This time last year I sat down and thought about how I wanted to celebrate the New Year with my children. They love a reason to celebrate and over the last few years we’ve made lots of New Year crafts from New Year bells to a paper bell garland and little confetti boxes. On New Year’s Eve we usually have a nice family meal and play a board game – pretty low key but a lovely way to mark the end of a year.
Just like last year I’ll be printing out the Printable New Year’s Resolution for Kids 2018 from Thirty Handmade Days. It’s perfect and better than I could ever do. I love to keep these in the kid’s memory boxes, last years’ is already fun to look back over!
Why you should create a New Year’s Time Capsule with your kids
This time last year we started a new tradition. We found an empty jar, wrote the year 2017 on it and agreed to use it to hold important items from the year. We put in ticket stubs, the odd photograph, programmes and more.
I couldn’t wait to get our jar out and look through the things we had saved. I have a confession though. The jar was too small and quite quickly got replaced by an old shoe box. It’s a lovely tradition to create a New Year’s Time Capsule with your kids. They enjoyed it as much as I did and were always reminding me to put things in it.
We’ll be creating a New Year’s Time Capsule with the kids again this year. We’ll carefully store last year’s Time Capsule away and start creating lots more happy memories.
Looking back over 2017
Last year was a good year for my little family. I smashed my own little goals of getting a job, losing weight and generally being healthier. I thought it would be fun to take a quick look back over the year, and take a look at my most popular post that month”
January
In January we finished decorating the house, putting up gorgeous Orla Kiely wallpaper in the spare room. The children were busy at school and with their after school activities. We enjoyed a few trips into London for the Lego Batman Movie and the London Model Engineering Exhibition. My kids discovered a love of board games. The most popular post on my blog was our Chinese lantern sun catcher craft.
February
In February I signed up with Slimming World to finally lose some weight. We enjoyed half term away visiting family and my husband bought me a gorgeous Orla Kiely rucksack. Looking back over my photographs of the month I did a *lot* of paper cutting. The most popular post on my blog was 10 St David’s Day crafts.
March
March is birthday month and there were lots of parties and celebrations. With the warmer weather we had more weekends in London, visiting Art of the Brick and going on a Duck Tour. I had an interview for a part time job and loved my day at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show. The most popular post on my blog was The best crafts for kids to celebrate Roald Dahl’s the BFG.
April
My daughter took her Rainbows Promise and we visited the Star Wars Identities exhibition at the O2. We fully embraced Easter and had fun making lots of Easter and Spring crafts. We had some visitors and spend Easter with my mum, visiting the Haynes Motor Museum and some beautiful National Trust properties. The most popular post on my blog was 10 Sylvanian Families crafts.
May
We finally visited the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre and Montacute House. We got excited for Star Wars Day and crafted a bug hotel. Our crafts were definitely inspired by the season and we experimented with lavender shortbread and playdough. The most popular post on my blog was 10 Sylvanian Families crafts again.
June
In June we started upping our game on our YouTube channel. My kids love YouTube and suddenly wanted to make their own videos. They made videos of their favourite toys and unboxed every toy they were sent to review! The weather was amazing so we spent lots of time in our garden, as well as a trip to Wings and Wheels. The most popular post on my blog was How to build a mud kitchen.
July
July is one of my favourite months. I went to a few Christmas in July press shows and went to endless Sports Days and end of year assemblies. The children both achieved their Yellow belts in karate. We went to another air show, the Scale Weekend. The summer holidays started and we had some great days out at the Roald Dahl Museum, attended our first Prom and went to The Emoji Movie preview. The most popular post on my blog (again!) was our 10 Sylvanian Families crafts.
August
With the long summer holidays stretched before us we had lots of plans. We iced biscuits at The Biscuiteers, attended the screening of The Grossery Gang Movie, went to Legoland Windsor, saw Horrible Histories Live and watched Paw Patrol Live. I went to a fab biscuit decorating workshop at Tatty Devine. Autumn came early and we picked blackberries and played with sycamore seeds. We also visited a Lavender Farm and more beautiful National Trust houses. The most popular post on my blog was 15 crafts for celebrating Roald Dahl Day.
September
September came far too quickly and my children went back to school. We planned exciting adventures for our weekends, visiting Ickenham Miniature Railway, The Postal Museum and Mail Rail as well as riding on a steam train from Amersham to Ruislip. I had a great day at The Handmade Fair with my sister and got my hands on the iPhone 8 Plus. The most popular post on my blog was our 15 crafts for celebrating Roald Dahl Day again.
October
In October I spent a day at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally with a friend. I browsed everything and brought some lovely fabrics for my stash. We had a busy half term visiting family and friends in Bristol, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight. We went to a pumpkin patch for the first time, which the children loved. The most popular post on my blog was our 5 pumpkin patches near London for families.
November
November passed in a bit of a blue. We went ice skating at Queen’s and tried out the latest family games at the Playstation Family Showcase. I was invited to the Mumsnet Influencer conference, the BritMums YouTube event and my daughter celebrated her birthday with an epic party. We watched The Gruffalo’s Child which was amazing. The most popular post on my blog was our post Creating silhouette wall art with Photoshop Elements 2018.
December
December started with a bang. Advent means Advent calendars and Elf on the Shelf. There were Christmas nativity plays, a carol concert, and Star Wars The Last Jedi. The most popular post on my blog was our 10 Sylvanian Families crafts.
I love the idea of making a time capsule with the children, we will definitely be giving it a go!
I think time capsules are a fun and creative idea and definitely something the kids would look forward to. I don’t have kids but would love to do this with my nephew
I’ve never made a time capsule with my kids, I just haven’t thought about it but it is such a lovely activity to do together. Happy New year, Mich x
I think that time capsules is such a great way of documenting memories and would be such a wonderful keepsake to have for years to come x
That is such a brilliant idea for the new year – I might have to do this with Jack and Olivia
A time capsule sounds amazing. Sounds like you guys had a great year and you have done so well smashing your gaols, here’s to a fabulous 2018 x
I love the idea of making a time capsule as I think it’s lovely to look back over the years. Last year was very special for me as I became a mum! I’ve loved watching my daughter grow and like you I had so many memories. Here’s to another year filled with love and laughter.
I absolutely love this idea! Oscar loves looking back at things we’ve saved from days out, so he would definitely appreciate us doing something like this. Thank you so much for the idea 🙂
Louise x
I love this idea for a post, it’s a great way to look back on previous years. I’ve recently started slimming world and just hope I can stick to it! 🙂
Creating a New Year’s time capsule is a wonderful idea! It’s a meaningful way to preserve memories and reflect on the passing year. Thanks for sharing this creative activity that families can enjoy together.