A New Year Vision Board Picnic in Austin (Better Than a List of Resolutions)

By the second week of February, most New Year's resolutions have quietly disappeared. Not because people don't mean them — a list is just easy to forget. A picture is harder. Put the year you want on a board you see every morning, and it has a way of sticking around.

That's what a vision board picnic is: an afternoon with your favorite people, a pile of magazines and prints, and a table set so beautifully that the whole thing feels like an occasion instead of homework.

• ✦We bring everything: curated magazines, prints, scissors, glue and a board for every person
• ✦Two hours on a fully styled setup — low tables, cushions, candles, string lights, music, and warm tea or infused water
• ✦Everyone builds their own board, and the conversation while you cut and glue turns out to be the real point
• ✦You go home with a board to hang, and photos of the afternoon

The Gathering is our group setup for five to sixteen: $380 for five, $20 for each extra person, and the vision board is $25 a person. For five friends that's $505 all in; for eight, $640 — about $80 each. A 15-minute photo session is included, so you start the year with one beautiful group photo.

A vision board for a couple is a different conversation: where do we want to be by next December? Pillow Talk ($500) has the activity built in — two hours in a tent of your own with pillows and flowers, a photo session and a chalkboard sign with your names. Or keep it simple with Golden Hour: $200 for an hour, plus $25 each for the boards — and an extra 30 minutes for $45, because the cutting always takes longer than you think.

• ✦Three words for how you want this year to feel
• ✦One place you want to see
• ✦One habit to keep, and one to drop
• ✦Something you want to learn
• ✦Who you want to spend more time with
• ✦What you'd celebrate next December if the year went well

• ✦Afternoons are usually mild, but it cools quickly after sunset — around 5:50 in mid-January. Group picnics start by about 2:30
• ✦Cozy blankets are $40 each through February, and warm tea is part of the setup on cool days
• ✦The first weekend of January is the one everyone has in mind, so book it early
• ✦Booking at least three days ahead avoids the $30 rush fee; a deposit holds the date
• ✦Bring the snacks you love, and we'll lay them out

The year will happen either way. This is how you decide what it looks like.

Hang it somewhere you'll see it every morning. Then, next January, do it again — and count how much of the old board came true.