Goals can take you new places, help you create something beautiful, or achieve a dream. Maybe it's the beginning of a new year or a new month or a new season and you have some goals you want to achieve. Or maybe you want to set some goals with your kids. I've tried out a few different systems for setting goals to make it more fun. Some of our favorite ways to set goals is to make Punch Cards and Bingo Cards. Let's talk about how we can make setting goals fun.
DIY Punch Cards
These are just like the reward cards you might get at a local shop when it was the 90's or 2000's. One of my favorites was Great Harvest Bread, I think you had to purchase 10 loafs of bread to get one free loaf. You'd go in, purchase your bread and then hand the card to an employee who would punch one spot. After ten loafs you could redeem your card for a free loaf of bread. It's an amazing system that works for both the customer and the business. You keep buying bread but then you get rewarded and that feels good. This system is just like that but for your goals.
What you need is some 3x5 note cards or some card stock cut into small rectangles. You can get watercolors or markers to add color. A few really nice pens will help so your goals are nice and clear. And a hole punch for when you achieve a goal.
You can begin by brainstorming some goals you have and the time frame you want to complete them in. For example one thing I wanted to do was complete 6 crochet projects this year. Take a 3x5 notecard or small rectangle made of card stock and write the goals on the card. Draw a small simple something that can be where you will punch for each goals, as you can see I drew 6 "balls of yarn." After I made a few cards I laminated them as kind of a bonus to keep them nice for the whole year. You can make however many cards you want and maybe include a card with a fun design for the cover. Punch a hole in the top corner and used a ring to hold them all together if you want to keep them organized. I used a small command hook to hang them in a place I could easily access them.
Can we pause here so I can give some advice and say what I would do differently next time. As you can see my hole punch did not reach the middle of the card, so next time I either need to make my cards smaller so a hole punch can fit anywhere on the card, or I need to write my goal in the middle of the card and put all the drawings where I will keep track on the edges of the card.
For my family when someone completed a full card we let them choose something off of our "Celebration of Achievement" chart. Some examples might be choose a park to play at for the kids or choose a treat. I'll brainstorm a whole list of possibilities at the end of this post.
Pros of the Punch Card Goals | It is very fun and nostalgic. Our cards are colorful and organized on the wall. Everyone gets to create something for themselves so it can be catered to the individual. There is something satisfying about having an action to do when completing your goal, even if it as simple as a small hole punch. We've done some fun things together as individuals this year and as a family because we are trying to accomplish our goals.
Cons of the Punch Card Goals | Sometimes we forget to punch the card and then it's hard to remember how many we need to do to catch up. I think I made some goals too big, a punch card system feels like it works best if the goals are a bit smaller - maybe you could break down some bigger goals into more bite sized chunks. Like any goals I write down sometimes as the year goes by I realized I don't really want to do the things I thought I wanted to do but then I feel like a failure for not completing all my goals. This might be more a me problem though and I should probably change my mindset to simply allowing myself to recognize something I thought would be fun and cool is not a priority in my life and that's okay, it just taught me something about myself.
Overall I think punch cards are a super fun way to set goals and would definitely recommend giving it a try once or twice.
Bingo Card Goals
I actually really love Bingo card goals and have made them multiple years for family goals and also made them for summer goals as well. What you need is a piece of card stock, black markers and some really nice pens so the goals are clear. I also like to decorate mine with fun stickers but you could also leave it blank or decorate it however you like.
So what I do is uses a ruler to draw a five by five grid first in light pencil. My main square is 7.5 inches by 7.5 inches and all of the small boxes are 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches. After I am happy with my grid I use a ruler and black marker to trace the lines so the bingo card is very visible. Then I title the bingo card and decorate it.
Now it's time to fill in the bingo card with goals. For our summer goals I just wrote a big list of things that could be fun to do during the summer and then filled up all the squares with the ideas.
For our family bingo cards we made to set goals for the coming year the year. We have 4 people in our family so each person takes a column to set individual goals. The fifth column we put our family goals in. It's worked well because it can give us each individual space to set a goal also have some family goals. Then it takes the whole family to work together to get a bingo.
Bingo Card Pros | If you hang it somewhere in your house that you are a lot, you are reminded of the goals daily. It's fun to work together. It's easy to mark off goals. It takes away some of the pressure since the goal is not to do everything but rather to do enough things that you can achieve a bingo. It is easy for everyone to participate in. It's doesn't take a whole lot of work to make.
Bingo Card Cons | Sometimes the goals you write in January just aren't as fun when you are looking at it in August, but for me that's just kind of a long term goal making con in general.
Bingo cards have been a big hit in my family and honestly are a great way for me to organize my brain and really write down the things I want to do.
