Happy Birthday, My Love! Memories for My Children's Future Birthdays

I am so grateful my children are loved. They are growing up where they feel love from so many sources. I never want them to question how loved they are. So, at my twins’ first birthday party, I asked the guests (mostly our family) to write them each a letter. Each piece of letter paper I gave out had a different birthday starting at age 5. Just about every birthday from age 5-30 was included, with mostly every other year of their twenties. The idea was that my daughters would read the letters on that particular birthday. So, on their 10th birthday, they would read the letter for that year (one letter from one person for each of my daughters per birthday).

Trust me, this wasn’t an easy task. Some families had a hard time getting into the mindset of what life would be like for my kids at a particular age, while the concept came more easily to others. I originally asked people to write their letters at the party. They didn’t need to be anything extensive, just a note to tell my girls they care. Well, I only ended up with ONE letter at the actual party, with more letters filtering in the next two! I may or may not have had to remind people over and over (and over) during that time period…

Those letters may seem trivial now, but how incredible for my children to have letters filled with love for birthdays to come. I pray that all of our close family and friends will be a part of my children’s lives for many years. Unfortunately I know that won’t always be the case. I can only imagine reading a letter of love and encouragement from someone who my child adores as they grow. While it’s hard to think about now, those letters could mean even more if my children are no longer able to actually see and talk to those family members anymore… Hard to think about, but that is why I am trying to make memories for today and the future.

While I chose to do this on my children’s first birthday, I think you could make it work for any birthday/occasion, really!

Here are some tips if you decide to do this:

1. Keep it simple. Print out pages for people to write on. I liked the uniformity, and seeing the paper served as a reminder for people to write their letter.

   
   

2. Have a small binder ready with plastic sleeves to put the letters into as people write them, so they all stay together and organized.

   
   

3. I wrote “Happy 10th (or whichever) Birthday!” on the top of each page, but also included the date and year so the person writing could fathom when that would really be… Many of my family members commented on the dates, saying how old I would be that year.

   
   

4. My girls’ paper was unlined, as I didn’t want to assume how much or what a person would do with the letter. Many people said it was hard to write on unlined paper. So, for my son’s 1st birthday, I added lines to his pages. Do whichever you think will work best.

In addition to this, my husband and I each write a letter to our children on their birthdays EVERY year, which is included in the binder too. We handwrite these letters. It’s more work, but I think even more of a keepsake that way.

I’ve enjoyed gathering the letters and am glad we chose this idea for our children and our family. So much happens each year, and I’m grateful we will be able to share these keepsakes with our little ones once they are not so little anymore. Has anyone else done this or something similar?

Original post by Anne on 1/18/17