As I mentioned in my last post, for my upcoming anniversary with my boyfriend I decided to make him a homemade present. Partly because our anniversary is directly in between his birthday and Christmas and partly because I think when done right, homemade gifts can be super thoughtful/meaningful. So let's get into it!
1. "Open When" Letters. These have been all over twitter and tumblr lately. Although they might be a little overdone I think they can be really cute when done tastefully. I've seen this done a few different ways but I think my favorite idea's are: Open when…. you are up late or wake up in the middle of the night, you need to remember how much I love you, you need a pep talk, and you want to smile at a memory. There are a million different situations that can be written about so I definitely suggest this idea for anyone that wants to do a simple, sweet gift.
2. Year Of Notes. A friend of mine did this for her boyfriend for their two year anniversary. She sat down on a rainy day and wrote down 365 little notes. The notes were pretty simple, usually just a phrase or a word. They can be encouraging, or sweet, or funny, anything that you want. She bought a little jar and decorated it and it came out so cute. Her boyfriend seriously read one every day for a year after that. So sweet.
3. Treat Of The Month. My Mom actually gave me this idea because she knows how much I enjoy baking. The idea is that for the anniversary/holiday or whatever it may be you make your significant other their favorite dessert. And when you give them the dessert you include a note inducting them into the "Treat of the month club". From then on, every month on that exact day, you make them different baked goods. This would probably only sound appealing to people who like baking - but if your boyfriend has as big of a sweet tooth as mine does then he will absolutely love it. The only thing is that once you start you have to commit to it! I made my boyfriend cookies and sent him off to boarding school with it last year and I totally gained girlfriend points from the hockey boys for it. Just saying.
4. Relationship Book. This is the gift that I will probably be making for my boyfriend. All you need is to buy a photo album and print out a lot of pictures. I'm planning on finding a picture for each month that we have been together and highlighting special moments for each month and writing about it. Bonus points if you have old movie stubs or concert tickets.
5. 52 Things I Love About You. This idea has also been floating around Pinterest and Tumblr for awhile now. The idea is that you get a deck of cards and paint over one side. On each card you write one thing you love about them so when you're done you will have 52 reasons. Very cute and simple.
6. Date Idea Jar. We've all been there. Sometimes it's just so hard trying to decide what to do for date night! For this gift all you need is to get a little jar and write down different date ideas, I'd say at least 30 of them. They could range from a movie date to a walk in the park. This way you'll never have to struggle to figure out what to do for date night ever again!
7. Photo Collage. One of my dearest friends just did this idea as a housewarming gift for her boyfriend's apartment. It's a photo collage of your favorite pictures that spells out your names. Personally I don't really like how it spells out their names, but it could be altered to spell out something different! PS this is not a picture of my friends I found this on the internet!!
So that finishes off my homemade gift ideas! Remember ladies, if you find yourself panicking about what to do last minute, a hand written letter always works. I hope these ideas were useful for you guys!
xoxo Junior Hockey Girlfriend
I'm also loving these two from J.Crew. The detailing on the sweater on the left is perfect.
