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I hope you all fall in love with this idea like I did! Jordan Ferney called it the Envelope Surprise, and it is such a sweet and thoughtful way to tell someone how amazing they are… AND not only will you share this with them, but all their closest family and friends too!!! Here is a peek at the finished product… then I am going to tell you how to get yours started today!!
So cute huh?? And with the help from our AMAZING Aileen from Lil Buckaroo Designs, it turned out fabulous!!
Here’s how it works… inside each of these cute envelopes is a letter, a poem, a coupon, or even a gift for your honey… every day! Some are from you…and others are from your FRIENDS & FAMILY! 🙂 That’s right, I had enough letters and things to share the love with my hubby for 2 weeks. It just so happened that I was out of town with the kids for one of the weeks that he was opening these letters… and it.made.his.week!
I worked with Aileen to create {special for our readers} all the easy-peasy printouts!! You will need to start with making a list of who you want to contact {…from who would your spouse LOVE to receive a letter??}, and make sure to give yourself some time – some people need a few weeks to write something special about someone. I sent mine out 2 weeks in advance. I gave it to family members and my hubby’s best friends. The turnout was great!! Once you know who you are going to send the request to… you will need to print the letter, fill it out and mail, deliver or email it. We even created the actual LETTERS you can send out to your friends & family explaining what you would like them to do!
We have printables for either spouse to surprise the other!
And that part is pretty self-explanatory. Next… you need to print your numbers for your envelopes…
And did you want coupons to match??? We did that too!! Did any of your friends or family members want to treat that special someone to a night on the town… lunch… lemonade… ice cream?!?! Eh??
You will also need some envelopes… which you can find absolutely anywhere… here are some super colorful ones for a good deal!
The only other thing you might need is a banner if this is for a special holiday. Tara surprised her hubby for his birthday and I did it for Father’s Day… they both turned out looking awesome!!!
Success is the greatest!!
And my hubby’s actual words were… “Wen, this has been THE best gift I have EVER received in my life…” Ahhh!!!
So, what are you waiting for?? You have plenty of time to start prepping for the next birthday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s, or the BEST reason of all… Just Because!!
We love your comments
I can’t get the links for the letters and such to work. 🙁 Any helpful hints?
Ann, they are working for me. Maybe try a different web browser? Llike Firefox or Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. Whichever one you are not on. 🙂
My husband is coming home from Deployment in November, and I am going to use this idea for a “welcome home” gift! I have been looking for different things to start putting together for his arrival and this is perfect! thanks so much =)
I used this idea for Father’s Day for my husband. . . it was wonderful and yet so emotional. Thank you so much!
Hey! I follow your website since a few months now and i am addicted to it. I ve used a lot of your ideas on various occassions. And needless to say my boyfriend loved every bit of it. I am a month away from my boyfriend’s birthday and he is turning 26. I want to do a countdown to his birthday, where i make him feel special everyday. Please can you give me some ideas. Thank you. Love the work you people do!
I did this for the hubby’s birthday, and his love language is words of affirmation. He hasn’t stopped talking about it since and this was almost 2 years ago! It was amazing to read what people said about my husband and made me appreciate all of those things about him so much more!
I made the envelopes so they would all be matching, and he loved opening up a new one every day.
Thanks for the great idea – he is graduating from grad school soon, I’m thinking of doing another countdown with something different inside for graduation day. Working up some ideas now to bless him as he nears the end!
I feel like there is also a way a to turn this into a cute game as well! maybe he picks a number out of a jar or picks out a few random one for a week. maybe he/she gets the letter/gift/date/coupon?
just an idea!
I used this idea for my wife for her birthday. It was awesome to hear from all of the friends that have been touched by the good person that she is. Thank you so much for the idea!
Thank You Wendy! I was able to open up those coupons (6) but in the uper right hand corner it said page 4 of 6 and the other said page 3 of 5 so I was thinking there were more coupons. If not that’s fine, if there are my email is krickt_1970@hotmail.com. Thanks so much!!! =]
I love the idea, but not all the coupons will open up, is there a place where I can download or find the coupons? Thanks
There are 6 coupons total in the 2 links, they opened up just fine for me. If you would like I can email them to you. Let me know! 😉
Krista- you could totally do a countdown and send an email at 10 days left and 5 days left and LAST DAY! Just say it’s almost here! I am so excited to be able to share all my love and yours with my honey! 5 days until I need your fabulous letter! Thanks for being a part of this fun surprise!
This is great and I’m so excited to do this for my husband’s birthday! Do you have an example of a reminder email to send to people? I’m worried that people will forget to do it and I can’t quite come up with the right wording without sounding pushy. Anything will help! Thank you!
Always looking for great ideas for my husband’s care packages since he deploys so much! This is great!
I used this as a count down to Christmas. My husband is have a blast!
Thank you!
Not to be one of a bazillion comments, but….I love this idea. I can’t decide what to use it for….I’ve got my husband’s birthday, christmas, and our anniversary all in a few weeks!!!! and for most of that we will be out of town….haha. I better get figuring this out. I should have started earlier!
Kendra! I think you should do it over the whole month! Or the period of time that his birthday, anniversary and christmas land! It would be cool. And then YOU write the letters on his special day(s) and give him the rest during the in-betweens!
I like that idea! I could do that… I would need about 15 letters! I guess I will decide how I do it based on how many responses I get. Currently I’m planning on doing 12 days, from his birthday to the day we leave out of town….
So far no one has responded to my request letter…(It’s been 2 1/2 days GEEZ PEOPLE lol) am I the only one that is/gets nervous that no one will reply??!! I worry that like, they didn’t see my e-mail or forget or whatnot… ha. I really hope people do because I am really excited for it!
