Every year this one amazing day comes around that is typically filled with a walk, a puzzle, American football, and pizza.  While all of those things combined make for a perfectly relaxing way to spend New Year’s Day, I also find the first day of the new year the perfect opportunity to shed the old and embrace the new.  

What To Do On New Year’s Day With The Family

Over the years that’s meant I’ve done everything from closet purging to massive organizing on New Year’s Day.  While I consider purging and organizing blissful ways to spend the 1st, it’s not great fun together as a family.  In fact, it’s probably my family’s worse nightmare.

As an expat, it’s tempting to try to convince my family we should include a massive closet purge on New Year’s Day, especially considering at some point we’ll be moving again, but this year is different.

Unlike the year before where I wanted nothing more than for the year to be over and never remember or relive a single minute of it, this year has been the complete opposite.  It’s been a year full of miracles, with my mom now in full remission, my niece becoming a new mom, and many amazing adventures that we never imagined we’d experience as a family in our lifetime.

But what do we do with all that?  How do we remember all the things that brought so much joy or memories that we don’t want to forget?  (Especially since I can’t even remember what we did last week! 😂)

Sure, a photo book is one solution.  But let’s be honest. It’s a lot of work that’s typically done by none other than mom.  Right?

Instead of a photo book, get the whole family involved and make a year bag on New Year’s Day.    

What’s a year bag?  

Well, I just made it up.  Granted a good friend planted the seed.  His time capsule idea really got me thinking about how to capture every year, not just one big final hoorah.  It makes perfect sense for what to do with all the little things collected throughout the year that we simply don’t know what to do with but too afraid to throw out.

How To Make A Year Bag

1. Get a zipper bag, box or even a biscuit tin.  Decorate the outside of it as a family, with the year being the most important label.
2. Every family member takes a piece of paper and writes out or bullet lists their highlights, or lowlights, of the year.  Include whatever you want to remember the year.
3. Every family member retrieves things they’ve saved from the year to include in the year bag.  Try these:
   1. Sporting event tickets
   2. Plane, train or bus tickets
   3. Museum pamphlets
   4. School awards
   5. Pictures
   6. Pet mementos
   7. Dried flowers or leaves
   8. Anything goes…the point is, what did you do last year that was special or meaningful that you don’t want to forget?
4. Each family member then shares what they’ve written and the items that reflect the year.
5. Once done, add to the bag, box or tin.  Seal it. Store it somewhere to not open for a very long time.

This will be the first year we make a year bag on New Year’s Day.  Perhaps being an expat inspired the need to start doing this, but the reality is, every year as a family is one to not pass by without pausing to recall all memories of the year.  With young children, a year bag helps ensure they’ll remember someday all the things. And even if they don’t, it’s a great thing to do as a family on New Year’s Day.

Whether you’ve had a good year or not so great one, what to do on New Year’s Day with the family can be as blissful as you want.  Maybe it’s just all about the family walk in the park with no looking back and only forward. But if you think a walk down memory lane might ever be something to return to, then consider making a year bag on New Year’s Day.  Why not?

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