Throughout the year, thousands of visitors filter through the Times Square Visitor Center, located between 46th and 47th Street on Seventh Avenue, where the famous ball is housed. Inside, guests can learn more about the history of Times Square (including its famously seedy past) or get a recommendation on the coolest places to shop, but before they leave, they're each given the opportunity to make a wish.

All of the wishes, from the personal to the universal, are written on brightly-colored strips of paper and displayed on a large section of the wall in the Visitor Center labeled "Hopes and Dreams". As the wishes pile up through the year, they're routinely pulled down and saved to make room for new dreams. And if you haven't guessed it by now, these wishes make up the confetti that's launched into the skies on New Year's Eve. The special "Hopes and Dreams" confetti is peppered into batches of blank confetti that is set off from various rooftops across Times Square... since such a massive amount of confetti is used during the celebration!