In this crazy world of electronics, social media and the World Wide Web why not use some of this to our advantage and create something special for our children. Create the ultimate surprise. Do you remember making time capsules as kids? I would make them all the time and hide them away, only to open them a few weeks later and kill the thrill. But the idea of opening a capsule full of times past has always been intriguing to me so when I saw an idea floating around the Internet when my first daughter was born I knew I wanted to get on board with it. So from the day my girls were born I created them an email address, the catch: I don’t plan to give them the log in info until they turn 18 years old. An electronic time capsule to say the least! So yes, my children have an email address they don’t know about, and I’ll tell you why. Before I do, if you’re looking for your own premium email hosting providers, you might want to check out some of the best email hosting servers to help you get started. Anyway here’s why my kids have an email address that they don’t know about.

Some may be asking, why, what’s the point of that? Well that’s a legitimate inquiry. So here is the run down! I created the girls each a unique email address where I can send them daily/weekly/monthly notes, pictures etc. The million pictures I take of them, I email them with a little note about what I loved most about that day. If Lola has a day where she is extra cuddly, I write her a little love letter with how much I enjoy her cuddly days. If Joie says something ridiculously funny (which happens often) I send her a video of her saying it or a little note about how I can’t believe how much she has grown and I send it right on to her email address. These love notes will remain tucked away until the time comes to pass the info on to the girls.

The great thing is, this email doesn’t need to be just for you and your husband. You can pass this along to family members too. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and whoever has a close relationship with your child. They can send notes, inspirational messages or even funny pictures of them together. This is essentially one big, collaborative  time capsule and can you imagine the day you hand that email address and password over to your child?!

At 18 years old my girls will sit down with a key to unlock their entire childhood. They will be flooded with pictures, videos and messages from the family they have relied on most up until that point in their life. As they head off to college on their own they’ll be wrapped up in love and encouragement and that’s something I couldn’t  be more excited about.

At 2 years old and 1 year old it hasn’t been too hard to keep up, but I truly hope to continue this all the way through grade school and up to college. I would love to include emails of all their milestones along the way. And what’s great is that I don’t even know what others are sending the girls and whether they share with me some day or not, it will be up to them. Here are some of the things I have sent to the girls thus far:

1. Pictures/videos of memorable moments: Funny dances, silly moments etc.
2. Notes about important milestones they’ve reached: First steps, first words, first dances (someday!) etc
3. Things I always want to remember about their baby-hood/toddler days
4. Play dates, family trips and more!
5. A recent thing I have started to send them are my snapchat stories from the days I get around to using that wonderful little app. It’s just another fun thing for them to see what our days were like when they were little.
6. Articles I come across that I would love for them to read. You know those “10 things I want my daughter to know” posts. Well, I send them right along to my girls so they can read them when they are mature enough to understand the content!

So pick your favorite email server (gmail, hotmail etc) and go lock down an email address for your little one, then share it with family! Pick a secure password and write it all down so that one day you can pass it along to your kids! Have fun with this!

Xo Noelle