My husband is an Air Force Reservist who is currently deployed to Afghanistan.  We are blessed that the Army Base he is on, he has full access to internet, webcam and phone – all through Yahoo.com.

 

We were married last June 16 and he was activated in January – we had 30 days to arrange life and then he was gone.

 

I found your website and took some ideas from it then did some a little different.  One thing I did that he loved (and I did too) was I found two small cardboard box in the shape of a heart. On the top of the box I used scrapbooking stickers and placed a nice saying about love on it.  I cut little slips of paper (1/2” x 2”) out of pink and red scrapbooking paper. I split the slips of paper into two piles.  One blank pile went into one of the heart boxes. On the remaining slips of paper I wrote something I loved about my husband.  I put those papers into the other box.  I took two dried roses that were from the last bouquet of roses that he personally went out and purchased for me and placed one in each box on top of the papers.  When he got the boxes he was able to read all the things that I love about him. Then he wrote what he loved about me on the blank slips of paper and returned that box to me.  So we each have our own boxes.

 

I absolutely dreaded spending our first anniversary apart.  Since we had some sort of regular communication schedule already established - I decided to make an anniversary box so than we could do things “together.”  I first wrote down our schedule variation given the time difference.  I wrote up a schedule of meals that we could “share.”  In that schedule I built in times that I would have other presents or cards or envelopes for him to open.  I found some nice plastic plates and bowls.  I bought placemats and silverware. I purchased food that could be shipped over to him.  The food consisted of dinners and vegetables that you can get off the supermarket shelf and microwave, oatmeal, dried fruit, fruit juice, cupcakes, muffins. I purchased the exact same food items and place setting for me. Each meal and present was boxed and wrapped separately.  Each item was numbered.  And since it was our first anniversary and that is the paper (traditional) anniversary all the presents had something to do with paper.

 

All wrapped items were placed in a larger box and shipped to him.  He had the box about a week before our special date but was told he could not open it until our anniversary.  (He said it was killing him wondering what was in the box!!! J)  We were able to webcam and IM.  When he woke up the first box he opened was Box #1.  In it was the placemat, a bowl a spoon, oatmeal, dried fruit, fruit juice and a muffin.  Then over the next 24 hours he opened a box or a present or a card as instructed by me.  Everything was spread out over time so although it looks like it moved fast – it did not. The schedule looked like this:

 

His morning/my evening/night:

Box 1 – breakfast foods with bowl, spoon, placemat (we then ate breakfast “together.”)

Card 1

Envelope 1 – a poem written about him and meeting and our first year of marriage

            (We talked and I went to bed)

My morning/his afternoon into his evening

Box 2 – a small home made scrapbook of pictures of him and I

Card 2

Envelope 2 – copies of the letters that we wrote to each other on our wedding day and a copy of the wedding announcement

Box 3 – Lunch/dinner foods with large plate & fork (we then ate dinner “together.”) complete with Little Debbie’s cupcakes that represented wedding cake

Box 4 – a disc of wedding and honeymoon pictures set to our wedding songs and other songs

(We spent time talking then he went to bed.)

                        Box 5 – plastic frames with photos of our wedding day

My evening/His morning

Card 3

Box 6 – a box of snack-like breakfast foods (muffins, dried fruit, juice)

Card 4

            Box 7 – a small stuffed animal holding a favorite picture of us

 

Although it sounds complicated, it was not and it was so much fun making the boxes and thinking of presents for him. (It kept me semi-occupied in the month before our anniversary)  I spent a total of $40 (including shipping) on the whole thing.  He said he was amazed and astounded at how wonderful everything was and well planned out.  Although the food (chef boy-ar-dee mac and cheese??!!) was not the food we would have chosen if he was with me – it was still the idea that we were eating the exact same meal at the exact same time (over web cam) that made it special.  We plan on saving the place settings and using them for each anniversary from now on in some way, shape or form.  (We joke that at our wedding we served chicken BBQ with paper chinette plates, then our 1^st anniversary was plastic plates – next year it can be glass then eventually fine china!!)

 

I wanted him to have presents to open on his birthday but I also wanted to get him some levi jeans and new shirts.  Since he can not have that sort of clothing over there, I bought him the clothes, took pictures of them and wrapped the pictures.  That way he could have presents (that he can use when he gets back from there) and see what they look like.  I also sent that microwavable cake by Betty Crocker to represent his birthday cake.

 

Thanks for letting me share!!