It's not surprising that if my favorite gift of all time to have received is one of "words", my favorite gift of all time given would also be.
My husband hit the Big Four Oh a few years ago, and because I love him and completely understand and respect his aversion to surprises and parties...I managed to pull one on him, anyway.
A few weeks before his birthday, I sent out this letter that explains the gift:
I made it as easy as possible, including an 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock piece of paper and a pre-addressed large manila envelope with each letter.
Completed pages began coming back in days, and although this was a gift for Tad, people were blowing my mind and blessing my socks off with their "word gifts". Each page amazingly, perfectly radiated the personality of the sender AND reflected his/her relationship with my hubby.
I'll share a few of my favorites (some I can't share because they give too much personal info--mainly our family :/)--
Mine:
Apparently Tad was born the same year as several notorious notable athletes (Michael Jordan, Roger Clemens, Jerry Rice....). This was the actual "Sports Illustrated" cover a few weeks before his birthday; as soon as I saw it, I KNEW what I was going to do for my page.
My children's pages were precious to us. At the time, they were 10, 8 & 5 and this is their work, not mine (well, Stephen's I helped more with, but it was his words).
I'd upload more pages, but you get the idea (and TypePad is slow right now); suffice it to say, it's a treasure made of paper. More than words on a page, it reflects life lived with those he loves, those who know him best.
So...if you're looking for a great milestone gift idea, something special to commemorate an important birthday or anniversary, you're welcome to take this idea and make it your own! Years after the event, I'm pretty sure he'd agree it's one of the best birthday gifts he's ever received.
