What’s more fun than reflecting on the last year? Going back to that year ten years down the road with a DIY NYE Time Capsule.

In my DIY Mini Cardboard Memory Book post, I shared that I was going to do something special with it. I’ve decided to make another new NYE tradition by doing a time capsule every year. We’re gong to fill it up with a lot of things that made the last year so special. Then, in ten years, we’ll open it up and walk down memory road.

Sometimes I can’t believe how fast time has went since Mila has been born. She is ALWAYS asking what she was like when she was a baby. I feel like she just was a baby and I blinked and there’s a little girl in front of me. Plus, this year has seemed like the fastest yet. She has grown so much and I want to treasure how little she is with what goes in our NYE time capsule. Hopefully she won’t be too embarrassed by her answers when she’s thirteen… let’s get real, she’ll be annoyed with everything then.

Almost everything was easy to put together and I found the worksheets online! Everything else is easy to make at home and it’ll bring up fun conversations amongst your family.

Here’s what we’ll be seeing on NYE 2031!

Year in Review Worksheets

I found the worksheets we used in our time capsule at @whimsicallywonderful on Instagram. Her printables are adorable (and free). I’m pretty sure I’ve shared them on the blog before. Anyways, I was planning on making our own sheets to write on, until I saw the ones I printed off.

Even though these sheets are girly, she also has ones with blues and greens in them. They’re so cute, just a different color scheme. You can find them at Whimsically Wonderful under the Whimsical Prints. It’s the last section on the page. Trust me, if you’re planning on doing a time capsule, these are such a great option!

I printed off:

• My Magical Year
• Top 5 Best Moments
• My Feelings about 2021

There are more options on there too; like handprints and a letter to a future self.

Mila Drawings and Glitter Handprint

Mila loves to draw and always draws our family. Remember the person she drew and I got a tattoo of it earlier this year? So, I definitely asked her to do a drawing of all of us and labeled it too. I think this will be precious to see in ten years. Her drawing skills might be a little better then, but I think these will always be my favorite.

She also chose to do a glitter handprint. We made a little craft with her hand being the 0 in 2022. We traced it out, added glue, and then a bunch of glitter! It’s still drying after twelve hours, but I’ll make sure to update about it on one of my socials.

If it never dries, she also traced her hand on the back of the family drawing too!

A Letter from Mama to Mila

Letter writing is so therapeutic and if you’ve followed my story for a little while, you know I write a lot of them (you can search letters if you’re interested). I actually used to write letters to Jensen every day when I was pregnant with him up until Mila was born. So, it sort of makes sense that I would include a letter in here too.

Honestly, one of my biggest fears is something happening to me and her being without a mom. I want to make sure she knows how much she means to me and maybe I can throw some wisdom in there too. It sounds cheesy, but maybe it’s the last letter or words she would ever get to me. That thought alone makes it important to me to write about this year and how much her at three or in 2021 meant to me.

Again, we’re also going to be opening this up when she turns thirteen, I may need that extra support… I’m joking.

If you do do a time capsule, this would make a precious memory for your child.

Ribbon Height

On Mila’s papers, it asks to write her weight and height. Even though I can easily write that down, I want to be able to visually see it.

Although I’m not going to add bags of rice in her memory box, we collected her height in a ribbon. I just placed one end of the ribbon on her head and then cut it at her feet. Then, I made a little tag saying what the ribbon was for and connected it with a clip.

I love this idea because I can unravel it and actually see how tall she was.

Again, this is a super simple and easy idea you could do too! It wouldn’t even have to be a ribbon, yard or string work well too!

Pictures and Miscellaneous

Since we take thousands of pictures each year, we had to add a few in the time capsule.

The DIY Mini Cardboard Memory Book is snuggled tightly in there. I’m still obsessed with how it turned out. We’ll also be taking Instax pictures on NYE to add to the capsule as well. Maybe I’ll even let her take whatever pictures she wants. This way we can check out how her photography skills have changed too.

Some other items we’re adding are a New Years necklace, a craft, and maybe a toy or trinket. I haven’t totally nailed that last part down.

When we open it, I just want to be blasted back to 2021 and have this magical feeling.

As pretty as everything is out of the time capsule, it’s perfect inside too. We added a ‘Do NOT Open Until NYE 2031’ on the lid too. Just in case I need some motivation to wait!

Even though I bought a pretty jar for this time capsule, you can easily upcycle items you have around the house. I’m thinking mason jars, pringle cans, or even old tupperware containers you don’t know what to do with anymore. You could be as creative as you want to be and even make this a fun part of you time capsule too. For some reason, I’m thinking of a VHS or DVD case. It would have been so clever 30 and 20 years ago.

Anyways, I’m really happy to be starting this tradition with Mila and see how it evolve over the next few years. I hope you enjoyed it too and maybe want to start this with your family.

If you do this tradition or plan to, let me know what other things Mila and I should add.