Pinched from Pinterest #1 - Mums 60th Birthday

So I thought I would do a series of blogs on ideas I have successfully pinched from Pinterest and actually followed through on – (not just pinned to an album of one days when I morphed into a perfectly organised person with spare time and an abundance of creative genius).  I wanted to show that these super cool things we find on pinterest can actually be achieved by uncrafty and highly dysfunctional people – and have turned out to be some of the greatest memory making gifts I have ever given people – (and they cost next to nothing – cha ching!!)

My mum turned 60 in Feb – and she FORBID me to throw her a party. I love throwing parties (threw a rocking sixties themed party for my dads 60^th a few years ealier) – so was a bit pissed and at a loss for what I could do to make her birthday awesome.  So a few weeks before her birthday searched pinterest for inspiration and found this...  from the blog Nothing but Bonfires .  I loved the idea – so I stole my mums address book (or i should I say books –scribbled out and doodled on a million family members, with some addresses on the backs of Christmas envelopes or scrap paper – bloody nightmare to piece together... but I digress...) ...and I typed the following letter...

I then posted, emailed and face booked the letter to as many people as I could think of and find. And then I waited. Impatiently. – as sometimes people suck and need a little pushing haha. But soon enough the letters, emails, photos (and even text messages for the very time poor) started flooding in. It was better than Christmas.  My sister became my partner in crime and there were lots of hushed conversations and laughter as we cracked open each envelope.  Mum totally knew something was up but thought we were planning a party haha.  She had a few nights up the coast booked with dad on the weekend before her birthday and I had to move in to her place with my sister while they were away so it was operation envelope.

Now I didn’t have any cool vintage envelopes like in the original pin/blog  – but I still wanted it to look pretty so I simply bought some el cheapo pearly looking envelopes from k-mart ($2 a pack) and some cardboard stencils to put the numbers on the front of them from 1 to 60. I randomly filled each envelope with a letter from a friend or memory from a family member . If the message was sent to me via facebook or email I printed it and stuck it on some bright card or paper to A: make it look prettier and B: make it fit my little envelopes better.

I wrote quite a few messages myself – and for all of mine – and quite a few of the others I found photos and made little photo booth slides to fit in the envelopes. I just wrote whatever I was thinking – an example of a couple of mine were...

The baby raising one had 5 pics of me in 1979 and 5 of Oscar in 30+ years later. The Christmas one was  accompanied by shockingly bad Christmas pics from the 80’s with awkwardly shaped pine trees stolen from late afternoon illegal trips to the forestry. 

I also wrote some from/about her mum, dad,  sister and close friends she has lost over the years – with pictures and stories about those people. I really started to focus on the idea of 60 years of memories – and the people that made up the important parts of her life.  

You probably don’t need to do these extra things and don’t be put off by the thought of the extra work - The response from all those who took part was overwhelming and really touching, and the envelopes could have been filled as they arrived. 

But I can get a bit carried away with a theme (those who know me just rolled their eyes) so i went the whole hog. 

 It seriously took us a long time to collate all the envelopes and get it all together that weekend before she came home – but it was fun to do.  

Mum arrived home on the Monday of her birthday and I had organised the family to come around for afternoon tea.  We bought some pressies that would suit, so my sister bought her an amazing tea set, and I bought her a some cute stationery type things – a place to write and collate old family recipes (memory theme again), a cute mail/letter holder (the same colours scheme as my cheapo envelopes) and a new address book! (cause hers seriously sucked.)

We gave her the presents when she arrived home in the morning (she had no idea they were being used that arvo). I ordered some fancy cupcakes from a local facebook business and set the table with her fancy new tea set for a high tea. I placed the envelopes in the mail holder. She was very intrigued but didn’t have a clue.

During the afternoon tea we told her to pick up envelope No. 1 and open it... It contained an explanation of her present and what she was to do – and she continued on from 1 through to 60 – passing them around the table for others to read once she had.  There were tears, and screams of laughter as the memories, well wishes and embarrassing photos were all revealed.

The one thing we didn’t realise was how long it would take to open and read 60 years worth of memories! We moved to the lounge room and continued to read and open them for hours...

In fact it took so long that in I ended up making a huge bowl of pasta and we ended up back at the table and ate dinner as her surprise continued...

It was a truly amazing afternoon – not just for mum but for all my family who gathered together . and we received phone calls and texts and emails from so many who participated asking for updates of how it all turned out. Even if I won the lotto and could afford anything in the world for mums birthday I don’t think I would have changed a thing. Except maybe we opened all the letters in Venice or Tuscany and somebody else made the pasta for dinner haha.  

But the point of the post is that I actually saw a great idea – and instead of thinking – “oh that’s cool – but looks a bit complicated” – I just did it – and it was freaking awesome!  And those 60 envelopes mum now has amongst her treasures will be a living piece of history that will become a family heirloom. A testament for all time on how awesome my mum is – written by all those who love her most. Now money can’t buy that.

I advise everyone to give it a crack for someone they love -  you don’t have to do it the same way – in fact I’m sure you won’t – cause once you start it will evolve and take on a life of its own and become your families own piece of treasure.  The key is to simply make a start.