Hip2Save This Holiday: Family Activity for Making New Year’s Resolutions
Hip2Save This Holiday Guest Post Submitted By Reader Jodi…
I wanted to share with you a New Year’s Eve tradition that my family has been doing for 9 years. We have 4 boys, and wanted to make New Year’s Eve a special time for them, so I came up with this idea. And the best part… it requires buying NOTHING!
Items needed:
*An Empty Plastic Jar (you will need just one for the whole family)
*Stickers/Ribbon to Decorate the Jar
*A Good Imagination
*Pieces of Paper Cut into Strips to Write Resolutions On
*Various Items from Around the House – 1 of each item for each person (pennies, pieces of tinsel from the tree, birthday candles, Christmas napkins, Legos, small toys, pipe cleaners, small pencils, toothpicks, paper clips, rubber bands, hard candies, etc.)
What to do:
1. Decorate the jar with stickers, ribbon and label it with the year. As you can see from the picture, that wasn’t my real focus.
2. As you’re gathering the items, think about how you can make each item “symbolize” something desirable for the uponlineing new year.
3. Write down the items and their meaning, so when you start the “New Years Ceremony,” (details to onlinee) it feels very official. For example, Pennies= prosperity, Tinsel=Christmas, Legos= “building” a solid year, Toys= remind us to have fun, Rubber Bands= “stretch and challenge ourselves”, Candies= “to be sweet and kind to others”, Small Pencils= “to try your best to get good grades in school”, etc.
4. Sit the kids down at the table, and have each person write down their New Year’s resolutions (usually 2). Fold them and have each person keep them in front of them. Then give each person their own pile of items you’ve collected. Then, hold up each item and start your speech.
“This penny symbolizes prosperity and wealth that I wish for all of us in the uponlineing year.” Then, we pass the jar around the table and everyone drops in their penny, one at a time.”
“This Christmas tinsel is to remind us of the joy we feel during Christmas time, bright and glistening.” Then, we pass the jar around the table again, each dropping in their small piece of tinsel.”
“This birthday candle is to celebrate each of our birthdays and how grateful I am each of you were born.” Then, we pass the jar around, dropping in their candle, one person at a time.”
With each item, this is repeated, until we’ve finished. Everyone can share or choose to keep their resolutions private, those go into the jar, then we seal it up. We toast the New Year with apple cider and we’re done.
It’s so fun to do this, and to look back at the previous year’s resolutions and items. We always laugh at the resolutions (“hey, when I was 3, I wanted to learn to blow bubbles with gum!”), and reflect on the items and how the year went. It’s a family tradition that I really love!
