I read about a wonderful idea to create a leap day time capsule from Ella Publishing (the site has since closed). The idea was to create a snapshot of leap day and open it 4 years later. After I initially read the article I decided to go look for a container to put my time capsule items in but then a thought occurred to me. My scrapbooks are chronological and would be the ideal place to keep my leap day time capsule. Then I knew that I already had the perfect “container” for my time capsule: a big envelope page from Becky Higgins.
The contents of my time capsule will include:
– photos from today – I will take a photo of our family and a few others that will tell the story of what we are doing today. Here’s one I took this morning of my kids walking into preschool together.
– personal stats – This list will include everyone’s current height, weight, hair color, etc.
– drawings – My daughter loves to draw family photos so I will ask her to draw one today. I will also outline my children’s hands.
– 4 handwritten letters – One letter to myself, one to my husband and one to each of my children. Each letter describes what is going on with each person now and what I predict will be happening in 4 years. I plan to read the letters to the recipients in 2016!
– weekly routine – This is a page with the days of the week and any activities that we routinely do each day of the week (i.e. school, work, exercise, shopping, sports, etc.).
– receipt – I included the receipt for my most recent grocery store shopping trip with notes on what our dinner menu is for this week.
– news websites – I printed out a few of the main pages from CNN.com and the website of my local newspaper for all the news headlines.
– current costs of living – This list includes the price of gas, milk, postage stamp, etc.
Do you have any other ideas of what to add to the time capsule?
This time capsule isn’t limited to just leap days. Here are a few ideas for when to create a time capsule:
– birth date of a child
– anniversary
– graduation
– before a move
– before an armed forces deployment
– wedding day – You could look at the contents every year on your anniversary!
– milestone birthday – You could see how things have changed since you were 16, 21, 30, etc.
– any birthday – You could include any special cards, photos, invitations, etc.
In 2016 when we open our leap day time capsule, we will go reminisce with the contents and then put them back in the envelope to remain in our family scrapbook for ourselves and future generations.
