Obnoxious younger sister's gift for brother's 50th birthday
June 18th 2009 03:24
My brothers are MUCH older than I am. The oldest turned 50 about 3 years ago. I decided I'd send him a card a day for 50 days. I used the free e-card services that allow you to schedule delivery - very easy - each week I'd choose 7 different cards and schedule them for delivery to his inbox each day. Well - he got tired of opening the e-cards, so he didn't even see them all.
The next brother will be 50 this Friday - so I decided to do something similar for him. 50 days before his birthday, I started sending him "homemade" e-cards. I used my digital scrapbooking program to make him unique "cards." I saved each one as an image, and resized it for more suitalbe emailing. That way - when he opens his email message - the image is right there - he doesn't have to click on anything. Probelms with this option: I had to remember to send one each day (no scheduling options), I had to come up with 50 different ideas, no animation or music attached. But, he really liked the cards. I did forget a couple of times to send them on the right days, so I had to play catch up and send a few cards a couple of times. He even emailed to see if I was "ok" when I missed a couple of days in a row!
I really had fun with this project. I'll admit - I "borrowed" some graphics from the internet for some of the cards - but most of them were original ideas. For one of the cards, I showed how much he's changed over the years - comparing baby pictures, school photos, and current photos. I had a star chart done online for him for one of the cards. One listed events that have happened on that date through history. One listed things that happened the year he was born. One was all about Gemini. One was about Year of the Pig. And one was about Gemini Pig! Most of them were about getting OLD!
My favorite card - I found a site that sold T-shirts for 50th birthday gifts. The shirt had the following saying: "I'm [hand gesture indicating 1 with middle finger] this many X 50." To make it suitable for a card, I used paint to draw a cartoon, slightly resembling my brother, and put the graphic on the cartoon shirt. The caption said, "I made you this virtual T-shirt for your birthday!" (Since this is a family oriented site, I won't insert the graphic!)
To make it a really lasting gift, I had a photo book printed with all 50 cards in it to give him on the big day!
Both my brothers got a kick out of getting the special attention, but they've both vowed payback in 5 years when I turn 50! (I'm not worried, they'll forget - and neither has the patience to do anything that takes 50 days to complete!)
The next brother will be 50 this Friday - so I decided to do something similar for him. 50 days before his birthday, I started sending him "homemade" e-cards. I used my digital scrapbooking program to make him unique "cards." I saved each one as an image, and resized it for more suitalbe emailing. That way - when he opens his email message - the image is right there - he doesn't have to click on anything. Probelms with this option: I had to remember to send one each day (no scheduling options), I had to come up with 50 different ideas, no animation or music attached. But, he really liked the cards. I did forget a couple of times to send them on the right days, so I had to play catch up and send a few cards a couple of times. He even emailed to see if I was "ok" when I missed a couple of days in a row!
One of the 50 cards I made for my brother.
I really had fun with this project. I'll admit - I "borrowed" some graphics from the internet for some of the cards - but most of them were original ideas. For one of the cards, I showed how much he's changed over the years - comparing baby pictures, school photos, and current photos. I had a star chart done online for him for one of the cards. One listed events that have happened on that date through history. One listed things that happened the year he was born. One was all about Gemini. One was about Year of the Pig. And one was about Gemini Pig! Most of them were about getting OLD!
My favorite card - I found a site that sold T-shirts for 50th birthday gifts. The shirt had the following saying: "I'm [hand gesture indicating 1 with middle finger] this many X 50." To make it suitable for a card, I used paint to draw a cartoon, slightly resembling my brother, and put the graphic on the cartoon shirt. The caption said, "I made you this virtual T-shirt for your birthday!" (Since this is a family oriented site, I won't insert the graphic!)
To make it a really lasting gift, I had a photo book printed with all 50 cards in it to give him on the big day!
Both my brothers got a kick out of getting the special attention, but they've both vowed payback in 5 years when I turn 50! (I'm not worried, they'll forget - and neither has the patience to do anything that takes 50 days to complete!)
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DeAnne
