I Love You Because Box - The Perfect Gift for a Husband and Dad

Yesterday was our 9-year wedding anniversary. My husband and I are not really a gift-giving couple for these occasions. Actually, I should rephrase that, we do give gifts, we just don’t give expensive gifts. It has always been this way. So, this year, when it came time to start getting my gift together, I figured I would include the kids.

For the last few weeks, C and G have been more inquisitive about how we met and when we got married. I’m not sure if they have just started noticing the pictures on the walls of our wedding day (they have been there for 5 years), or if they just started wondering about Mom and Dad. Anyway, it has been such a nice change! It’s SO fun to talk about with the kids and to hear their reactions when they hear that dad and I used to ride a go-cart after school when we were in 9^th grade, or that on our wedding night we went to 7-11 and got Slurpees in our wedding gown and tuxedo. They think that we are just the coolest (I know, I know, soak it in because it won’t last long)…

Needless to say, they were just as excited for our anniversary as we were, maybe more:-) So…in the weeks leading up to it, C and G (and H) started a project. We called it the “I Love You Because Box”. It is our special way of giving Ben (Dad) constant reminders about why and how much we love him when he is not with us. This is not the first time that this box came into existence. When we were first married, Ben worked at a company where he wasn’t exactly creatively challenged, so some of the days dragged on. I made this box for him then and it was his favorite gift to date, pulling out one card each day to “get him through” and make him smile.

I have a feeling this “I Love You Because Box” just beat the last one! For some reason when you ask a 5 and 4 year old why they love their father, some of the responses are just…unexpected!

Here is how our project went:

Step 1: Go find some blank (or lined) index cards. Mine were left over from my college days where I wrote EVERYTHING down on them before a test to study.

Step 2: Grab some markers, crayons, and pens and find a comfy spot around a table where you can sit, talk, and draw with your kids. Be prepared to laugh…hard!

Step 3: Write down all the reasons you love the person, one per card. My daughter just started learning to write, so she was adamant about doing the writing herself. My son on the other hand would draw a picture and I would write the words he dictated. And H, he slept, but we made some very special ones for him. I would prompt them with the question “why do you love daddy?”. On the front of the index card we would write, “I Love You Because…” and on the back, they went to town. We went through that whole pack of index cards with ease. We laughed together and we remembered a lot of excellent memories.

Step 4: Find a box to put them in. If you have an old index card box or want to buy one for $1, great!

Step 5: Wrap it and make a beautiful card to go along with it!

That is it. It will easily be one of the most memorable gifts that you give that special person, whether it’s a husband, dad, grandparent, etc. There are many people in this world that we love…why not tell them exactly why?

Here are some of my favorite memories from our “I Love You Because Box” creation:

• At the end, G turned to me and said, “but mommy, we haven’t told you why we love you”
• Unprompted, one of the cards that C wrote was “I love you because…you are you”.
• G was able to draw all of his cards himself. He drew all of his figures. (Sometimes with three children, it is hard to keep up on some of these milestones)
• G wrote “I love you because you kiss mom when you come in from work every day” (That sentence means the world to me…the fact that my husband shows our children every day how much he loves their mother).
• C made sure to help H write on one of the cards so that he could be included.

We have some pretty special children and I have one special husband for sure. And if he didn’t know it before, now he does.

About Lauryn Blakesley

A woman out to explore, celebrate, and enjoy everything that my community and living locally has to offer. Blessed with three beautiful children and an incredible husband, our family embraces adventure while dreaming of what is to come. Lover of knitting, running (although mostly after little ones right now), the color orange, fun accessories, fall, tea, and a clean kitchen floor. I spend my days in awe of my family and trying to teach my three to treat others as they would want to be treated.

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