Gift Idea: Journal in a Jar

I came across this idea from an email newsletter I subscribe to and thought it was a great idea.

You've seen, I'm sure, stuff-in-a-jar kind of gifts (cookie mix in a jar, jams in a jar, etc), there's even a booklet from the same source I got this idea detailing loads of idea. Well, the premise of this one is to give someone a journal with a nice pen and a jar filled with ideas on what to write.

For a little kid, there would be things like "Draw a picture of your favorite pet or animal. Draw a picture of your favorite thing to do in the summertime. Draw a picture of your favorite place to go."

For an older child or teen the prompts could be more like: "Tell about your favorite pet–-what kind of animal is it? When did you get him/her? Tell about your hardest day at school. What is your favorite band? Why do you like them?"

There's even ones for adults: "Why was your name chosen for you? What was happening in the world when you were born? What is your earliest memory of home?"

Then the piece of paper would taped/pasted onto a journal page and let the memories and writing begin.

I decided I would try this gift for my niece and nephew this year (11 & 15). My nephew is not so much into writing, so his journal won't have lines so he can do more drawing than writing. I'll post a photo of the finished gifts...once I do the in the jar parts.

I'm sure you're thinking "how on earth will I figure out what to put IN the jar", well my source even provides this for you! She has links on our site to PDF & Excel files that contain plenty of ideas...so many that you'd probably be hard pressed to think up ones that aren't already provided...but feel free to add to it! Then you cut up each idea and put it in the jar.

My husband thinks the idea is cheesey, but I did confirm w/ my sister-in-law that she thought it was a good before doing it. She thinks her kids will love it, especially since I'm using nice sketch pad for my nephew instead of a lined journal.

Let me know what you think of the idea...cheesey? ingenious? love it? hate it? Feel free to leave me a comment.

...and of course, happy holidays to all!

As promised...pix of the journals...

My niece's journal - it looks dark, but it's actually a nice shade of pink

And this is my nephew's sketchbook/journal.

And this is what you get when you buy cute small jars...more journal ideas than you can fit in one...take my advice - buy a bigger jar! These are extras for each journal in a jar set.