Veterans Day Lifesaver Thank you's

Happy Veteran's Day!
Today I'm sharing some ideas about how to say thank you to those who sacrifice the most for us.

A couple of summers ago, I was asked to come up with a service project for the young women in our church to participate in at their summer girls camp. Our theme for the year was NAVY (it stood for something important), but I thought it was a great opportunity to actually say thank you to real members of the Navy for all that they sacrifice to protect our country and preserve our freedom. There is a woman in our church who's husband is deployed on an aircraft carrier. She told us that they can't have a lot on their ship (have you seen the bunks stacked on top of eachother?) but really appreciate thank you's and morale boosters. She was able to get us some video and photos (of the non-classified variety) to share with the girls in a DVD presentation to show them a bit about what life is like on an aircraft carrier.

We showed the presentation and afterwards had the girls put together these simple Thank you cards, and then write a heartfelt note of thanks to a sailor on board that ship.

We passed out envelopes with the cards, pre-cut blue rectangles, and red strips of paper, and included some inexpensive foil star stickers with each card. For this one, I added a "thank you" on the bottom corner with this stamp (from Stampin Up). This design is really basic. If you pre-cut the strips of paper, this is a project you could do even with young children. They would love to add the stickers! Let them draw a picture or write their own message inside the card.

And to make the thank you a little Sweeter, we attached made special label to attach to rolls of lifesavers to give to the sailors.

First we wrapped the roll of Life Savers in scrapbook paper (of a red or blue variety).

Then attached the lifesaver label cut so just a little of the scrapbook paper was peeking out on the edges. You can just use clear tape to attach them, or print the Lifesaver labels on label paper, cut and attach.

Here is a printable, to help you tell someone that they are a lifesaver to you!

Lifesavers

These cards and/or Lifesaver gifts could be great way to recognize anyone who sacrifices to serve and protect (or even babysit? :-)). You might drop some off at your local Fire or Police stations. Maybe you could celebrate Veterans Day by making some and and taking them to the local VA. I think sometimes a heartfelt thank you is the best service we can give!