What are your New Years traditions?
A fairly common one in Mexico is wearing white, another is eating grapes. What do you do? Is it a family thing?
7 Answers
In Spain we dress very elegantly that night, and lately, I do not know why , we wear red underwear.
We have dinner late, and exactly at 12 o'clock, we eat 12 grapes to the beat of the Puerta del Sol clock's chimes. Then, still choking down the grapes, we do several toasts with champagne, and kiss each other, giving lots of hugs to everybody. At that time, your mobile phone starts ringing and it'll soon be saturated with SMS messages of Happy New Year!, so many phone systems stop working.
After that, the older folks go to bed and children drag their feet, not wanting to go bed yet and, usually, that night being an exception, their parents let them watch some comedy show on TV or the-best-of-the year-that-was-show (which will be replayed the next day `ad nauseum´), and the rest of the people go out all night until morning. It's a night when you dance until you drop.
And the next day, January, 1st, (if this day can be considered a real day here in Spain) , normally you make an attempt to get up to eat with your family (rarely successful because your stomach is saying "no thanks"), but you finally do it, because family is family. And while you're eating, the older folks will say "Hey! You don't look too good today!", and you will smile while trying to pay attention to the TV show that all the children have already seen. And after that, you sleep the nap of the year.
Corrections are welcome 
Edited : Thanks Ray, Lorenzo and Amy!
My mother was raised in the south, and says that it is old Southern tradition to clean the house from top to bottom (to start off the new year in a clean house) and then we eat "Hoppin' Johns", which are field peas and rice. As for ringing in the new years, well, that is old fashioned too - banging pots and pans and yelling "HAPPY NEW YEAR!". Since I left home I have traded banging pots and pans for a night out with friends and a champagne toast. I also like to keep up with the "New Year's kiss" tradition, but since my boyfriend and I can't seem to be free for a New Year's together (we're both military), I have been having to skip that one. 
Miramos la celebración de Times Square en la televisión y tomamos unas copas. Somos viejos. No es muy interesante. Y vivimos en California, y por eso podemos dormirnos temprano porque estamos tres horas detrás del tiempo en Nueva York. No lo recomiendo.
We watch the celebration from Times Square on TV and have a few drinks. We are old. It's not very interesting. And we live in California, so we can go to sleep early because we are three hours behind New York. I don't recommend it.
Throwing silver coins into my house for prosperity. Yes it is a family event
In Spain we dress very elegantly that night, and lately, I do not know why , we wear red underwear.
We have dinner late, and exactly at 12 o'clock, we eat 12 grapes to the beat of the Puerta del Sol clock's chimes. Then, still choking down the grapes, we do several toasts with champagne, and kiss each other, giving lots of hugs to everybody. At that time, your mobile phone starts ringing and it'll soon be saturated with SMS messages of Happy New Year!, so many phone systems stop working.
After that, the older folks go to bed and children drag their feet, not wanting to go bed yet and, usually, that night being an exception, their parents let them watch some comedy show on TV or the-best-of-the year-that-was-show (which will be replayed the next day `ad nauseum´), and the rest of the people go out all night until morning. It's a night when you dance until you drop.
And the next day, January, 1st, (if this day can be considered a real day here in Spain) , normally you make an attempt to get up to eat with your family (rarely successful because your stomach is saying "no thanks"), but you finally do it, because family is family. And while you're eating, the older folks will say "Hey! Y*ou don't **look too good today!", and you will smile while trying to pay attention to the TV show that all the children have already seen. And after that, you sleep the nap of the year.
Our New Year's Eve tradition is borrowed from our Danish friends. We watch the fire works on tele, drink champagne and eat Kransekager which are a cross between a biscuits and a cake the length of your fingers. It tapers at the top making it resembles Viking Long Houses. Icing is drizzled on top. It is made mainly from ground almonds. My partner is half Scottish but we don't do anything like First Footing. Then on New Year's Day, we watch the concert live from Vienna and drink the rest of the champagne and eat more Kransekager.
I do more for Chinese New Year, but that's for another thread.
