time capsule

A follow up on the previous bumble bee party. I thought I would share with you all the gift we brought for Miss Fiona.

I made her a time capsule. We did this with for both of our children on their first birthdays and I really like the idea. I look forward to opening it with them on their eighteenth birthdays.

For Fiona's I started with an empty paint can (available at the big box hardware stores for $4-5). You can use any container, but with the paint can I can make labels and decorate it anyway I want and it already comes with a lid to securely seal it. As you can see, I added decorations and labels fitting with the theme of her first birthday party. I thought it would be yet another "sign of the times" when she opens it later. I decorated envelopes to put items in that matched the outside too. I purposely left the container open so Fiona's parents could add anything they thought of too.



For the contents, you can included anything really - the intent is to show what life was like at that particular time.

Ideas of items to include:
- Newspapers dated with the child's first birthday
- Magazines (People, Time, Newsweek, Better Homes and Gardens, MS Living, Sports Illustrated, etc.)
- Top 10 Billboard Music Chart from that week
- a postage stamp
- an envelope for a lock of hair
- an envelope for money with the particular year on it
- an envelope for a letter from the child's mom and dad
- an envelope for letters from grandparents
- an old cell phone
- receipts of general items like gas, milk, eggs (wonder how much milk will cost in 2027!)
- baseball cards of current players
- a song/video from American Idol
- a reality show video (think we'll look back and laugh about those?)
- a video of the child's favorite cartoon
- any current fashion trend (like these new Silly Bandz I see all the kids wearing)
- put on your creative cap, the options are endless...

For my oldest daughter's time capsule, we asked all the guests invited to her birthday party to bring "a sign of the times" instead of a gift. Everyone really got into it! It will be so fun to see what everyone contributed. It will also be great to remember all the people that were around the first year of her life. We noted on each item who it was from.

I hope Fiona and her parents look forward to opening her time capsule years down the road; I know we will enjoy watching our girls opening theirs.