{Valentine's Day Gift}: Letters for Every Occasion

An easy homemade Valentine's Day gift that will bring a smile to anyone's face. Make a stack of these letters for your spouse, mother, best friend, or little brother - it's the perfect gift!


Cameron and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple while we were still in school. We had been married almost 6 months, and I wanted to find the "perfect gift" to give him. Since we were both going to school full-time, I decided to go the homemade route and make him something out of paper.

Thus, "Letters for Every Occasion" was born.

The concept is simple. I labeled 20 envelopes with different life occasions, and filled them with notes, letters, pictures, treats - anything that would help Cameron smile during a given occasion. I made this gift for my husband, but it could easily be made for a mother, best friend, cousin, brother, etc. Basically, it's a heart-felt way to show anyone that you love them.



What you'll need:
- Envelopes*
- Things to put inside: Notes, pictures, quotes, treats, etc

*I made my own envelopes by using a real envelope as my stencil, and tracing it on to various patterned paper. Obviously, this route is more work, but it was cheaper than buying a new set of colored envelopes.

Now that you have your envelopes, it's time for the fun part - filling them! I made 20 total, and filled them with hand written notes, old pictures of him/us/me, memories, his favorite treats, inspiring quotes - you get the idea. I've listed some ideas below, but get creative here! Find a way to weave a favorite memory or picture in to your gift.

Open when...
- You need a good laugh
- You're having a bad day at work
- You need a smile
- You need a small treat
- You're having a bad hair day
- You can't sleep
- You're missin' me
- You could use a pep talk

I also used sticky mailing labels on the outside of the envelopes. I thought it looked most uniform, but it's definitely not necessary.




One of my favorite things about this gift is that it can last for a long time. When Cameron opened it, I told him there was one rule: he could only open one envelope a day. I wanted the gift to last as long as it could! I gave Cameron this gift two years ago, and he still has two envelopes he hasn't opened. We might be waiting on those two for a while... :)