New Year's Resolution Ideas for 2027 You Can Do With a Friend

Most lists of New Year's resolution ideas give you the "what" and leave you alone with the "how." This one pairs every idea with a way to do it with a friend, because that's the part that keeps a resolution alive after the first week.

Below are 52 New Year's resolution suggestions for 2027: healthy ones, fun ones, money ones, and a few that are simply good for the people around you. Each comes with a one-line "together" version. Pick one, send it to one person, and start on January 1.

Why do it with a friend?

Because company is the strongest thing you can add to a resolution. In a well-known study by Wing and Jeffery (1999), people who joined a weight-loss programme with friends were far more likely to keep the weight off: 66% maintained their loss at 10 months, compared with 24% of people who joined alone.

A friend doesn't need the same resolution as you. They just need to notice when you go quiet. We cover the research properly in how to keep your New Year's resolutions.

Noticing is the part that slips first, because nobody wants to text "did you floss?" every night. In Daily Pact it happens on its own: when your friend checks in, you get a notification, and if you've gone quiet, they can nudge you with one tap or react to the day you did show up.

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Good New Year's resolutions for your health

1. Drink water before coffee. Together: send a photo of your glass each morning. First one up wins nothing, but you'll both race anyway.
2. Go to bed by 11pm on weeknights. Together: a "lights out" check-in. Whoever's still up gets teased.
3. Eat a vegetable with every lunch. Together: share one lunch photo a week, no judgment.
4. Walk 20 minutes after dinner. Together: walk at the same time and phone each other, even from different cities.
5. Cut back on sugary drinks. Together: both pick a swap (sparkling water, tea) and check in daily.
6. Try Dry January. Together: this is the one resolution half the country is already doing with someone. See our guide to Dry January with friends, and use Alcohol Change UK's resources if you drink heavily.
7. Floss every night. Together: the most boring streak in the world is much easier to keep when someone else's is next to yours. In a pact, it literally is: your streak and theirs on the same screen.
8. No screens for 30 minutes before bed. Together: a shared "phone down" time, so neither of you is texting the other at midnight.

Fitness resolutions you can do with a friend

9. Move for 20 minutes a day. Together: check in once you've done it. Walking counts for both of you.
10. Do a push-up challenge. Together: start at 5 a day, add one each week, and see who's still going in March.
11. Run a 5K by spring. Together: sign up for the same race in January. The entry fee is the commitment.
12. Hit a step goal. Together: compare weekly totals rather than daily ones, so a desk-job day doesn't feel like losing.
13. Stretch every evening. Together: send a thumbs up when it's done. Ten seconds of effort to stay accountable.
14. Do a January workout challenge. Together: our January workout challenge gives you both a 31-day plan with a clear finish line.
15. Try one new class a month. Together: take turns picking. Climbing, spin, yoga, dance.
16. Take the stairs. Together: count flights for a week and compare. Silly, effective.

Fun New Year's resolutions

17. Watch every film on a list. Together: pick a list (a director, a decade, a best-of), and watch one a week, then talk about it.
18. Learn a party trick. Together: reveal them to each other at the end of January.
19. Visit one new place a month. Together: alternate who chooses. A café, a park, a town you've never been to.
20. Cook a dish from a new country every week. Together: same country, same week, compare results.
21. Do a puzzle every day. Together: the daily word games are perfect: one shared result, every day.
22. Take one photo a day. Together: share it. By December you each have 365 photos of your year.
23. Have a monthly games night. Together: the host picks the game and the snacks.
24. Learn to juggle. Together: film your attempts. The early videos are the best part.
25. Say yes to one new thing a month. Together: report back on it. Good or terrible, it's a story.

Mind and wellbeing resolutions

26. Write three good things a day. Together: send one of your three to your friend. It makes both of your days better.
27. Meditate for five minutes. Together: same time, same free guided session, check in after.
28. Spend 20 minutes outside daily. Together: a quick "outside" check-in is enough.
29. Keep a one-line journal. Together: no sharing the words, just the yes or no.
30. Pick a word of the year. Together: each pick a word and one daily habit that fits it. Our list of word of the year ideas has 50+ to choose from.
31. Pray or read a devotional daily. Together: a church small group or prayer partner is a natural fit. Some groups start the year with a 21-day Daniel fast. Check with your doctor first if you have a health condition.
32. Unfollow accounts that make you feel worse. Together: do a "cleanup hour" on the same evening.