Kendra! I am totally like you. I would make phone calls too and let them know you sent it to them. Tell them a little about it, they will jump on board I am sure. I think the initial thought may be overwhelming to some. But that will also get you a for sure answer and also give them the deadline and still remind them the night before the deadline. I had to! 😉
I utilized this idea (and a couple other ideas from this site) to create a memorable birthday for my husband. I’ve come up with a lot of pretty good ideas in the past, but this one was certainly the most meaningful. Thank you for making my husband’s birthday a special day.
Here’s my version of it: https://jolizie.blogspot.com/2011/11/111111.html
Jo! It looks like it was a super successful birthday! What a fun date to celebrate and even better an awesome husband. Thanks for sharing!!
I am doing this for my husband for Christmas. I received a total of 12 letters, so I’m going to link it with the 12 days of Christmas. I’m going to decorate it all “jazzy” for the holiday- I can’t wait!- I hope he likes it!
I LOVE this idea! I might even share that idea on FB for those looking for a gift for the holidays! Thanks Marianne!
My husband is a Youth Minister and his first Anniversary is coming up with our current church family. We’ve had a really big first year with lots of highs and lows and I am so excited to give him his very own encouragement board!! I’ve involved several members of our church/youth group and am hoping to give him several weeks of uplifting encouragement. Thank you DIVAS for this wonderful idea. I’ve been telling everyone about your site!!
With so much sincerity I say, thank you!
Wow this sounds awesome Rachel! I hope it is as amazing as you are for planning such a big surprise for him!
I am trying to print the numbers for the envelopes and I am not sure why, but it is only printing 4 dots on each number. Except for number one, which has 3/4 of the dots. I can use them as is, but I’m not sure if anyone else had those same problems.
I am really excited to do this for my hubby’s birthday. I’ve thought about a surprise party and/or taking him shopping for new work clothes (the man loves to shop!) this will be a perfect way to integrate either of those into his birthday week or weeks which typically are a very busy time for us!
Thank you!
Kim, they are printing fine for me. Im not sure why yours would not be coming out the same?!?! I hate to tell you to print it again, I am sure you have already. Maybe just use it, or you could try again. Yay for a fabulous birthday present.
I just used it as is, no big deal 🙂 The giving starts this weekend! Can’t wait!
I am in the process of putting this together for more than 150 days! It will be one envelope to open with a letter from a friend or family member or a picture from our youngest friends/family members for my husband for everyday he is deployed. I hope that he enjoys it and as excited about it as our family and friends have been about doing it! My husband is the best, thank you so much for helping me find new and awesome ways to remind him!
Kelli WOW! I thought my 15 was a lot of work! You are an amazing wife! You go girl!
I am so excited about seeing this! My husband and I have been married for almost 3 months and we do not really have money for Christmas for ourselves this year. I can’t WAIT to do this, I think he’ll LOVE it! I’ll have to set it up the night before, like Santa….haha! Thank you so much for this idea. I hope he likes it!
Perfect idea Kayla!!! And no doubt he will LOVE it!!! You have plenty o’ time to make it perfect too!! And if you wanted, you could throw in gift coupons to redeem later like a new swimsuit in the spring, or a new hoodie in the fall. When you know he might need some new things…and it wont be as tight 🙂 Good luck!
I love this idea. I am doing this for my husband right now! Our anniversary is on Saturday so I am starting this then. I just want to cry from the letters that I have been getting for my honey. I can’t wait to share with him how loved he is. Thank you so much for the idea!
Kimberley- I think I did cry over some of the letters too! And it will totally make his whole week! You will have to let us know how successful it was! 🙂
@Kayla, You can do this for however many days you want to. A whole month would be awesome! I did 2 weeks, we made the printables so you could actually do the whole month… What an incredible surprise he will have! Good luck!!
I am thinking of doing this wonderful idea for my husband to be 😉 I just want to make sure you do this for every day of the month?
Yay Maryanne! I am so glad everyone can put this one to use… I seriously love it!
My husband’s 30th birthday is next week and we don’t have very much money so this is awesome! Thanks!
Love this! Thank you!
Anytime!! 😉 Hope you enjoy!
Jamie LOVED his version!! I just think this is SUCH a great & fun idea. It’s kinda a spin-off of the Magazine I did for him! Collecting fun notes from all of our friends & family….. FABULOUS idea! Thanks for putting it together, Wendy! 🙂
Loved it too! Thanks for helping!
This is cute! Is there a “non-parent” version of the printables for those of us without children?
Lauren, I asked for another version to be sent to me so I can post it for you. I will get back to you hopefully after the weekend. 🙂
Lauren! I have another version… I am posting them now. 🙂
I am seriously going to prepare early this year! These sentimental ideas have more of a lasting impression than you think! Thanks for sharing – they look FABULOUS!!!
Thanks Kiirst! Dont print them yet. 🙂 LOL I have something for you. hehe See you tomorrow lady!
I am so excited too…my husband can’t come up with anything he wants for his birthday and this is PERFECT!!!! I am already on it…emailed people…printing things off. So excited. Thank you for your site…I’ve used quite a few ideas already!
The best part Stephanie is that you can give him gift cards in it, coupons, or any {words} that are irreplaceable!! Good luck lady!
Such a clever idea! I think I will file this one away to do for a “just because” day. You are full of great ideas
@Makana – this is seriously the best surprise!! Thanks for reading!
This post came at the PERFECT time!!!! I have been searching for something for my husband’s birthday that I could use to celebrate how old he is with that many days and this is PERFECT!!!! I’m so excited to get it going!
Thank you so much for your amazing posts! I love them!
@Amberly-So glad you have been looking! And also glad we could delivier for you… LOL Good luck, he will absolutely love it!!