A birthday surprise

A few months ago, we shared a link about gifting a birthday boy or gal with envelopes full of stories, memories and photos collected from their loved ones.  Sally's Dad turns 65 today and, over the weekend, she and her sister presented him with 65 envelopes full of 65 years of memories...

Happy Birthday, Dad!

This project is a fun way to celebrate someone's life thus far and show that you care in a unique way.  It's not time consuming, but does require some organization and, of course, you have to be able to keep a surprise!

If you'd like to DIY, here are some tips which should set you up for success:
- Email your contributors at least 6 weeks prior to day you're planning to present the recipient with their gift.  Give them a deadline of 2 weeks prior to the giving day so that you can organize and number the envelopes. It's human nature to procrastinate on this kind of stuff so give your helpers some time.
- In your note, be explicit about what you'd like to receive - photos? funny stuff?  People are more apt to help if they have a clear sense of what you're looking for.
- One the day of the deadline, let any stragglers know that this is the last call for contributions.
- Keep a list of your contributors with contact information to give to the recipient after they're done opening everything - they may want to follow up with the contributors and thank them for their story or just chat it up.
- You'll likely receive papers and items of different sizes so grabbing multicolored envelopes in various dimensions is a good idea.  We love Paper Source's envelope selection.
- Number the envelopes in chronological order (childhood friends to current friends) or keep it random if you want to keep 'em guessing!