Wedding Life List

Wedding vows are either traditional oaths we repeat thoughtless after priest or romantic promises we write ourselves and never keep. Wedding is one of the most important projects in our life, so it shouldn’t be based on insignificant or impracticable ideas. The more practical and desired things you will mention in your vow, the more successful your marriage will be.

Bride and bridegroom write their life lists, i.e. things they want to do in their family life, e.g. ‘to travel around the world’ or ‘to buy a little house on the river bank’.

At the ceremony they exchange the life lists and promise to fulfill the wishes, e.g. ‘I promise to travel with my darling around the world and buy a little house on the river bank’.

After the wedding the husband and wife do their best to make the life lists come true.

Due to ‘Wedding Life List’ idea, none of you will ever blame each other in selfishness and carelessness. You will have a good plan of what to do in the nearest fifty years, and that is a half of the way to a happy marriage.

Matryoshka (nested dolls)

First matryoshka appeared in 1890 in Moscow workshop "Children Education". It was turned out of wood by Vasily Zvyozdochkin and painted by Serge Malutin. On the first doll there was a girl in a folksy dress: sarafan, apron and kerchief. The toy consisted of 8 nested dolls: the girl's image, then the boy's image and so on. The last doll was a swaddled baby.

The name Matryona was popular in those times, so the toy got the name Matryoshka. Though first matryoshkas cost a lot, they still were in the great demand. The orders for these toys came from Paris, Leipzig, etc. In the beginning of XX century the volume of matryoskas exported abroad increased dramatically.

Later maryoshka's painting became more colorful and various: shepherd playing the pipe, old men with beard and walking stick, grooms with moustache and brides in wedding dress. A lot of matryoshkas were devoted to traditional ceremonies, folklore and fairy-tales. The quantity of nested dolls increased as well. Some matryoshkas consisted of 24 dolls. In 1913 wood turner Nicholas Bulychyov achieved a record in 48 nested dolls for one matryoshka.

A wooden toy created for kids was an embodiment of Russian national character so it quickly became a traditional Russian souvenir.

Oscar Wedding Shower

Whatever they say, the wedding shower is organized for the guests. But do they really get enough attention and respect in the wedding rush? Remember how the guests are welcomed at Oscar Awards Ceremony and try to recreate this Bohemian atmosphere on your wedding shower.

1. Arrange a long red carpet from the road to the front door
2. Hire a security guy with a ear-phone and a list of guests to check them out
3. Hire a dozen 'paparazzi', people with cameras to take pictures of arriving guests
4. Hire an actor playing a journalist to interview guests and a cameraman to film this process
5. Rent a screen connected to camcorder to show the guests' interviews to the guests inside the house

Your guests will feel themselves like Hollywood stars. The will tell everyone that you’ve made the best wedding shower they have ever been to.

Old Life Good Time

After marriage and birth of children our life changes greatly. No more sitting in the park, walking the streets at night, disco dancing, etc. Take your darling even if just for one day back to the good times of your old life when you used to devote all your time to each other.

1. Remember how you and your wife liked to spend time when you were dating
2. Make all arrangements like movie tickets, night club table reservation, whatever.
3. Hire a baby sitter or ask parents to take your child for the weekend

At least once a month you both will feel yourselves carefree again and will never complain about workaday life. You will prove that your marriage is different and you will not get used to each other like other couples.

Baby Book

Children grow so quickly and all that remains for the parents are memories. The problem is we can’t trust our memory as we forget most of the wonderful moments our kids shared with us. Buy a special baby book and write down everything you consider being important about your kids starting from the very first days of their life.

1. Order hand-made notebook with the name of the baby or a title "Baby's Name Childhood" on the cover
2. Tell the parents they should start writing as early as you can, make notes about baby's weight, mood, behavior, first words, write down funny things they say when they are kids - this will be the most interesting place in your book

The parents will thank you for this gift not once nor twice when reading it over and over returning to that happy time. They will always have the answer when their grown-up child asks them about his childhood

Musical gift

If your girlfriend or wife has a musical instrument at home you can impress her greatly by showing you hidden talent.
1. One month before her birthday find a music teacher and start taking lessons
2. Find out her favorite music composition or song
3. Ask your teacher to teach you this particular composition.
4. At the birthday party say that you have a lot of hidden talents and would like to make a special gift for her
5. Play the music

The world is enough

For some people the world is not enough, for others it is enough to know that someone will do his best to make them happy.

