DIY Gratitude Jar

Today I have a confession to make. I visited the dollar bin at Target. I know that doesn’t sound so ridiculous but I still felt a little guilty since I haven’t spent a dime on projects since Day 1, November 1st. But I do consider the return on my investment and the return certainly outweighs the the dollars I spent on this mini project.

I have seen gratitude jars before and I have always wanted to make one and now seemed like the perfect time. And as soon as I spotted these silver letters at Target the mental picture was etched in my brain. So I grabbed a pack of letters, a spool of ribbon and a pack of craft paper for one dollar each and I left a happy girl.

We used a jar that we had at home and I quickly spray painted the lid gold. Then we glued the letters to the side of the jar with the omnipresent glue gun. I thought about painting the letters gold too but once I got everything out I decided I really liked the silver and gold together. It felt very festive!

We cut the paper in strips and wrote several things that we are thankful for and put them in the jar. Little man wrote three things: toys, mom and paint, in that very order :) How cute is that and I love that he wrote paint as one of them.

If you ask my family I think they would say that I am a pretty strict mama. We focus a lot on manners, helping others and working hard in our house. I am always trying to find new and fun ways to teach these characteristics and I think the gratitude jar is a perfect opportunity.

He was so excited to think of things that he could write on his paper and the rest of the evening he kept saying, “I could write that down and put it in the jar.” I am hoping it will spark some good conversations as we head into this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am not sure yet how long we will do this but I might try and keep it going all year.

Do you have a gratitude jar in your home? What other creative ways do you teach your children about being thankful during the season and year round?

I am so glad you guys are here today and TGIF (almost)! See you tomorrow and have a great weekend too!