Goals Brainstorm
It sometimes feels tough to come up with goals I am just going to write a big list of ideas, maybe some you want to use, maybe some spark your imagination. If you have any good ideas to add feel free to leave them in the comments below.
Explore
-Visit a New Park
-Visit a Museum
-Visit a Local Historical Site
-Visit a National Park
-Explore a New Hiking Trail
-Watch a Sunrise
-Watch a Sunset
-Visit a Botanical Garden
-Visit a Farmer's Market
-Take a Spontaneous Day Trip
-Go Stargazing
Food
-Learn to make different types of Sourdough
-Make homemade Pasta
-Make a batch of Homemade Jam
-Try a new Bread Recipe (Bagels, Croissants, English Muffin, Crumpets, Biscuits)
-Bake a Pie from Scratch
-Make a meal from another Country
-Make Homemade Ice Cream
-Make Homemade Donuts
-Make a "Secret" Family Recipe
-Make a Restaurant "Copycat" Meal
-Make a 3 Course Meal
Crafting & Creative
-Crochet something from Start to Finish
-Finish an Embroidery Project
-Make a Homemade Candle
-Paint and Picture
-Try Pottery
-Watercolor a Nature Scene
-Create an Oil Pastel Piece of Art
-Find a Sewing Project to Complete
-Take 50 Photographs
-Make a Scrapbook Page
-Write a Poem
Home
-Paint a piece of Furniture
-Start a small Garden
-Plant something from Seed
-Create a Gallery Wall
-Organize a "Problem Area"
-Print and Frame 5 Family Photos
-Plant a Tree
Reading
-Read a book set in another country
-Read a book of Poetry
-Read a Classic
-Read a book recommended by a child
-Read a book recommended by someone from an Independent Bookstore
-Read a book recommended by a Librarian
-Read a book from a Used Books Store or Charity/ Donation Store
-Read a book Published before 1950
-Read a book over 500 pages
-Judge a Book By It's Cover- Buy and Read a Book because it is Beautiful
-Attend or Create a Book Club
-Visit a library you've never been to
To Do With Kids
-Bowling
-Mini Golf
-Have a Movie Marathon
-Build a Blanket Fort
-Have a "Yes Day"
-Have a Homemade Pizza Night
-Make a Family Campfire with S'mores
-Make a Time Capsule
-Recreate an Old Family Photo
A Few Little Fun Things
-Send 5 Handwritten Cards
-Buy Flowers/ Make a Bouquet
-Have Coffee at a Local Coffee Shop You've Never Been To
-Explore Local Shops in a Small Town
-Make a Music Playlist and Go for a Long Drive (During the Fall)
-Have a Fancy Dinner- Dress Up, Candlelight, Table Setting
-Watch a movie you Loved as a Kid
-Stop Somewhere You've Always Walked/Driven Past
-Wear and Outfit You Love to Go Out
-Phone a Friend Just to Catch Up
-Learn 10 Phrases in Another Language
-Complete a 1000+ Piece Puzzle
Celebration of Achievement Brainstorm
My kids love to ask but what happens when we get a bingo, or complete a punch card. They haven't quite learned that the satisfaction of completing a goal is part of the reward. The other part of the reward is what you learned to do or created or experienced when you completed the goal. But we all love a third reward, and in my house you get to choose something to do to celebrate your achievement. It's nice that we can all do something together to honor and acknowledge the cools things we have done. And for my kids (and myself tbh) it's nice to be able to pick something you really want to do. So here is a big brainstorm list of things you could do to celebrate the achievement of your goals.
Kids Rewards
-Candy Bar
-Ice Cream
-Pick a Homemade Dessert
-Choose a Favorite Drink
-Get a Donut
-Choose a Small Toy Prize
-Choose a Sticker Prize
-Pick a Book
-Stay Up 30 Minutes Later
-Pick a Movie for Family Movie Night
-Skip a Chore
-One-on-One Date With Mom or Dad
-Pick a Playground to Play At
-Visit the Pet Store to Look at the Animals
-Have a Picnic
-Go to a Movie
-Build a Fort for a Movie Night at Home
-Sibling Sleepover
Adult Rewards
-Buy Yourself Flowers
-Get Your Favorite Coffee
-Get a Bath Bomb for a Luxurious Bath
-Buy a New Book
-Get a Pastry from a Bakery
-Get a New Magazine
-Order Take-Out
-Go to Lunch With a Friend
-Give Yourself 1 Hour of Uninterrupted Time to Yourself
-Take a Class or Workshop
-Upgrade Something You Use Everyday
-Buy a New Plant
-Buy a New Article of Clothing
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