1. Find a company that makes carpets based on customer's design
2. Order a carpet with the world's map on it
3. When she is out, spread the carpet on the floor in her room
4. Ask her to close the eyes before entering the room
5. When she is in, say: "My love, this gift is just a symbol, but it means that the whole world will be under your feet."

Only you

In the past men wrote letters to their beloved in which they described their feelings. These days people send each other emails, but they will not do as emails are not romantic.

1. Create a website or blog
2. Devote it to your only one
3. Describe how beautiful she is, how you love her
4. If you write verses, write and post verses about your love
5. Send her a post card with the URL to the site

Wedding Invitation CDs

Usually the only gifts the guests receive on wedding are invitations. All couples want their wedding to be unforgettable in everything, starting from invitations. Hours are spent on searching the most beautiful invitation cards and calligraphically writing the invitation texts. In fact that doesn't make them unforgettable so if you don't want them to be thrown away after the wedding you should think of something more original.

1. Write down personal invitation for each guest
2. Record your invitation on CDs at a radio station
3. On the rest of CDs space record music that you have chosen for your wedding band to play
4. Print specially designed CD covers
5. Hire messenger service to deliver your wedding invitation CDs to the guests

Your guests will have no chance to forget your wedding party. Every time they play your wedding invitation CD to listen to the music, they will hear your voice and remember how good your wedding was.

Picture of life

Usually people keep pictures in albums, each on a separate page. They represent different moments of our life. What if make a collage to get a picture of somebody's life in its entirety.

1. Select pictures where the person is in different age (Ideally from childhood or babyhood).
2. Scan these pictures.
3. Use Photoshop or other programs to make a collage out of these pictures.
4. Print the collage picture and put it in a frame.

The First Painting

The gifts we get from our kids are the most valuable ones. However they are able to make some craft gifts only at a certain age when they can write, paint or do something with their own hands. We can speed it up if we help our babies a little bit.

1. Prepare all necessary stuff for painting
2. Lay a sheet of paper on the table
3. Sit at the table with your baby on your knees
4. Dip a paint-brush into the paint
5. Put the paint-brush into baby's hand
6. Let the baby make free moves across the paper
7. Change the paint color and repeat
8. Cut the best abstract from the painting
9. Buy appropriate frame for the abstract

You will start developing your baby's art skills from the very start. Maybe your treasure will become a famous artist and this first picture will cost much money.

Photo Portrait

Centuries ago there was a tradition to decorate castles' walls with portraits of family members and relatives. In our time we can't afford sitting still for hours giving an artist a chance to a portrait of our close people. Also there will be no surprise if you order a portrait drown from nature.

1. Take a good picture of the person you want to make a unique gift.
2. Find an artist who draws portraits based on photos and order a picture with the person on it.
3. Ask the artist to draw the person dressed in something form the past centuries if you want to make the gift a little bit funny.
4. Hang the picture, covered with a white fabric, in the person's apartment.
5. Gather all the guests and solemnly take the fabric off.

You will not only make a unique gift but also decorate the apartment. You can even start a new family tradition that will be taken up by the next generations.

Valentine for a Date

If you like someone but hesitate to ask her or him for a date, you can use a Valentine as a gift on Valentine's Day:

1. Buy a Valentine Card
2. Write on it something like: "I've been looking for you all my life. I'm waiting for you at restaurant 'Mozart' at 6 pm. Your Valentine"
3. Drop the Valentine to her mailbox or put it on her desk or choose any other way to deliver the message

Valentine Business Cards

If your Valentine has business cards, you can use the following idea on Valentine's Day:

1. Order 100 business cards with design that resembles business cards of your beloved, but with a different text "Her first and last name, the Valentine of your first and last name"
2. On February, 14 replace her cards with ones you printed, so she wouldn't know about it.

