Google has unveiled a special New Year’s Eve 2025 Doodle, marking the arrival of New Year 2026 with a vibrant, party-inspired design. The festive Doodle captures the excitement of the midnight countdown and reflects the global spirit of celebration as the world prepares to step into a new year.
In the Doodle, the familiar Google logo appears in glittering gold letters, setting a celebratory tone. At the centre, shimmering silver balloon numerals display “2025,” which magically transform into “2026” when users hover their cursor over the design. These balloon-style numbers float above the logo, resembling oversized helium balloons ready for a New Year’s bash.
Adding to the festive atmosphere, two gold-and-white striped party poppers placed at the bottom centre burst open, releasing purple and golden streamers. Tiny stars and colourful confetti scatter across the design, creating the feel of a midnight celebration filled with sparkle and joy.
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The overall artwork perfectly captures the essence of New Year’s Eve, complete with balloons, glitter, and flying decorations, as Google officially welcomes the beginning of 2026.
According to Google’s official description, “This annual Doodle celebrates New Year’s Eve across the world, when billions of people gather with friends and family to reflect on the past year and welcome the new one. Soon, the clock will strike midnight to officially mark the start of 2026!”
Google Doodles: A Brief History
Google’s journey with Doodles began in 1998, when the company introduced its first-ever Doodle as a simple out-of-office message. The design indicated that founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were attending the Burning Man festival, marking the humble beginning of what would later become a global creative tradition.
Over the past 25 years, Google Doodles have transformed into a powerful artistic medium celebrating important personalities, cultures, historical milestones, and global events. To date, Google has created more than 5,000 Doodles worldwide.
Some of the earliest Doodles featured a playful storyline involving aliens stealing the Google logo and taking it to Mars. In 2000, Google released its first international Doodle to commemorate Bastille Day in France, expanding its reach beyond the United States.
Today, Google often releases multiple Doodles simultaneously across different regions, each reflecting local traditions, festivals, and cultural identities.
Evolution Of Doodles: From Animation To AI
The year 2000 also marked a milestone when Google introduced animation through its Halloween Doodle. The iconic ‘O’s in the logo were turned into glowing jack-o’-lanterns, complete with flickering lights and a crawling spider, setting the foundation for animated Doodles.
In 2011, Google took a major leap by introducing live-action Doodles. The first such creation honoured Charlie Chaplin on his 122nd birth anniversary and featured members of the Google Doodle team themselves.
The evolution continued in 2018, when Google entered the world of virtual reality with a 360-degree Doodle celebrating filmmaker Georges Méliès. A year later, in 2019, Google launched its first AI-powered Doodle dedicated to composer Johann Sebastian Bach, allowing users to create melodies that were automatically harmonised in Bach’s musical style.
Major Google Doodles Of 2025
Throughout 2025, Google Doodles blended interactive games, cultural storytelling, and global celebrations. One of the standout creations was “Rise of the Half Moon,” a monthly browser-based game inspired by the lunar calendar, where players used strategy cards to compete against an AI-controlled moon.
Google also refreshed its iconic Halloween PAC-MAN Doodle and introduced the new AI Mode ‘Super G’ logo on July 1.
Festive Doodles marked several important occasions, including Lunar New Year on January 29, Earth Day on April 22, and India’s Independence Day on August 15. December saw a series of inclusive holiday-themed Doodles celebrating seasonal diversity.
Google further celebrated its 27th birthday on September 27, reviving the popular Doodle for Google contest.
The year concluded with the release of Google’s 2025 Year in Search video on December 8, accompanied by a special Doodle available exclusively in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The video highlighted some of the most searched topics of the year, including Lady Gaga’s world tour, the Labubu craze, League of Kingdoms Arena (LOKA) trading, Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner tennis matches, and India’s Women’s World Cup victory, among many others.
