countdown to love

The hubs and I were invited to an engagement party clam bake this last weekend. I often find that when it comes to engagement parties, I am usually stumped as to gift ideas. Is it appropriate to bring a gift? If so, what to bring? Are they registered yet?

Well, fear not my etiquette conscious friends! Behold, the engagement countdown calendar!

This was a lot of fun to create. I've seen these types of calendars originally on Lollychops, and again at YoungHouseLove, (you can also find them on etsy at the end of the year- lots of creative ones!) and took those ideas to create a personalized countdown calendar for the couple. The hubs and I sat around and thought of fun, wedding/love related cliche's or sayings. Ex: "ball and chain" for October, down the aisle, tie the knot, "mawage" (think The Princess Bride, hehe) and even some personalized ones.

Then I created a template using MS Publisher (seriously, it's just a bunch of text boxes lined up strategically and an aesthetically pleasing color scheme, this could have also been done in PowerPoint).
Once the template was complete and personalization done, I created a PDF of the file and brought it to our local Office Max where they can print it out on their fancy printer (for best quality) and on nice cardstock.
From there it was as simple as cutting it out, punching some holes, and adding ribbon to hang! It could be hung from a doorknob as shown, the fridge, a corkboard, cupboard, etc.
As the days drew nearer, I added the number of days left to the day of the month as well. Time flies when you're planning a wedding!
And of course, I had to make sure it was packaged up just right! Isn't it pretty?(And of course the couple loved it too!)


Other countdown ideas include:
A DisneyLand countdown, just cut out and put it on your fridge!
A vacation countdown, albeit a little more involved, but gorgeous!

What are you counting down the days till?

P.S. Happy Birthday Mar!
Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharepenth the countenance of his friend"
So glad I have a sister and friend who I can study God's word with and who "sharpeneth my countenance" (or at least keeps me on my toes ;) )