Here's a great gift idea for Grandparents. (Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthday or Christmas!)
I don’t know about you, but for me, my dad is always the hardest person to find a gift for. So here’s an idea for an inexpensive gift that my dad LOVED… A memory jar!
With my third child, I have finally gotten pretty good at writing down all the cute things she says. So I typed up all these cute little sayings, printed them off, cut each one out and folded it up, then put it in a nice can (or you could use a jar, a decorative box or have them printed in a picture book through shutterfly.com). When my dad opened the gift, it was so much fun to watch him laugh at each thing he read, and it will be a fun way for him to remember us when we haven’t seen each other in a while! You could include childhood memories, sweet notes from various family members, family jokes and more. Here are a few things we included:
(Note: For my mothering blog I’ve decided to use the names Hope, Faith and Joy for my girls, so "Joy" is my dad's youngest granddaughter.)
March 2009
Joy, age 2 1/2, climbed onto Mommy’s lap, placed her hands on each of Mom’s cheeks, looked into Mom’s eyes and said, “I’m not gonna do what I’m gonna do.”
April 2009
Joy, age 3, had a stuffed Pluto dog she slept with every night, so when we went to Disnleyland and saw Pluto, Joy hollered, “Pluto, it’s me!”
May 2009
We drove by a billboard with an advertisement for Alaska airlines and Joy said, “There’s a big airplane mom.” Mom responded that it was a picture of the airplane’s wing, then asked Bryn, “Can you flap your arms like a bird or plane?” At age 2 ½ Joy promptly corrected Mom with, “Planes don’t flap!”
February 2010
Erin told 3-year old Joy, “I sure do love you!” and Joy responded, “I’m sure I love you!”
September 2010
Mom and 4-yr old Joy went to Walmart and there was an older gentleman in line behind us. He winked at Joy and she kept trying to wink back. He asked how old she was and after answering “4,” Joy turned to Mom and said, “Mom, his voice is running out.”
