Looking for an unusual and memorable gift? Why not preserve a slice of history by creating a time capsule for your loved one?

A personalized time capsule can be made for any special event, such as a birthday, wedding anniversary, graduation or even the birth of a child. Your personally designed time capsule preserves history, popular culture, special memories and can help link generations of a family together. It is a unique and thoughtful gift that will be appreciated and long remembered.

There are a number of steps to keep in mind when creating a time capsule gift.

Make Your Own History
Traditionally, a time capsule provides a “snapshot” of a specific day in history. Consequently, if you are making a capsule to welcome a new baby into the family, then you would focus on the baby’s birth date — what was happening in the world and with the baby’s family on that day. On the other hand, if the capsule is to mark your grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, you probably want to make it more of a “retrospective” on their many years of marriage.

Time Capsule 101

1. Start Early. The best part of any time capsule is the thought and preparation that goes into it. Be sure that you don’t rush the process. If you leave everything until the last minute, it will look that way!
2. Choose a Container. Think cool and dry when you search for just the right container. Check online for affordable time capsules and you will find a variety of styles. Some will even engrave the person’s name on your selected capsule. However, to make it very simple, you can make your own capsule by choosing a sturdy metal container that can be properly sealed.
3. Select an Unsealing Date. Perhaps you want to set a significant date, such as a child’s 21st birthday, a couple’s silver wedding anniversary or return from military service. Most people give their time capsule to the recipient unsealed so additional items can be added. However, you can seal it before it is presented and have the contents be a total surprise when it is opened.
4. Put it in Writing. This is especially important if the time capsule will be opened far in the future. Make a capsule document that details everything about it, including the contents, unsealing date, purpose of the capsule and who should be present when it is unsealed. Then keep it in a safe place.
5. Storing the Time Capsule. Although you may be tempted, it is not advisable to bury your capsule. You are likely to move or forget exactly where it is buried, and the contents could be damaged by the elements. It’s a better idea to give the capsule a special place in your home — perhaps the fireplace mantle or on the family piano. Let the capsule become a conversation piece as you show it to friends and family and talk about its significance.

Capsule Contents
The key to a meaningful time capsule is to make it personal, relevant and interesting. Following are some ideas on items to include and more importantly a few to leave out. www.allbaby.com

First, it is strongly recommended not to include food, drinks or liquids. Basically, anything that could ruin the contents or create a bad odor. Instead, consider coins, money, stamps, a small keepsake album, newspapers and magazines. Write a letter explaining the time capsule’s purpose — be sure to use acid-free paper that won’t deteriorate as quickly. Cards and photos are an excellent choice, but consider layering them with acid-free paper as well.

If you are making the capsule for a person with special interests, try to incorporate their personality into the contents. For instance, a political junkie will enjoy campaign buttons and literature. Someone who is a golf fanatic will love golf paraphernalia or the signature of a famous golfer. A college graduate will get a kick out of seeing the plastic and metal “character” style toys that kids were playing with when he was born.

You can choose contents that are more lighthearted and funny or more serious and reflective. Just remember that you set the tone.

To learn about the history of the time capsule and how to register your personally created capsule, please visit the All About Baby website at www.allbaby.com.

About The Author
Nancy Wurtzel founded her ecommerce business, All About Baby, in 1995. All About Baby specializes in personalized and memorable gifts for children. Ms. Wurtzel also consults with small businesses seeking to enter the marketplace.

If you are looking for a fun gift to make for any occasion, then personalized candle making may be something you would like to consider. There are many ways to make personalized candles, depending on how much time and money you are willing to spend.

With just a little extra time and effort, you can make a personalized candle out of an otherwise ordinary candle gift that the lucky recipient will love.

