Every year when Thanksgiving rolls around I’m a little sad for a lack of ‘gratitude’ traditions. This year I thought I would start a new tradition that could be continued on through the years, but it took a little planning to get it started so early in the year.

This year I’m keeping a gratitude jar. I think it will be fun on Thanksgiving to pull out the slips of paper and read through all the things I was grateful for this year. So everyday for the next 11 months I’ll be adding to the jar.

I’m especially excited to someday (a long time from now) do this with my kids, I think it would be a great learning opportunity to help them recognized ‘thankful’ moments everyday.

I also thought this might be sweet to give a newlywed couple. They could fill it with reasons why they are grateful for the other person each day (i.e. “she made my favorite dinner after a tough day at work”, “He brought me flowers for no reason”, “she didn’t nag me during the football game”, “he put the seat down”…ya know, romantic stuff) Just a thought.

Step 1:

Collect your supplies.

• Large Jar
• Paper
• Pencil
• Scissors

About a month ago I picked up this jar from Homegoods and tucked it away through the holidays. Since it’s something that can be kept out all year long, I thought it would be perfect for this project. However, you can get creative and use almost anything as the jar. Some other ideas I had were Apothecary Jars, Wine Bottles or Jugs, Vases, Hurricanes, Mason Jars, Canisters, almost anything would work.

I expect to eventually switch them over to a vintage wine jug, but I haven’t yet found one that I like.

I do recommend using something clear so that you can see the slips of paper add up over the year.

Step 2:

Pick some paper in which to write your grateful moments. For some fun, I picked up some glittery paper from Michaels; however, I’ll also use plain paper as well throughout the year. I like the idea of mixing and matching the paper designs.

Step 3:

Cut strips of paper, large enough to write out a sentence or two, but small enough to fit in the jar. Use a pencil or pen to not only write on the paper, but to curl it as well. I’m hoping my jar will look like a jug of confetti at the end of the year.

At least once a day, write out something you are grateful for. I also date the piece of paper so I can try to remember the memory later on. I’m sure there will be some that say “I’m grateful for my dog”, but I’m going to try and be a little more detailed than that most of the time. I would rather it say, “I’m grateful that my dog let me sleep until 9am then woke me up with big slobbery drool kisses little puppy kisses.”

Step 4:

Drop the curled paper into the jar!

You can easily use things you have around your house and make this project FREE!

The jug I picked up from Homegoods was $15 and the sheets of glittery paper at Michael’s run about $2 each so I won’t use many of them. Overall it cost me $17 to start a fun tradition that I hop will be in my family for many, many years.

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Linking To: Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, Craft-O-Maniac, The Girl Creative, Everything Under the Moon, Today’s Creative Blog, Ginger Snap Crafts, Blue Cricket Design, Very Merry Vintage Style, We Are THAT Family, Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Beyond The Picket Fence, The Artsy Girl Connection, The Crafty Nest, Addicted 2 Decorating, The Shabby Nest, French Country Cottage, Dear Creatives, Ohh Baby! Designs, The Not So Functional Housewife, Funky Junk Interiors, Positively Splendid