The Letter Projects

“Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends."  ~Unknown

I love giving gifts.  Especially ones that are sentimental and fun.  Plus, I'm always beating my head up against a wall trying to come up with cool gifts for the guys in my life.  It's like next to impossible to find good guy gift ideas (or cards for that matter) if you're not giving them to your boyfriend or husband.  So, a girl has to get creative. 

When I saw this idea on Sarah's blog, I knew it would be the perfect gift for Cousin Swiss Mister's big 4-0 birthday present.  The idea is simple--you just gather up letters from the important people in the person's life.  They can be notes or cards or long letters.  They can be funny or sentimental.  They can include pictures or stories or family histories.  Everyone can sort of do their own thing.

So I set out on the letter gathering project.  I got in touch with the family and had them all get working on letters.  Then I contacted our mutual friends.  Then, because I'm totally un-shy and some might say intrusive, I messaged a few of his facebook friends that I've never met, but had heard about before and got them on board.  In the end, we had almost 20 letters all for Cousin Swiss Mister.  So I bundled them all up in a cute bow and mailed them across the world. 

And on his birthday, he got to read notes from many of the most important people in his life.  The letters were full of fun memories, family histories, photos, thank yous, and lots more.  Cousin Swiss Mister proclaimed it the best gift he had ever gotten.

And, so, after Cousin Swiss Mister liked it so much, I decided that I'd do the same for a milestone birthday for my dear friend, The Bride.  So just last week a big batch of bundled up letters arrived in her mailbox.  She cried.  I deem that success as well!

I'm not trying to brag on myself, here, but I really don't know if there could be a cooler gift than this.  It's easy and inexpensive, but it means so much to the person who recieves it.  So for those of you hunting fun birthday gifts, here ya go! 

Three tips I'll give you:  (1) Start early and set a deadline two weeks before you ACTUALLY need the letters.  People are slow.  (2)  Be persistant.  I sent like 5 or 6 reminder emails to people in order to keep it on their radar.  (3) Get as many people involved as you can.  You won't know all of the person's friends or family, so get the ones that you do know involved in spreading the word!

What gifts have you all given or received that are your favorite?  I'm always needing new ideas!