1. The simplest way to make a personalized candle is get a normal candle at your local candle store. Even general retail stores like Walmart sometimes have candles for sale. Candles come in all shapes and sizes, but almost any candle can be personalized.
2. Anything smaller than a tea light will be difficult to personalize. For tea light candles, you can normally purchase a big bag for a low price. These candles are great as favors for guests at a wedding or baby shower. The easiest way to personalize is to use either a graphics program on your computer or a word processor. We’ll stick with the Word processor since it is easier. First, draw a circle the same dimensions as the lid on the tea light, or better yet use a circular label sheet. Then select a nice font, like cursive script or Corsiva. You can enter then names and date of the event into the circle. Print out a sample on plain paper to make sure the look and size is right. Once you have the desired result, you can print your tea light label stickers. Finally, apply the sticker onto the top of the tea light.
3. For jar candles, you can create a square-shaped personalized label. Since you have more area to work with, you can download free graphics from the Internet. Search the web for “free clip art” and download the images you want. Once again print out a sample on plain paper and then print the label. If you don’t have a color printer, you can go to a local copier and they can make a nice label for you. Stick the label on the jar. Now you have created a unique gift personalized just for that special person.
4. For tall pillar candles, you can get those engraved at an engraving shop (look in the phone book under engravers). The artwork and text can come in different colors. If you are artistic, you can even buy candle-engraving kits online and do it yourself.
5. How about those 1oz votive candles? For a professional looking gift, get cellophane bags and colored ribbon. Wrap the candle in the cello bag and tie it up with the ribbon. Then attach a personalized tag to the ribbon. These candles can also be engraved.
6. If you can make candles, then there are limitless possibilities. You can use different fragrances oils to create scented candles. You can use embeds for decoration. Cookie cutters and molds are also useful for designing the right shape.

In summary, you can take an ordinary store candle and make it a very special gift with just a little more effort. Your friends and loved ones will cherish these gifts for years to come.

About the Author:
Criss White is a professional web writer on baby and new mother topics for baby and pregnancy websites. For more personalized gift ideas, go to Personalized Baby Shower Favors and for more candle gift ideas, see Baby Shower Candle Favors.

This is a great family craft because everyone can do it. Small children will have fun with it because often they are learning how to set the table, how to help out at mealtime. Everybody has their own chair at the dinner table (or the kitchen table in most houses…).

Children can make placemats for the whole family, designing them with some of the materials to look similar in design so that they match each other.

For this project you will need:

• white vinyl placemats
• clear contact paper
• scissors
• stick-on alphabet letters (can be found at most office supply stores)
• magazines such as Family Circle, Good Housekeeping that will show families and mealtimes.
• also magazines like National Geographic that have beautiful pictures of animals and nature.
• white 8 ½” x 11″ paper to draw on
• markers or crayons
• glue sticks

Most children will be very pleased with the idea of creating a placemat with their name on it. Let them pick out the letters or draw their name on a piece of paper. Depending on the size of the placemat, letters should be about 2″ tall.

Give your child the magazines to look through and find pictures of foods they like or just scenes they like. A child who loves animals may be happiest with a placemat covered with animal pictures. Another child may like nature scenes like the ocean or the mountains. Another idea is to use copies of family photos. You can also have your child draw pictures to put on their placemat.

Cut out the pictures (assist if needed). Arrange pictures on placemat first without glue, seeing where you like them best. Once your child likes the placement of the pictures, put them on the placemat using your gluestick.

Allow the placemat to dry for several hours. Then cover the placemat with clear contact paper. Measure the contact paper so that it is just slightly smaller than the placemat, by about 1/4″ on each side. This will help it stay in place.

These placemats will now clean off with any damp sponge and you can use gentle dish detergent on them if needed. It’s dinnertime!

About The Author
Abigail Beal © 2004 Abigail Beal a.k.a. “the Gift-wrap Goddess” teaches gift wrap in suburban New York. She is the author of 2 ezines: GiftWrapGoddessWraps and CreativeCraftsTeachers. To subscribe: groups.yahoo.com/group/CreativeCraftsTeachers/ groups.yahoocom/group/GiftWrapGoddessWraps/.
contact: giftwrapgoddess@yahoo.com

A baby’s christening or baptism is a very special occasion. It is the very first step in their spiritual life so there should be as many keepsakes of the day as possible. Since the baby won’t have any first-hand memories of this special day, it’s up to the parents, godparents and family members to create lasting memories for them.

There are always the popular items that make treasured keepsakes, but there are many other ideas that might get overlooked. For instance, are the invitations just for inviting guests to the celebration and providing all the important details? That is their main purpose, but saving just one of them to be framed or placed in a memory album/scrapbook will create a lasting souvenir of the occasion.

Here is a list of some more obvious and not-so-obvious items that make great baptism or christening keepsakes creating lifetime memories for the baby.