Tender Tribute Writing

I had planned to return to general writing techniques today, but Write Notes to Those Your Love. And Send Them touched many of you who reached back to me today.

I hope you stared sending notes and sentiments to people who are important to you today. I know I reached out to a few people, and I will continue to do so each day.

I thought I might try to share some ideas about how I’ve written tributes for gifts, in case you want to take a nice note up a notch to an extra special level.

Some of us don’t need this help…we gush and emote without even trying. We cry at everything and we are always saying we love you in special ways to friends and family.

But for others, it may be more difficult. You may be a bit on the quiet side, or you may not be a wear-your-heart-on-your sleeve person. You may be looking for some inspiration about how to say something in a creative way. The list below is for you!

Before I move on though, I want to give the caveat to please don’t work on something creative so long that you end up holding on to it for an extended period of time. Just send it—and remember, a simple heartfelt note will be treasured—and time is precious and fleeting.

Now, here are a few how-to, tender tribute methods:

• Write a “tribute list” that corresponds to a certain number. Describe the ways that person is special to you. So, for example, if a friend is 36, a title would be 36 Ways You Are Special to Me. You don’t have to do a number correlating to age, you can pick any number that equals as many that you can think of. For an anniversary, you could match the number that corresponds to your anniversary. For each line, you could write You are (fill in with an adjective), or some other creation.
• Create a “name tribute.” So, for example, my husband’s name is Seth, so a tribute might be:

Sweet

Enchanting

Timely

Hot

You can use a special font, colorful paper or anything you can come up with and put it in an inexpensive frame from a craft store like Michaels.

• Come up with an “alphabet soup tribute.” This method can be done a couple of different ways.

One way is just calling it “The ABCs of Seth.” And then write adjectives on separate lines that start with every letter of the alphabet. For X, I usually use words like excellent that sound like an X…

A second way is writing a paragraph of narrative and bold the words that start with the letters of the alphabet. Here are the first couple of lines I wrote to my husband, just to give you an idea:

I admire your ability to take action. I believe in you because of your boldness. I chose you because of your courage, creativity and compassion.

• Develop a “legacy tribute.” Write a poem or narrative that tells them what you have learned from them. This type of tribute is perfect for a parent or grandparent, or anyone who has shared their wisdom with you.
• Make “a memory tribute.” This tribute recalls memories or occasions. It can be one or several. Like to a grandmother, you might walk through all your memories with her. For a graduation or wedding gift, you might share memories of the person growing up. It can also be from a single event. On an anniversary, for example, recall what you were thinking on your wedding day to your spouse.
• A poetic tribute. These are poems that convey as special message in a rhyming fashion. My amazing husband wrote one of these for our first Christmas together as a marriage couple. It had more than a dozen 4 line stanzas, and it told the story of how he prayed for me, and how he was feeling as we fell in love. You can read more about our story and adventures together since then at his blog, Hiking With Your Honey.

I hope these ideas will help those of you who need it to get your creative juices flowing. If you are tech savvy, you can pair these writing ideas with photos or videos, and make a multimedia tribute.

But just get started! And keep sending everyday notes while you are working on extra special tributes! 

Do you have ideas about how to create tender tributes? Share them in the comments below! If you need help creating tender tributes, please don’t hesitate to contact me.