‘Tis the season for resolutions but instead of going it alone, why not make resolutions a team sport this year? Working towards resolutions as a family is not only a great bonding opportunity, it can be a teaching moment for your kids to learn about setting goals, navigating roadblocks, and celebrating successes together.

4 Tips for Setting Resolutions You Can Keep 

Start with a Vision Board 

Before you get to specific resolutions, allow yourself to daydream a little. Gather all those magazines you’ve been holding onto and cut out images that spark your imagination. Whether you choose pictures of things you want to make, adventures you’d like to take, or visions of your future self, seeing encouraging visuals will help manifest positivity. You can turn this into one collaborative board or let each family member make their own.

  (source: Meri Cherry)

Keep Resolutions Simple

Make sure resolutions are easy for your child to understand, and therefore accomplish. When setting individual goals, younger kids can focus on smaller daily tasks while older kids can practice self care like identifying healthy activities they enjoy or finding positive ways to deal with stress. Nutritionist and Pediatrician Dr. Laura Jana says that, “Picking an unrealistic goal serves to make you feel bad about yourself, whereas a New Year’s resolution that is meant to be life-enhancing and long-lasting can be great for your family.” 

Frame them Positively

Treat resolutions as an opportunity to treat yourself well, not trip yourself up. When you frame resolutions positively, rather than as a matter of self-sacrifice and denial, success is achievable. “Instead of a resolution like ‘No desserts this year,'” a family might choose something more attainable like ‘Eat healthier this year,’” says Paul Tough, author of “How Children Succeed.”

Include Kids in the Process

Kids will be much more invested in keeping resolutions that they’ve helped make. Go Gingham blogger Sara Tetreault explains that in order for a resolution to be successful “you have to market it to your kids and get their buy-in. Instead of saying, ‘OK, the parents have decided this,’ we say, ‘Let’s think about how we can improve ourselves and spend more time together as a family in the process.’”  

Our Favorite Family Resolutions                                                                              Continuing with the theme of positivity, we’ve listed ideas for resolutions you can work towards as team. Each category has a few potential activities to get you started but put your personal spin on them to fit your family best.

DIY Charts to Keep you on Track 

“Taking the time out to acknowledge successes throughout the year is an important way to motivate your kids to carry on,” says Jennie Lyon, a sustainable living blogger. Keep your team on course with a chart that helps them see their progress. Whether you make a giant board for the the entire family or one for each member, make sure to take the time to celebrate when you reach your goals.

Take inspiration from chore charts to break down goals into digestible steps. Here are a few of our favorites!

1. To literally stay “on track” create this clever race car board that’s sure to be a kid pleaser. (via Hot Wheels)
2. Let your kids stage pictures that represent each of their goals then turn them into magnets. They’ll feel a sense of accomplishment by following their own lead. How to from Sisters Suitcase Blog.
3. Patterned washi tape creates a cheery chart that can easily include the whole family. Give each family member their own row and write group goals across the top. Follow Grey House Harbor’s easy instructions.
4. Goals with tickets give kids something tangible to work towards. Hello Splendid suggests allowing kids to turn in tickets for prizes or treats but they could also add up to a family outing if everyone pools theirs!

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Thank you Moose Toys for sponsoring this post. Get crafty with your kiddo and make “ooniements” with Oonies by Moose Toys this holiday season!

I’m a mom and I’m a serious crafter, so I’m almost always fine with making a big crafting mess. But sometimes around the holidays when crafting, wrapping, and decorating is at its height, I feel like my kids are the cobbler’s kids with no shoes (or in this case, crafter’s kids with no crafts)— sometimes I just can’t deal with one more messy art project!

When we got this cool Oonies by Moose Toys, my kids were immediately excited (they had seen them on YouTube kids!), so they basically taught me what to do…a testament to how easy it is to use. We decided that we would invite some friends over to make “ooniements” for a little Christmas tree.

Oonies are like tiny, sticky balloons…they stick to each other and each set comes with eyes, tails, fins, arms, noses, etc to turn them into cute little creatures. There are tons of ideas in the booklet that comes with the toy, but naturally, these kids wanted to invent their own. Oonies also stick to each other, so you can make a cute inchworm or even a long strand of colored beads that can look like a garland.

At first I was all prepared with my red and white baker’s twine to make little ornament hangers, but you don’t really have to; Oonies just stick pretty much wherever you put them. They nestled nicely in our little flocked mini tree that the kids chose to display on a tower of wooden blocks.

