What does it mean to you to be independent, or to be free? We want to wish you a Happy Fourth of July by taking you back and reminiscing about your times of freedom. Celebrate life and how far you have come. This is what a time capsule is all about. Celebrating life or a specific milestone moment that changed your life or helped you feel more free, or independent.

Let’s reminisce. Remember when:

1. You first learned to walk.
2. The first time chose your own clothes to wear.
3. The first time you took your training wheels off your bike.
4. The first time you took a drink of any pop (soda for those in the south).
5. You held your first car keys to drive.
6. You went on your first date.
7. The first time you went ice skating
8. The first time you kissed a girl or boy
9. The first child you had
10. The first child you gave away in marriage or the day your first child went off to college.

Sometimes our firsts do not seem like freedom. Sometimes freedom or independence can seem hard. It is all a matter of perspective. Sometimes you do not feel the sense of freedom, until years later and then realize it was for the better. It is then, when you realize this that you have the true feeling of what “independence” is.

Even though we may experience several times of independence while growing up, we are never too far away from loved one’s hearts and minds. Make sure you spend this fourth of July building milestone moments and have fun watching each other grow and become more independent. Make it a family event this holiday by participating in an activity you will never forget.

Make a Fourth of July Time Capsule to Reflect on one year on July 4, 2015.

Reminisce or think about what exactly has changed in your life since last year’s Fourth of July? Many times life goes by so fast, that we often forget the special and regular days in between each year. This time capsule is an activity is something you do to look back and say, “Oh that is really cool that we have this.”

Favorite 4th of July Activity to Do with your Kids – Time Capsule

Put things that mean something to your family from the year. Create a time capsule quiz about your favorite sport, movie, song, food, restaurant, tv show, shoe size or anything that has special meaning in your life this year. Personalize the quiz. Also create a family scavenger hunt for your family to do throughout the 4th of July day, before watching the fireworks together in the evening as a celebration wrap-up of your fun-filled and memorable day together. Make sure to take pictures throughout your day, and collect a few other photos from your year so far to put in your time capsule. Have fun and save your funny or meaningful family quotes in the time capsule on slips of paper to read a year later, or whenever you choose to open the time capsule. This is such a great family activity to bond you all closer, especially if one of your children are about to leave for college or become more independent.

The Family Scavenger Hunt – Stroll Down Memory Lane

Make the Fourth of July Time Capsule activity fun, by using a scavenger hunt for the kids and adults to find items hidden in your town and house, to collect and put in your time capsule. What a fun way to experience the past year all over together. Have one item with a clue that leads to the next. For example, set it up so you have to visit the houses of several people or friends you already visited this past year for special events, birthday parties, etc to collect or find an item to put in the time capsule. I remember doing fun things like this in our youth group and it was a blast. For other ideas of what you can collect to put in the time capsule, check out this website for 100 scavenger hunt lists and ideas at http://www.diva-girl-parties-and-stuff.com/scavenger-hunts.html

Baby’s First July 4th Craft Ideas to Save in a Baby Time Capsule

If it is the first Fourth of July for your baby to see, why not collect items to put in their decorative Baby Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com? Then, let your child open this time capsule years later at another Fourth of July in the future, as a way to re-celebrate what life was like when he or she was born. If you are looking for fun crafts to make for your child’s first Fourth of July, check out these at http://redtri.com/no-fire-required-10-easy-fourth-of-july-crafts/

Happy Fourth of July everyone! What are your plans for this July 4th? Comment below please.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

The post 10 Ways to Reminisce & Remember your Freedom on the 4th of July appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

She was scared to take baths as a three year old. Until, one day her aunt showed her how the doggy takes baths too. When you make things more fun, children are more likely to listen and imitate. My niece and I gave the dog a bath after playing fetch with the hose and the dog. Cinnamon, our dog, is a Chocolate Lab and Australian Shepherd mix. She is full of energy and a great life lesson teacher. After playing in the water, Cinnamon shook, which splattered all her water onto my niece and I. My niece, Skylar, laughed and realized taking a bath could be fun. Then a few hours later, Skylar gladly took her own bath, had fun, and shook herself when she was done. I laughed so much at her. I was happy she had fun, changed her perspective about a daily skill, and she and I had a great bonding moment to last for years to come.

What special milestone moments would you like to relive again?

There are many different benefits of a time capsule. A time capsule has the ability to transport both you and your loved one to a different place and time. It can be an activity to break up your daily worries or activities in life. Most people enjoy hearing stories behind mementos. So why not start making your time capsule today? It will be a legacy keepsake for your future generations to enjoy.

Benefits of a Time Capsule

1. It is a great bonding activity to do with other family members or friends.

2. It is a great way to get others communicating about their thoughts and feelings (can be very therapeutic).

3. It can be a form of meditation, as you are reflecting back on your life or where you want to be in the future. We all need to have goals in life.

4. It can be a way for you to bury your past (so-to-speak), and start a new life of freedom. This would be a time capsule I do not know if I would want to reopen in the future though, unless you completely feel healthy and want to see how far you have grown spiritually, mentally, emotionally, or physically. For example put a picture of how you look now in the time capsule, then lose weight, and see how far you have come years later.

5. Creating a time capsule can be a fun, rewarding hobby, like scrapbooking.

6. Similar to a classic movie or song bringing back great memories, creating a time capsule can do the same. This is especially important for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. It is like reminiscence therapy. What is a classic movie you have not seen for a while? A time capsule improves memory and creates a family heirloom.

7. A time capsule would be a great, unique centerpiece for a Wedding or Baby Shower. Make a game out of it, and have guests bring things to put in it for the future couple or baby to see or read years later. What are your predictions of where the couple or baby will be in life, in the future?

8. A time capsule can make you use all of your senses to create and preserve your nostalgic moments.

9. It can help close the gap of generations. For example, explain how to use technological things like the latest cell phone (if we even have cell phones in the future).

10. It can help military families (especially those who are gone when their child is born), not forget any moments or memories (as you can write each day what is happening in a journal). Memories can fade easily, so help preserve those smaller, and seemingly less significant events that happened during your separation, while one of you is in the military.

11. Your family history is important, so include small notes on each item in the time capsule. Decades from now, your descendants can learn all about what life was like when you were born or alive. A time capsule is the best tangible history book around.

12. For an adopted child or someone in foster care, a time capsule can be like their beginning “life story,” so he or she feels some attachment to their biological family and has a sense of belonging.

13. A time capsule can be like a memorial, to help with grief and bereavement of a past loved one.

14. A time capsule helps preserve your favorite memories, in a safe place.

15. It can be a creative way to share wisdom, from adults or grandparents to children or grandchildren.

16. It helps you prioritize and organized which favorite baby items to keep or give away.

17. It is a tangible scrapbook, for those things that do not fit in a scrapbook.

18. It protects your items better than a scrapbook (if you do not bury it).

19. A time capsule can be a great classroom activity to unify students for a single, positive purpose.

20. A time capsule can help restore marriages, by opening the Wedding Time Capsule, when you have an argument together in the future, to remind you why you got married.

If you want to read more information or research on the benefits of a time capsule or memory box, check out http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1363&context=honors St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital even understands the benefits of creating a time capsule or scrapbook. Check out why at http://www.memorychestmemorials.com/Blogs/Memory-Chest-Memorials/February-2013/Therapeutic-Scrapbooking-A-Technique-to-Promote-Po

I am sure there are many other benefits of creating a time capsule. What benefits can you think of? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

The post 20 Key Benefits of a Time Capsule appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.