phone, so you can pass it around the table. The free card game at the top of this page uses a sample of those cards.

For the night itself, see our New Year’s Eve questions, New Year’s Eve party games, New Year’s Eve games for couples and the New Year’s Eve bingo cards.