They don’t last forever which is a blessing and a curse in some ways…a blessing because what parent doesn’t have a ton of art projects laying around? And a curse because, well, the kids expected to wake up to see their creatures still hanging out in the tree the next day. But we just took the appendages off and made new ones so the fun can happen all over again.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Cardboard gift boxes are as much fun to build with as classic wooden blocks…stack a small one on the back of a bigger one, glue some buttons on the bottom edge, and voila! You have a car!

Let your kids pick out the wheel color and soup up the body with different colored washi tape. Add a paper tree to the top, and it becomes that magic moment of hauling the best part of Christmas home to the family!

What you need:

• 1 ½” x 2 ½” white jewelry box
• 1 ½” x 1 ¼” white ring box
• 4 medium green buttons
• 2 small yellow buttons
• 2 extra small red buttons
• ½” wide light blue washi tape
• ⅜” wide patterned tape
• 2/8” wide dark blue tape
• Twig
• 1 sheet of two tone green paper
• 1 silver star sequin
• Approximately 18” string
• Hot Glue
• Scissors

Make it!

1. Glue together top and bottom of larger jewelry box and turn upside down. Glue top of ring box to the back end of larger box to create car body.
2. Wrap bottom “bumper” of car in patterned tape, wrap skinny tape around top edge of the box and add rectangles of light blue tape to ring box for windows
3. Glue four green buttons on sides of box for wheels, red buttons in back for tail lights and yellow buttons in front for headlights.
4. Cut two 4” circles out of green paper. Fold the bottom section of one circle into a triangle then fold back and forth in the opposite direction to create a folded tree shape. Repeat with two other trees. Glue three trees together along their edges to create a pyramid shape. Glue piece of twig inside pyramid for a trunk.
5. Glue tree to the top of car and add star to the point.
6. Wrap string around car, knotting above tree and knotting again at the ends to create a hanging loop.

When I think of what I love about Christmas tree decorations, it’s two things…the lights and the ornaments. So making a lit ornament is a win-win for this crafter.

We played around with lots of ways to get make these little boxes glow, and with a string light bulb poked through the back, these snowflake shapes came to life.

Now I just want to decorate a whole tree in these! Who’s with me?

What you need:

• Square jewelry box  (3 ½” x 3 ½” )
• Exacto knife
• Paint and Paint brush
• A square of white paper
• Two colors of washi tape
• Scissors
• String
• Pencil
• Nail file
• Hot-glue gun

Make It!

1. Draw a 2 ½ “ square in the center of the box lid to leaving a ½” margin on all sides. 
2. Use the exacto knife to cut out the square, and sand down thee edges with a nail file.
3. Paint the top and sides of the box and let dry.
4. Trace top of box onto white paper and layer washi tape inside the square to create a criss crossing snowflake design.
5. Cut out square and secure in the center of lid opening with washi tape.
6. Poke a hole in the back center of the back using a pencil or scissors.
7. Cut and knot a loop of string, glue it into top corner of the box lid and close the box to secure.
8. Hang on tree, inserting light into the back of box.

If you happen to have a few extra gift boxes laying around as you are shopping and decorating and baking and shopping some more, save one to make this precious snow scene diorama!

This is one DIY Christmas ornament that will definitely become a focal point of your tree!

What you need

• 3” x 2” jewelry box and fluffy cotton filler
• 4” x 4” square of blue sparkly paper
• 3 small white pom poms
• 1 black perler bead
• Green, orange, and black paper
• Twig
• Silver star sequin
• ⅛” red ribbon
• White string
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Pencil
• 1/16″ paper punch

Make it!

1. Trace the bottom, side and top edge of the box onto blue sparkly paper, cut shapes and glue into back, sides, and top of box.
2. Cut box filler into a curved hill shape and secure in box with glue.
3. Cut two 2” circles from the green paper and cut each circle in half. Fold the bottom section of one circle into a triangle then fold back and forth in the opposite direction to create folded tree shape. Repeat with two other trees.
4. Secure two trees in the back of the box. Glue a piece of twig to the third tree as a trunk and glue in front of snow drift. Add star to the top with glue.
5. Glue three pom poms in a stack then secure in front right corner of the box. Use tiny paper punch with black cardstock to create two eyes, and add small slice of orange paper for carrot nose. Cut a 1/4-inch circle from the black paper, glue to the top of snowman head, and add the perler bead to create a hat. Cut a 2 ½” piece of red ribbon and tie below the head to create a scarf.
6. Squeeze a line of hot glue around the opening of the box and add string, trimming off excess.
7. Cut a piece of red ribbon, approximately 12” long, and secure around box with hot glue starting at the bottom and leaving a loop at the top for hanging,