How to Start a Family and Children Friendly New Year's Tradition

Create a memorable activity which will help you not only remember the activities you and your family did in this past year, but it will also help you start a wonderful new family tradition for New Year's Eve that is family and children friendly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Pictures from 2007 activities. These can be prints or a CD with the most memorable moments (you can rush this over to a one hour photo place to get your prints in a jiffy)- You will need about 60 pic
• 12 envelopes
• A large Scrapbook or sheets of cardstock paper
• Double sided tape or glue sticks
• Memoribilia from places you visited (ticket stubs, programs etc.)
• Stickers, embellishments, markers, scissors and all the crafting supplies you can get your hands on.
• A basket, bucket or shoe box for each person participating.
• A big table with room for supplies, lots of creativity and loads of fun.

1. Start off with only five or six good pictures from events that took place in 2007. It is very important to do this; if you have too many pictures it will turn into a "task" rather than a fun tradition. Get your 12 envelopes and mark them each with one month of the year.
2. Gather all your pictures and sort them according to month, if you took pictures of an event each month, then you should have twelve envelopes with pictures in them. If there was a month in which you didn't take pictures, don't worry about it! It is the quality of time spent with the family and the children looking at pictures from the year, and not the quantity of pictures you use.
3. Now you have all your envelopes in place, put them face down and have each member of the family pick an envelope. For younger children, you might want to decorate the envelope with a picture related to the month, for example a snowman in December, or a pumpkin for October.
4. Give each person a basket, bucket or shoe box filled with all the things they will need:(you can easily find these at a dollar store near you.)
   
   - Scissors
   - Markers
   - Stickers
   - Glue stick
   - Memorabilia
   - And just about anything cute you might want to stick to your paper, think outside the box! Buttons, feathers, and even some macaroni might make beautiful additions to the pages.
   
   Don't forget to give them a page from the scrapbook or a sheet or two of cardstock paper to make their creation.
5. Play some fun music, and have each person pick a spot to do their memory page of the month. Don't have enough family members to do all the pages? Then have each person pick 2 or 3 or even 4 envelopes and work on the corresponding months.
6. Set a timer for 30 minutes, when the time is up, have everyone go to the snack area (set up a snack area with yummy goodies for everyone to enjoy). The snack break will last 15 minutes. Choose one member of the family and have each person in the group ask a "wh" question about their page. For example "What month are you working on?" or "What is the page you are doing about?". Each member of the family should be asked questions about their page.
   
   Once the break is over, head back to the work stations and set timer for another 30 minutes.
7. During the second break, have a "walk around" where everyone will walk around and look at the pages in progress giving positive feedback on the work and talking about the memories in the pictures.
8. Once everyone has finished their pages, put the book together. If it is a scrapbook, place pages in page protectors. If you are working with loose cardstock sheets, use a 3 way hole puncher and tie them together with some pretty ribbon.
9. Sit down and count down the minutes to New Year by enjoying this family made masterpiece! Make one each New Year's Eve and create a fun easy way to keep memories and create a wonderful family tradition which will continue for years to come.

Tips & Warnings

• When working with young children, make sure to have an adult help them with certain tasks, but don't limit them, this is not about perfection, it is about looking back in ten years and remembering how little hands at work made these beautiful creations come together with their own special touch.
• When possible, use safe acid free paper for your projects, you can find an assortment of great items at a descent price in dollar stores and even some drug stores.
• Monitor children with scissors and small craft supplies.
• Make sure to have copies of the pictures you are using. Don't use family heirloom pictures that are irreplaceable, make a scanned copy of these and print out a "usable one" on your printer or one hour photo place.