No matter how you’re spending New Year’s Eve this year, whether alone, with a partner, with family or friends, here’s an idea for a fun and meaningful activity that will pay dividends beyond the holidays.
Invite your peeps to get together and create a mini time capsule of ideas, predictions and goals for the coming year, to be opened on or around next year’s New Year’s Eve.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A piece of paper and a writing utensil for each participant
- A large envelope
- A camera and a way to print out the photos right away (optional, but fun)
- Delightful food and drink to make the occasion festive
Here’s what to do…
Give everyone paper and pen/pencil.
Announce:
“We’re making a time capsule to be opened at the end of next year — i.e., 365 days from today. On your piece of paper, write your name clearly at the top [this is important]. Then write down your predictions for the coming year. You can predict events or milestones in your own life, the lives of others present here tonight, or in the world at large. For example, you might write something like, ‘I will enroll in a foreign language course this year,’ or ‘Tina Gilbertson’s book will out-sell Hillary Clinton’s.”
Everyone then writes for 15 minutes or so, being careful not to share what they’re writing with anyone else. This time capsule is full of secrets!
When everyone’s done, take their paper and put it in the envelope.
Optional: Take a picture of each person and put it in the envelope with their predictions.
Seal the envelope and give it to someone who can be depended upon to keep it safe for a year.
One year later …
Gather together again, open your envelopes and take turns reading your predictions aloud.
I did this twice with friends, once for a 10-year period and once for five. I’ve never done it for just one year, but it should be just as much fun.
Some of the predictions my group made were surprising yet true, such as “They finally widened the Lions Gate Bridge.”
Others were way off the mark, such as when I predicted my own marriage to a film director — nobody I knew, just “a film director.” Didn’t happen. (Maybe I should have been more specific?)
The experience of opening the envelope and having everyone read their predictions can be funny, moving, or both.
It’s a wonderful way to connect and reconnect with yourself, your family and/or your friends.
Whatever you do this New Year’s Eve, enjoy the season!
PS. This is my 150th post on Tina’s Tidbits. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to my blog followers, for inspiring me to “keep on postin’!”