A hundred years ago (maybe not really that long, but it seems like it), before Pinterest was a thing, I made jars for my nieces when I went away to college. Each jar had the same number of candies as the days until I’d be back home. Two of my nieces were religious about the one candy for each day and the other ate all of it right away. I still think this is a cute idea even a hundred years later ;0) and even if one ate it all in a day.

When my husband and I went to Las Vegas a few weeks ago, I did a similar thing for our children. Since my parents were staying at our house, I wanted to give them a treat and something to do as well.

I made a package for each day that we would be gone. The first day it included a puzzle, movie, Oreos, a Paw Patrol gift for David, and little gifts for the girls. I also asked that they each find a happy story to share at dinner.

The second day, they received Goldfish crackers, an Oreo Dirt Creations kit, a lemon bar mix, seeds to plant, a movie, and a “fossil” for David to paint. I also asked that they share a special memory about the person sitting to their left.

On the third day, I included special chocolates, a movie, a gear art kit, a Jello pudding pop kit, lemon Oreos, and a fossil excavation kit for David. I also asked that they name two things for which they were thankful.

The very last day, I included a huge roll of paper, coloring book, a Matisse art kit, a movie, chocolate chip cookie mix, Jello pudding pop kit, and another dinosaur excavation kit.

When we came home the puzzle was done, the treats were gone, and all the excavation things were finished. I know they looked forward to opening the package each day.  Most items were from the dollar spot at Target. The Jello kits were on clearance at Kroger. The movies were all ones we owned.  I like the idea of them having something to look forward to when we’re away. This was pretty inexpensive and only required a little time to get together.