Sunday, June 16, 2013

"Open When" letters

One of my best guy friends is moving to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a pharmacist. I am so proud of him. Yes, I'm sad but I love that he is following his dreams. So I started thinking of a going away present that I get him. I came across these "Open When" letters. I knew I wanted to make these for him but as I tried to find ideas for letters, I came up pretty empty handed. I only found a picture of an "Open When" idea but no link to the actual idea. So, I came up with my own but decided to share with everyone. I used to 6" x 9" storage envelopes for mine. I know you are thinking these are big. You can use regular size envelopes but I wanted to put a little twist on my gift. In each "Open When" envelope I included a letter but I also added other things to some of them.

Here is a list of some of my ideas I used. 

OPEN WHEN...
  • you are on the way to NY. (For this one I made a CD to listen to on the drive, I included songs that have meaning to our friendship and fun, upbeat songs. Georgia to NY is quite a drive.)
  • you need a laugh. (I added jokes and pictures of us being silly together.)
  • you feel alone. (I put a hug in this one. You just have someone lay down on a long piece of paper, you trace it and cut it out. My arms would be to long to trace and include so I traced my nephews.)
  • you feel like giving up. (Everyone knows school can be hard so I added motivational quotes.)
  • you don't wanna study. (I added study tips and ways to get motivated to study.)
  • you have a hard test. (I wanted to wish him luck so I put lucky charms in this one.)
  • you need an extra push. (I ordered a key chain that said "Doctor of Pharmacy Grad" but you can always get the year they will graduate.)
  • you miss me. (I put every picture of us I could find. If you have inside jokes you could add that or include it in the letter.)
  • you miss the south. (Sweet tea! I put sugar and tea bags in a plastic bag with a sweet tea recipe.)
  • you miss Miller Rd. (This is the pharmacy we worked at together. I asked everyone to write a short note to him and added pictures of him with everyone.)
  • you get a bad grade. (I added a shot.)
  • you get a good grade. (Another shot to celebrate and some confetti.)
  • it's your birthday. (Again, a shot and some confetti. He leaves in July and his birthday is in January. I plan on sending him a present so I didn't add a gift to this one.)
  • you get this or open NOW! (Tissues. Saying goodbye is hard. I wanted to let him know how much I was going to miss him and kinda explain my gift.)
These other ideas I couldn't think of anything to add to them but all these have letters for him.
  • you feel down.
  • need to know someone loves you.
  • you disappoint yourself.
  • you feel outta place.
  • you have your 1st day of class.
  • you are bored. 
 I then put all of these in a plastic box that way I knew he could keep up with them. I can't wait to give him this gift. You can make these for anyone and for any occasion. If you have any ideas to add please share.