Monthly Archives: December 2012

Gift Idea #38 – Family Home Dollhouse

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idea numbers38If you are good at building things I think it would be so cool to build a dollhouse for the youngster in the family based on a historical home in your family. If you are really ambitious you could make it to scale and as accurate as possible. This is not a project for the faint of heart but it would be sure to become a family heirloom. But you could also simplify things and still make it representative of the old family home. It would be fun to furnish it with period furniture and accessories.

A simpler version of this gift idea would be to find a dollhouse to buy that has been inspired by a period of history that has some connection to your family stories.

 

Gift Idea #37 – Family Name History

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idea numbers37Do you know where your last name came from? I think it would be interesting to do some research on your family name and gather the information together on a sheet of paper, a booklet or even a book.

You might find a family crest. You might find the origins of the name. You might find out what your last name means. You could trace back your genealogy just following this family name. You might find some of the famous people with the same last name and see if you have a common ancestor.

There is some free info on surnames on the internet and some information that is available for a fee. I’ve never used any of these services, so I don’t know if they are worth the fees. Here are some of the more interesting resources I found.

House of Names

Surnames – History & Origins

Learn about the family history of your surname

Surname Origin

Last Name Meaning

Surname Database

Behind the Name

 

Gift Idea #36 – Family T-shirts

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idea numbers36It would be fun to design a t-shirt for your family. You don’t have to have a family reunion to have matching shirts made. Just come up with something that represents your family, its values and what makes it unique. The t-shirts could include the family name or the relationship of the family members, like uncle, sister, grandfather etc. They could feature an image of a common ancestor or place of origin. A family in our neighborhood loves Disneyland. Disneyland is really a big part of their family traditions, so a t-shirt for their family would have to include something about Disneyland. It will probably take some brainstorming to come up with a good design. You could get lots of family members involved in a project like these. You might want to have a contest to decide the design. Or narrow the designs down and then have a vote to select the final t-shirt.

 

Gift Idea #35 – Charm Necklace (Bracelet or Key Chain)

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idea numbers35Charm necklaces and bracelet are very popular these days. I’ve made a charm necklace for the puppies that I raise for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Then when they leave us to return for training I wear it everyday until their graduation. When I miss them, I can reach up and feel the charms and think that they are close to my heart.

The same principle will work for family members too. Pick a few charms that represent the person in someway. The family member could be someone who is far away for some reason or one who has recently passed away or even someone from the distant past that your family is focusing on. You could make a card to give along with the charms to explain the symbolism behind your choices. I think key chains would be a good choice for male family members or someone who doesn’t like jewelry.

Gift Idea #34 – Maps

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idea numbers34I love maps and I think they would make a great gift for young and old alike. By hanging a map of the country or area where an ancestor lived it gives you the opportunity to talk about that person and to learn a little more about what life was like for them. The map could be very graphical and simple like these:

My Roots Collection

Or something with lots and lots of details. The map could be a world map with pins or stickers to make important locations to your family or it could be the map of just a city and show the different addresses where your family has lived. The map could be modern or it could be a copy of an old antique map. By googling maps I found this store with all kinds of cool maps.

Maps.com

They even do custom maps. Wow, this makes me want to continue to explore all the options of map. There are so many options, one (or more) is sure to work for your situation.

 

Gift Idea #33 – Family Calendar

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idea numbers33I’m working on my calendar to give this Christmas. It is still in process but I’m getting close. I’ll post about it when I get it finished. I’ve done a calendar many times before and there are lots of ways to do them. Most local copy centers are set up to do a calendar. You supply the photos and they do the rest. There are tons of online sources for calendars too. Here are just a few.

Shutterfly

Snapfish

Walgreens

Lulu

Zazzle

Cafepress

Minted

I’ve always made my calendars myself, using Adobe InDesign, so I can’t recommend any of these options but I’m sure that they all make some great calendars. It is fun to add family birthdays and special events to your calendar. I’ve seen calendars where you put the photo of the person on the date too. You can use current family photos or historical photos. This can be a quick project by using one of the services available or a longer project if you do it yourself from scratch. The possibilities are endless but a family calendar is sure to be a big hit.

Gift Idea #32 – Family Trivia Game

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idea numbers32I love this idea that I stumbled across on Martha Stewart to create a family trivia game to be played at a family gather such as after dinner. Just put together a set of questions ahead of time about your family members and see how much fun everyone will have guessing the answers and learning new facts and stories about their family.

There is even a little Trivia Booklet you can download to put your quiz questions in. I bet that this game will become of treasured family tradition for many years to come. Have fun with this idea!

Gift Idea #31 – Interview Recording

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idea numbers31How about recording an interview with one of the members of your family (usually an older family member) and then share that interview with your family on a cd or dvd? To me the hardest part of this is coming up with a good set of questions for the interview. Well StoryCorps.org has the answer. They have a list of great questions or you can use their Question Generator to create a customized list of questions based on your circumstances.

With today’s computers it is so much easier to edit an interview and make copies than it was even 10 or 15 years ago. What a precious thing to have some of your families stories recorded in the voice of a beloved family member. It will be well worth the effort. Besides you don’t have to get their whole life history recorded in one sitting. Just a story or two would be great. Sometimes we think we have to do it all but we don’t. Getting something recorded and shared is the most important thing.

50 for 50 #48 – S.T.a.R. Party

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Me and Shannon

This week I got to get together with two good friends, Shannon and Tricia. The three of us worked together for several years with they young women in our church. We made a great team. Though each of us is very different in our life paths we were all born in the same year. We use to live just a couple of blocks apart and we would get together regularly for a S.T.a.R. party (for Shannon Tricia and Raelyn) but now I live 30 minutes from Tricia and Shannon lives in the mid-west. Tricia and I get together about once a month without Shannon. I think the last time the three of us got together was two years ago. But this week Shannon was in town, so we got to have a real S.T.a.R. party with all three of us. It was so much fun to talk and catch up with each other. It was the perfect way to celebrate my 50th (and theirs) year this week.

(I’ve haven’t gotten a copy of the photo that Tricia took of Shannon and me. I’ll add as soon as I can.)

Gift Idea #30 – Family Home History

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idea numbers30Many families have a home they have lived in for many, many years. If your family is one of them, consider putting together a history of your family home. It can be interesting and enlightening to see the role a house can play in your families history and the memories made there.

I did a small book about the home the my mother and most of her siblings were born in. This home was built by her father and when it was time to sell the old family home she had a really hard time with the idea. I put together the book in hopes that it would help her be more at peace with selling the home. I’ll post about this project sometime.