Commenter Leo had a fun suggestion on the New Year’s Eve post:
I recommend resolution bingo! 24 concrete resolutions arranged on a bingo board. Less pressure, cause if you fail one, oh well, you can still get bingo. Concrete goals (“read 25 books” instead of “read more”) so that you get to tick them off. I tend to fill it with things I’d like to do, but have never got around to. Highly recommend!
Some of my coworkers did this last year, and they even made a Bingo board for me (they were hand-drawing them, as a little art project); but last year it hadn’t been even two months since the presidential election, and I couldn’t face doing much of anything. I’m not sure I can face it this year, either, but I can face it enough to be interested in Alyson’s suggestion that we do a post to collect ideas for anyone who might want to try it.
My coworkers were doing a mix of resolutions, some more fun and some less fun, and scattering them strategically; so that, for example, they would need to do “attend session of [new exercise type offered at the gym they already attend]” in order to get a bingo on the strip also populated by “get ice cream at [new local ice cream place].” If I remember correctly, they put “make Resolutions Bingo Card” as the center square. Commenter BKC mentioned a goal of sending more birthday cards, which feels perfect for the bingo card: you could make it, say, “send three birthday cards,” so that you know when you can check it off. Or send ONE birthday card, or send EIGHT, depending on where your goal is.
Here are the other bingo squares I remember, starting with the ones I just mentioned so they don’t get lost separated from the list:
• try a new exercise class at a gym you already attend
• try a new ice cream place
• send three birthday cards
• try a new cookie recipe
• see a particular movie
• try a particular TV series
• clean one kitchen cabinet
• clean one drawer
• buy flowers
• plant tulip bulbs
• plant wildflowers
• choose a new comforter/quilt
• try ax-throwing
• try an escape room
• try a new restaurant
• try one non-fiction book, and at least skim all the way to the end
• try an audio book
• go out to eat with a friend
• go out for coffee with a friend
• write a physical letter to someone
• go to an author event
• hike three different trails
• get a tattoo
And of course, again, any of the ones that mention numbers can be changed to DIFFERENT numbers. Maybe you hike three different trails before February, so you need something more ambitious to be interesting. Maybe you already send a dozen snail-mail letters a year and want to increase it to TWO dozen. Etc.
Similarly, maybe you already plant tulip bulbs, but you want to expand your planting, so your square needs to say “expand tulip-bulb planting” to count. Maybe you already routinely buy flowers, so you want to change your square to “buy flowers for someone else.” Etc.
Also, remember you can use the same idea for more than one square, as long as they are DIFFERENT completions of the same task. So you can have “send three birthday cards” on there TWICE, and after you send three you can check off ONE of the squares, and after you send three more you can check off the SECOND square.
(I hope I’m not overly spelling this out. We had one coworker who was having a hard time grasping some of the concepts.)
I think this is going to be the real heart of the post: we would love to hear EVERYONE ELSE’S suggestions for square goals.
This is such a fun idea! I also love that a person could do a new bingo card every month (not me), or one per quarter, or one for the whole year.
One of my goals for the year is to be in more photos with my family. Putting a number on it would definitely help — maybe three a month? That seems doable.
This is a goal I already accomplished, but it feels so good: replace a kitchen thing that needs replacing. In my case, I replaced oven mitts and spatulas. And something else I am not thinking of. Fresh! new! kitchen tools instead of the old broken, dirty ones!
Ideas that popped into my mind:
– try out [craft you’ve wanted to try]
– reopen [craft tub that has been languishing in back of closet during These Years Of Chaos] and make progress on one item to Spite The Haters who want you feeling frozen and depressed and unproductive
– volunteer one day at [place you’ve been thinking about volunteering]
– wear fun socks x times in public (or similar bring-joy-to-self-or-world things that you feel like you need a Reason/Excuse to do)(at least, I sometimes do, if it feels “too eccentric” or “too indulgent”)(“get ice cream sundae with 5 cherries on top because you have never had as many maraschino cherries as you want” would count)
– put x books in a little free library
– plant a tree
– go to a protest
– [maintenance task you have to do this year anyway so why not get a “yay, I can check off the square” out of it? Mammogram; car checkup/oil change; whatever]
I also really like this idea! And especially that it is not “must start on January 1 or all is lost” sort of thing, nor a “must do ALL these things” sort of thing. (did I start anything on January 1? no.)
