DIY Memory Jar :: Gift Giving on the Cheap

I've been waiting to post this project because the pictures are poor quality (sorry, Dad - thanks anyway for shooting them for me).  We forgot to photograph this gift before we gave it to my parents.  Regardless of the photo quality, the gift has been a longtime favorite of my parents.  With Father's Day just around the corner, I thought this would make an inexpensive gift from the heart for that main man in your life or in your kids' lives. The Family Memory Jar:

My brother and I spent some time on the phone brainstorming our favorite family memories from our growing up years. We divided up the task and each spent a week jotting down 183 memories.  I formatted them all so that each on would print out about the size of a fortune in a fortune cookie.

Some of these were memories: "I laugh every time I think about throwing bread crumbs into Mom's inner tube so the fish would swarm to her."  This was my brother.  We were snorkeling one summer, and my mom didn't want to go all the way under the water.  She was floating on an inner tube with her head poking through the center ring.  My brother thought it would be funny to throw a bunch of bread crumbs near the inner tube so that all of the tropical fish would swarm around my mom and surprise her.  Sounds kind of mean when I'm describing it, but it was actually really funny at the time.  My mom kept going on and on about how she must have some special skill in attracting fish because they were all crowded around her.  Little did she know it was thanks to the half-loaf of bread my brother was pelting her with.

Some are just sentiments: "I'm thankful for the sound advice you've given us about parenting (and only when we asked for it!)" That one is pretty self-explanatory - and really much appreciated on both counts (the advice and the only-when solicited nature of it!)

We cut them all out and placed them in a glass cookie jar with this label:

My parents chose one every day for a year and then started again the next year.  They loved reading each of the memories that meant so much to us, and my brother and I had a great time and lots of laughs putting them all together.  This would be a wonderful project to do with your own kids and surprise their dad on Father's Day.