Aussie mum's genius way to spend New Year's Day with her family: 'It was so cool'

New Year's Day is often spent planning, setting goals or even nursing a hangover thanks to the bubbly you consumed the night before.

For Sydney mum Brooke Campbell Bayes, it's now a day of laughter and feeling grateful after she kickstarted a genius new tradition with her family.

Bayes, along with her husband and two daughters, created a 2023 memory box, where she and her family can contribute the extra special things that happened during the year and read it all together on January 1.

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"I can't remember exactly where I saw this idea, but it's a pretty safe bet to say it was on either TikTok or Instagram! I loved the whole concept as soon as I saw it," she tells 9Honey.

"It was easy to get the family on board and involved, the girls loved the idea – and my husband got into it too! My eldest Edie added to the box the most."

The concept is designed to remind everyone of the small things that can sometimes spill from our minds in all of the chaos of a full year.

The set-up and rules were simple, share your "special/ fun" memories in the box at different intervals throughout the year and don't show each other what you put in.

"We sat the box in a corner of the kitchen bench with a pen and little notepad so it was visible and made it easy for the girls to remember," Campbell Bayes added.

After a year, your family can reminisce and read through the memories together.

"It was so cool to sit down together and open the box! We took it in turns of reading out each of the notes," she says.

"There were lots of things that I'd totally forgotten about, it was so nice to go back and revisit lots of special memories…our trip to Bali, swimming in our new pool, Edie's first touch football game, Tully learning to swim! There was even one in there about a song Tully made up about me, it was so cute and funny!"

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Bayes Campbell says this is the perfect way for families to welcome in the New Year together and look back at all of the good memories.

"Life gets busy and it's easy to forget all the special things that happen throughout the year. It's also easy sometimes to focus on the hard stuff when you look back at the year that was," she adds.

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"I think it's a really nice way for kids (and adults!) to stop and take a moment when something special happens, doesn't have to be big moments, but just any moments that make you smile."