The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries. They were announced on 29–30 December 1995 to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1996 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the Cook Islands, The Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Antigua and Barbuda.