She will be pleased to know why people smile when they read the cards she gave them.

Personal Calendar

Calendar holidays are the days we don't have to work on, just an occasion to get together and spend some time talking, drinking and sometimes having fun. They don't really mean much to us, and very often we don't even think what we celebrate on these days. You can turn a calendar into a very meaningful gift to your friends or relatives if you do the following:

1. Schedule all the dates that are important for your people, like birthdays, wedding days, graduating from high school or university, getting driving license, first kiss, etc.
2. Find some funny pictures that were taken at different seasons.
3. Ask a designer from a publishing company to use pictures as illustrations for each month and mark all special days you could remember as calendar holidays.

You will make a unique and at the same time practical gift. In case you make a real research in people's biography, there is a great chance you will remind them about the dates they don't remember themselves.

Handmade Dress

When we want to buy a dress as a gift for our love we usually go to the clothing store. They often sell many dresses of the same model and there is a chance she will meet someone in the same dress. It's a good idea to order the dress from a dress-designer, but the better idea is to make the dress yourself (at least some sewing).

1. Find a dress-designer who would agree to help you make a dress for her (offer extra money)
2. While shopping remark what dresses or other clothes she picks and tries on
3. If there is no chance to secretly take her measurements, take some clothes from her wardrobe
4. Use help and instructions of the dress-designer, but do yourself as much of the dress as you can
5. Make your own label or your brand logo on the dress

Clothes do not make the man, but they do make the woman. It will be the most unique dress in the world for her because it is you who have made it.

Flower Bed

Women like when men give them flowers but they don't like when flowers fade. Men could give them potted flowers but some women don't like flowers in pot. The safe strategy is to plant a bed with flowers in front of her house.

1. If you can, do it yourself, otherwise find and order florist service
2. Chose flowers to be set and the shape they should be set, ex.: in the shape of heart or words 'I love you'
3. Organize all the work for the night or early morning

It will be a really unique gift as there are no two similar beds with flowers especially if you let your fantasy play. Imagine how happy she will be when in the morning she looks at the window and sees the most beautiful gift she has ever been given.

Greeting Banner

Almost each of us has a website we visit everyday. What if someday (or on birthday), your girlfriend or boyfriend will visit the site as usual and see the banner with greetings to his or her name, probably a photo or a romantic picture illustrating your feelings. I think it will be a very pleasant surprise.

1. Order greeting banner design or make it yourself if you know how to work in Photoshop or Flash.
2. Order advertising space for one day at the website your boyfriend or girlfriend visits daily.
3. Have the banner placed on the website on the day specified.

Welcome Gifts

Normally we give presents on holidays or birthdays when people expect us to do it. We are used to buying gifts on that very day or the day before the date and nine times out of ten they are not what this particular person would really love to get, no matter how expensive the gift is. The better way is to pick up inexpensive welcome gifts that we know are really needed or likely to cheer our people up and present them more often without any expected reason.

1. Remark any items that would fit your friends and relatives' home, appearance, etc.
2. Fix in mind or note what your people tell you about their needs and wishes.
3. When you have a chance to buy a little gift don't put it off till tomorrow.

You will be surprised how future owners will be grateful for the gifts that are useful or to their taste. It is always pleasant to get a gift when you don't expect it. By presenting little gifts you show people that they are always in your mind, not only on holidays or birthdays.

Paint The Nursery Walls

The first years of a new baby are very important for developing basic skills, like color perception. That is why baby clothes are so bright, toys are so colorful and the walls color is so... oops... restrained. If your new baby could talk it would ask you to paint the walls in the nursery in bright colors, flowers, animals or cartoon characters.

1. Have an idea of what should be painted on the walls
2. Make a sketch on the sheet of paper based on your idea
3. Outline the forms of the drawings to paint them
4. Paint the outlines with various colors
5. Hire an artist if you don't think you can handle all the above

Your child will not be blind to the beauty of nature and bright colors of life. This fairy decoration will stimulate baby's fantasy.