That said, I may make a sticker page or bean jar or something for the things I want to do *more* of in 2026 but which I shouldn’t commit to doing every day, to see if that tiny tangible evidence (piling up in the jar or on the page) that I Did The Thing will help me Do The Thing more but not get too “oh no I missed a day!” about it… if it works on 5 year olds, maybe it’ll work on me…
i love this idea! my kids would be so into this as well. will be coming back to see everyone’s ideas :D some i may add:
*go on XX walks as a family
*read XX non-graphic novels (cough cough daughter)
*donate XX things (or # of times throughout the year?) to charity
OH! Great idea! my daughter came home from school yesterday with an assignment for 25 “goals” which fell into Hobbies, Personal, and Academic. They would be Perfect! to put onto a BINGO card!!
** she also needs to read more chapter books :)
Also, Swistle I love making “make the BINGO card” the center square / free space!
Intriguing Idea. Some options that might have positive social action impacts.
– try one locally owned restaurant I have never been to
– purchase at least 1 item of clothing from a thrift store
– donate at least 5 books to my local library
– write a thank you note to at least one service provider (e.g. mailman, trash collector, etc)
– write a positive review for a local business
– contribute at least 5 items to my local food pantry
Yay! Some of these suggestions are really good – I hadn’t thought about strategically placing the bingo tiles to mix up the fun and the challenges! I also like Suzanne’s suggestion of doing a new one each season. I might scoop some of these up for a spring bingo.
I’m going for a few Nice Things that I wouldn’t normally treat myself to – but if they’re on the bingo, then I have a reason to!
– get a massage
– make a Lego set (I got myself Lego flowers for Christmas. I’ve never made a Lego set before and it was more fun than expected.)
– go to a craft class
– burn a nice scented candle all the way down
Some aspirational:
– do a push-up (I am very weak so doing one is a big deal)
– organize ten hangouts with friends
– get a job I enjoy more
Some things I plan to do anyway but it’s nice to build them into the yearly plan:
– finish paperwork (for a name change in my case, but this could be good for any overhanging admin tasks)
– sign up to a local volunteer organization
Some that I’ve collected from the internet at large:
– Pet 12 dogs/cats
– Try 3 new pasta shapes
– Go on X winter walks outside
– Host a dinner party
I am charmed by this whole exercise, but I am EXTRA charmed by “try 3 new pasta shapes” :-) Going on my list right now.
– Support a local theater production
– Fill up your online shopping cart and then don’t buy it
– do a local “experience” find out why tourists come to your area and do that activity/see that thing
I like the idea but knowing I lose interest if I don’t really know the reason why, I must ask: what happens when I have bingo? Because just getting bingo wouldn’t really motivate me… or is the goal of doing it together seeing who gets being first?
I think that you could make your own reward for getting bingo! Or a reward chart, if you think you will keep playing and get multiple bingos. Like, 1st bingo: a canister of expensive tea, 2nd bingo: some extravagant hiking socks, 3rd bingo: an experience/membership splurge. (whatever you actually like, obviously)
Natalie is correct: you set your own rewards. Perhaps a piece of candy for a completed square, bigger treats for each bingo, and something really special for completing the whole board.
A box of See’s candy would motivate me
This is fantastic – I said I was going to make a list of good things and put it by my computer to look at in January and other depressing months, and also a list of goals – I can make the list a bingo card. I’m going to go through and note down all the suggestions I like here, and of course I’m completely blanking on any new ones. Think Think Think.
Go to a movie by yourself
Watch a Youtube video on how to do something you don’t know how to do (whether you actually want to do it or not)
Read a poem out loud once a…. week? month?
Write a note to a friend telling them what you love about them
Play your musical instrument/learn a certain piece on your instrument
Mail a Christmas card to your friend who sent you a Christmas card but you got sick halfway through your cards so you didn’t send her one yet (nothing to do with the present post at all, look away, I’m hideous)
When I was in college, my boyfriend was being kind of a prick and I reacted by going to the $2 college-kid-special movie by myself—carrying one of those giant Hershey Kisses they sell at Valentine’s Day, which I’d found on clearance at the drugstore in the same mall as the theater. I hadn’t finished the giant Hershey’s Kiss by the time the movie ended, nor had I stopped being pissed at my boyfriend, so after the first movie I picked another movie and saw that one. A cherished memory, and one I might very well wish to re-enact.
I am SURE your friend understands about the Christmas card!!