Birthday Journals

We've hit a time of the year where my family has a lot of birthdays. So I thought this would be a good time to write about birthday journals.

You can keep a birthday journal for yourself or for someone else, such as a child, close friend or family member. On the birthday of the person you are keeping the journal for you will write your entry. You can recap the previous year and the changes it has brought, write your hopes and dreams for the future or just reflect on your relationship with that person or your life in general. Write whatever feels right to you. If you're writing this journal for someone else it helps to write the entry as if you are talking to them.

This would be a wonderful journal to keep for a child and give them when they get older. It could easily become one of their treasured keepsakes.

One alternative to this is the birthday letter. Instead of writing in a journal, each year your would write a letter. You can either seal it in an envelope with the birthday person's name and date on it, or you can mail it to them. If you mail it, even the envelope could serve as a keepsake because it would show where they were living at the time and what the stamps and postage rates were. If you do mail the letter, make sure that you keep a copy of the letter in case the post office loses or damages the original.

If you are keeping the birthday letters or journal for a child or anyone else, you may want to plan on giving them as a special birthday day gift in the future. Just don't forget to continue this custom even after that. It will be something for them to look forward to on their birthday every year.

Yet another twist to this idea is to have your friends and family members write you a letter for your birthday. They can write about their feelings for you, tell a funny story about you, write about how you met, or whatever feels right to them. Collect all of the letters in a notebook for a special birthday keepsake. This would be great for a milestone birthday and you could even coordinate it for someone else's birthday.

Tags: birthday journal, birthday letter