Dirty 30

I'm not 30.. yet. 

Most of my friends, however, are the big 3-0. 

Thank goodness it's not me, amiright?! 

I have gone back and forth on whether or not 30 is a big deal.
It's just a number, I won't feel any different, and I have already reached a lot of adult milestones.
So today, I'm being ok with no longer being 20-something. I am now - almost - a 30 year old. 

Moving on..

Two years ago, some important people in my life turned 30. I went all DIY on their butts and made a fun trivia game. As we waited at the restaurant for dinner, we played this riddle filled game I prepared for our friends. The answers were things that turned 30 years old that year -
like the Dodge Caravan. (I never got around to posting about it, but I swear it happened!) 

So this year, I decided to be even more crafty for this person's gifts AND write a post about it!
BAM!

I made him a few things, and since we don't live in the same city, I wanted it to be special. I had the great idea of mailing him a package every week.
At the end of this post, you will read about why that was better in theory, than in practice.

First gift: I sent him a book. Nothing overly special about that, but I put a few post-it notes on some funny pages, which means that I actually had to read a lot of the pages and I'm not much of a reader.
Reaction: He was impressed that I had actually opened the book and had done that. Go me!

Second gift: I sent him a plate warmer, that I made, using a tile that I found at the local thrift store. I wrote out a bunch of lyrics, from different songs that we like, which is actually far more challenging when a certain person doesn't appreciate country music the way I do!

(This was my outline, that was improved with the creative input of my 3 year old.) 

Reaction: He thought it was sweet (that's what I took from the "aww") and mentioned that he actually needed a plate warmer.
Call me butter 'cause I'm on a roll!

Third gift: I sent him a book safe I made, using a book I found at the same thrift store.

I cut out an inside section (which was more difficult than I anticipated) and then glued the pages together. I didn't glue the hollowed out part to the bottom.. but I'm not really sure why.
Design choice? Let's go with that.

I added some chocolate because, well, it's delicious. 

Reaction: A smile, a chuckle, and a "yum".
Another win!

I saved the best for last.

I made (in collaboration with a friend) a Lego candy dispenser.

 When you pull on the candy piece, some yummy candy comes out the bottom!

We looked at a few tutorials, and went with the materials I had on hand. As it turns out, I had a lot of egyptian themed Lego, so that's ultimately where it ended up, even though it was not part of the original design. 

To send it, I bubble wrapped it as much as I possibly could - and then some - to avoid taking it apart and writing instructions on how to put it back together.
As it turned out, instructions were needed.
It arrived in a few pieces, so I walked him through the remodeling over live chat.
Reaction: He called it "interactive" and "sweet" (heehee, I'm a sucker for puns!).

He enjoyed all the gifts, but the original intention was lost on him.
I wanted to send him a gift a week, so he would have a present a week to open, as this is a big deal of a birthday. But of course, there were bumps.
The first issue is that I sent the first gift, during the first week of August, so it didn't arrive until the following week. Therefore, I had to send the second one the next day, in order to keep "on schedule".
The second issue was getting him to open the gifts as they arrived.
He claimed that because it was not his birthday, he shouldn't open the gifts right away. I spent 3 days trying to convince him - without giving it away - that he should open the gift anyway.
When the second gift arrived, I had more of a reason to get him to open the first gift - which he ended up doing.
Of course, the third one arrived and he still refused to open anymore of them, and believe me, I bugged him about it for many days!
On the day of his birthday, he opened the first three via video chat.
The last bump in the road was that he hadn't checked his mail on the day of his birthday when the Lego candy dispenser was delivered. Go team!

So next year, a new plan will have to be put into effect, and it will involved much less bubble wrap!
But I call it a win because there were presents and Lego.

Happy 30th birthday!

{Daily Random Fact: All Lego made in the last 54 years fit with each other. Despite alterations in design and purpose, all varieties of Lego are part of one universal system and the individual pieces remain compatible with the existing pieces.}