Bring the Family

Ring in the New Year with a Happy Jar

Posted by Toni | Filed under Adventures at Home, Featured Articles

My friend Sarah at This Mom’s Wired came up with a fantastic New Year’s project for families and was nice enough to let me share it here. A mom of two girls ages 4 and 7, Sarah was looking for something fun to do as a family on New Year’s Eve when the idea for the Happy Jar project came to her. “Before kids, my husband and I enjoyed these really amazing New Years Eve nights out – we’d do dinner with friends, go dancing, and just really do it up,” she says. “After kids? Well, it’s HARD to find a babysitter, so I wanted to start a tradition that would make being at home fun.”

What’s a Happy Jar, and how do you make one?

Every week, have each family member write something good that’s happening in their lives on a small piece of paper and put it in the happy jar that you made on New Year’s Eve (or Day). At year’s end, empty the jar and have the family read all of the wonderful memories from the year before. Simple fun combined with family togetherness–can’t beat that.

“This is actually a variation of our nighttime ritual, where I ask the girls about their favorite part of their day,” says Sarah. “So they’re used to pulling out the good moments, even in a mundane day. This is just kind of taking it a step further for them – writing it down so we don’t forget these moments.” There’s also a serious side to the project for Sarah, but in a good way that I think many of us can relate to. “The past few years have been pretty difficult, but at the end of 2009, things finally started turning,” she says. “I feel an optimism and hope for the coming year – something that I haven’t felt in a while – and I’m really looking forward to capturing these moments because I KNOW it’s going to be a good year.”

As far as making a Happy Jar, Sarah says she’s not crafty (whew!), so she kept it simple. “I found this thing called a ‘cracker jar’ at Target for about $5 and we picked out some stickers to decorate it.” Of course, there are dozens ways to make and decorate a Happy Jar – or whatever Happy Container you and the kids think will work. Wrapping the jar in yarn or ribbons using glue, or making a stained glass tissue paper jar, or getting funky with some Sharpies will also work. The sky’s the limit, which is part of what makes this idea so great.

Sarah also created a Happy Jar flickr group where families can share images related to their weekly happiness throughout the year. How cool is that? If you make a Happy Jar for 2010, please share a link to a photo in the comments, and join Sarah’s flickr group. And from my family to yours, may 2010 be everything you hope it will, and better!

Permalink | Comments (5) | December 31, 2009

5 Responses to “Ring in the New Year with a Happy Jar”

1. Jennifer S Says:
   December 31st, 2009 at 9:52 pm

   Very cute idea! So many different twists to it as well. A birthday jar for each person to read on their birthday, wish jar, prayer jar, blessings jar. The beauty of simplicity. Love it!

2. Meagan Francis Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 1:25 pm

   Oh, I so love this idea!

3. parenting BY dummies Says:
   January 28th, 2010 at 12:34 pm

   I found you through the Fat Girl’s Guide site (the one where I belong) and have to say I LOVE your photos. So colorful and sharp. Envious is what I am. Also, I love finding other boy moms to rub keystrokes with b/c sometimes no one else really gets it. Thanks for the great ideas. I’ve been looking for more positive ways to spend time together.

4. cricut scrapbooking tool Says:
   February 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm

   Great site, exactly what I was looking for, I can’t get your RSS feed to work right in google chrome though, is it on my end?

5. Toni Says:
   February 2nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm

   Wow, cricut scrapbooking tool, I have no idea why the RSS isn’t working. I’ve never used Chrome before – any way you can check a user group and see if it’s a known issue? I use Feedburner for my feed, if that’s helpful at all. Thanks for stopping by!

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