When is it acceptable to stop saying Happy New Year?

As the New Year celebrations are over, everyone is recovering from their hangovers and returning to their normal routines after the festive period.

With kids back in the classrooms and adults back at work, the celebrations have come to an end - so when is the right time to stop saying Happy New Year to one other?

Of course, there is no crystal clear date for this and is a topic that is often up for debate when this time of year rolls around.

Opinions clearly vary since in a poll conducted by CambridgeshireLive back in 2017, over 22 per cent of respondents said they stopped wishing people a Happy New Year once New Year’s Day was over.

However, more people kept up the greeting, as 63 per cent continue to say it throughout the first week of January.

A week after January 1 seems to be the consensus as the cut-off point for saying Happy New Year - in 2013, CNN's Dean Obeidallah agreed.

"Telling people “Happy New Year” more than a week after the first of the year is like keeping your Christmas lights up until February. It’s tacky," he wrote.

When exactly is it acceptable to stop saying Happy New Year? Most people think, anytime after the first week of the new yeariStockphoto by Getty Images

Meanwhile, party and wedding etiquette expert Lisa Forde explained toMetro why the greeting has an expiry date.

"Wishing someone Happy New Year or Merry Christmas can be a positive greeting but it does have a say by date," and added how saying this once the first week of the new year is over can be "unwanted" and sound "insincere."

She also noted how this can be a more depressing time of year for people as the festive period is now over.

"People want to settle into the new year as quickly as possible without being reminded that it is a new year, or that new year’s celebrations and Christmas are over. This can be depressing, and can often feel like they happened months ago, and being reminded won’t be appreciated.

Forde continued: "It can also prevent both the person greeting and the person being greeted to from moving forward and embracing the new year."

So there you go, you have five more days to say Happy New Year!

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