Checklist
First birthday time capsule checklist
A checklist of what to put in a first birthday time capsule. Tick items off as you pack them, add your own and print the list to put inside the box.
Our first birthday time capsule
0 of 26 packed
Your list is saved only in this browser, so you can come back to it. A copied link contains the name, birthday and items you entered; share it only with people you want to see them.
How to use the checklist
You do not need everything on it. Ten well-chosen things in a shoebox are better than forty in a crate nobody wants to store. Tick what you have packed, ignore what does not suit your family and add anything of your own at the bottom.
Start collecting a week before the party and seal the box a week after, once the photographs are printed and the late letters have arrived. Send the link to your partner or a grandparent if they are gathering some of it.
What to leave out
Anything that rots, leaks, melts or perishes will damage the paper around it.
- Food, sweets and drinks, including the cake
- Balloons, rubber bands and anything made of rubber or latex
- Batteries, and toys with batteries still inside
- Liquids, lotions and candles that can melt
- Newspaper touching photographs, because newsprint yellows and marks what it touches
- Sticky tape and glue on anything you want to last
- A phone, tablet or USB stick as the only copy of a video
- Money you would mind losing the value of
Sealing and storing the box
Photograph or scan every letter before it goes in. Write the opening date and your child’s full name on the outside, and put the printed checklist on top as an inventory.
Keep the box indoors, somewhere dry with a steady temperature, such as a wardrobe shelf. Lofts, garages and basements are hard on paper and fabric. Tell one other adult where it is.
Common questions
When should a first birthday time capsule be opened?
The eighteenth birthday is the usual choice. Some families open at ten and reseal, or wait until sixteen or twenty-one. Enter the birthday above to see the exact date.
What container should I use?
A lidded archival storage box or a clean, dry metal tin about the size of a shoebox. Keep it indoors; a box buried in the garden is likely to get damp.
Should I put a USB stick of videos in it?
Only as an extra. A drive left untouched for many years may not work, and the socket may be gone. Print the photographs, and keep video and sound in at least two places you look after.
Keep the part that will not fit in a box.
Save the first birthday video, their voice and a letter on your child’s timeline in Everlittle, where the family can add theirs.