Money resolutions

33. Track every purchase in January. Together: share your total at the end of each week. No amounts if you'd rather not, just "done."
34. Save a fixed amount every payday. Together: save toward the same thing, like a weekend away in summer.
35. Have a no-spend weekend each month. Together: plan a free activity for it so it's a plan, not a sacrifice.
36. Bring lunch three days a week. Together: swap recipes on Sunday.
37. Cancel one subscription a month. Together: a "what did you cancel" message on the first of each month.
38. Wait 48 hours before buying non-essentials. Together: text your friend what you're tempted by. Saying it out loud kills half of it.

Relationship resolutions

39. Text one friend every day. Together: this one is together by definition. Start with the person you're reading this list with.
40. Call your parents weekly. Together: siblings can split it so someone calls every few days.
41. Have a phone-free dinner each week. Together: with a partner, roommates or family. Phones go in a basket.
42. Plan one get-together a month. Together: rotate the organizer so it's never one person's job.
43. Write a thank-you note a month. Together: remind each other on the first of the month.
44. Do something kind every day. Together: share one each evening. It adds up to a nice record.

Learning and creative resolutions

45. Read 10 pages a day. Together: read the same book and have a two-person book club at the end of each month.
46. Learn a language. Together: same language, same app, and a monthly dinner where you try to order in it.
47. Practice an instrument for 15 minutes. Together: send a 30-second clip on Fridays.
48. Write 200 words a day. Together: a word-count check-in. No need to read each other's work.
49. Learn one recipe a month. Together: cook it for each other.
50. Draw or sketch daily. Together: same prompt each day. Plenty of free prompt lists exist.

Home resolutions

51. Declutter one item a day. Together: share the item. The weird ones are the best.
52. Make your bed every morning. Together: a ridiculous thing to check in on, and that's why it works. It's the easiest win of the day.

For 60 more goals sorted by area, see our hub on goals for the new year. If you'd rather start fresh in small steps, try our new year, new me ideas.

How to pick your resolution for 2027

A good New Year's resolution has three things:

• It's binary. At bedtime, you either did it or you didn't. "Read 10 pages" works. "Read more" doesn't.
• It's small enough for your worst day. If it fails when you're tired or ill, it'll fail by week two.
• Someone else can see it. This is the part most people skip.

Then make it short. A year is too far away to feel. A month isn't. That's the idea behind the January Pact: pick one small habit and one friend before New Year, then check in every day from January 1 to 31. If you want a ready-made plan, start with our January challenge.

Mark Friday, January 8, 2027 in your calendar too. Strava found that the second Friday of January is when motivation most often drops, and named it Quitter's Day. Plan a check-in with your friend for that day.

Asking a friend

The ask is smaller than it feels:

"I'm doing one small thing every day in January. Want to pick one too? We'll just check in so neither of us quits."

Time-boxed, mutual, and easy to say yes to. If they want a name for it, they're now your accountabilibuddy.

The simplest way to check in is whatever you both already use. A shared note, a printed habit tracker or a group chat all work. We built Daily Pact for the moment the group chat goes quiet, usually around week two: the check-ins keep going even when the conversation doesn't.

Common questions

What is a good New Year's resolution? One that's small, specific, done daily or weekly, and shared with someone. "Walk 20 minutes after dinner with my sister" is a better resolution than "get in shape."

What are some fun New Year's resolutions? Watching a film list, visiting a new place every month, cooking a dish from a new country each week, a daily puzzle, or a photo a day. Fun resolutions last because you look forward to them.

Do we need the same resolution? No. You can each pick your own and still check in together. A shared one is fun, but the accountability comes from the check-in, not the goal.

How many resolutions should I make for 2027? One. Add a second in February if the first is going well.

What if my friend quits? Keep going and invite them back in. One miss isn't failure, and the habit research backs that up: missing a single day doesn't undo the progress. If it keeps happening, add a third person so the pact doesn't depend on one person.