My daughter made one and she included a note that described our family members and a few photos. Our house is over 200 years old and it would have been very interesting for us if we had found something similar about families that had lived in our house in years/decades/centuries in the past.

I think some pictures of your kitchen and other "typical" kitchens of this time. We're renovating our 1825 house - converting it back into a single family. I had my kids write about a typical school day and a typical weekend day for them. I asked them what a typical child's day may have been like in 1825 and how it's so different from now. We talked about no electricity and only candles; outhouse out back; chores like feeding the chickens and getting wood for the stove. Then I asked them to also put mundane things in their letters like "my clock radio turns on at 7:00 to wake me up. I turn on my light switch to see in my room..." They added their favorite music, TV shows, books and video games. We're putting in some coins and a few trinkets plus a newspaper and a CD of pics. This is going under our new stairs and will probably not be opened for at least 100 years.

What a great idea! Put a picture of your family in there, too. I always wonder about the families that lived here before us. You could put in a list of your favorite things about your house or even your neighborhood or city? Tell them your hopes for the future in general (the future of mankind)? E.g. you hope that in the future, laws will have passed that will make polluting the environment illegal and that by the time they read this, the skies will be cleaner? ;) You could even leave them some music. I hope they don't find all this in 10 years! Haha okay not funny.

Put in an ''oinch.'' ;>)

What a great idea! Put a picture of your family in there, too. I always wonder about the families that lived here before us. You could put in a list of your favorite things about your house or even your neighborhood or city? Tell them your hopes for the future in general (the future of mankind)? E.g. you hope that in the future, laws will have passed that will make polluting the environment illegal and that by the time they read this, the skies will be cleaner? ;) You could even leave them some music. I hope they don't find all this in 10 years! Haha okay not funny.

I love this! We did one on New Years Eve with our children, 15+ nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters. We each filled out a sheet that had things like our height, lbs, favorite things, what the kids wanted to be when they grew up, favorite color, best friend, age, what our dreams were, how much a loaf of bread, milk, a gallon of gas cost. Kind of like a question answer session for each of us. Our goal is to open them in 25 years and see what changes happened, did things work out the way we thought they would? My Dad just found a candy tin that my son had buried in his yard with my mom when he was very little. (My Mom has since passed away and my son treaures this special gift) Time Capsules of all kinds are a great idea! Cindy

We put one in our wall and included:
A picture of our family
Pictures of the "old" (i.e., original) kitchen
A copy of the "new" design
A copy of the sales "brochure" of our house from when we built
A copy of the house plans used while they were building our house

We thought all of this might be interesting and maybe even useful to some future owners when they decide to remodel!

I'd leave items as regular photographs and written or printed paper. Disk technology may be obsolete in 50 years and the time capsule openers may not be able to read them.

I have dead space in a corner under the countertop so I put family pictures, before and after pix of the kitchen, a year end TV guide, a Rolling Stone magazine, a newspaper from 911 and a newspaper of our Marines lost in battle for the area...I also wrote a note saying when we moved in, how old the kids were and how long so far I've lived here...date hubby passed away...and a CD of my new favorite singer. I put it all in a plastic shoe box and taped it shut with the date.

Such great ideas! I found a 1950 wheat penny today! I wonder if that was their time capsule. I found the original spot on the wall for the phone. And the most ghastly pink, black and gray wall paper! The identifyable colors of paint layers was yellow, bright green and flamingo pink. I though I'd find that off creme/dark ivory/pale yellow. I don't know what the real name of it is but that dark ivory color you find on so much old furniture. There was an off white but it wasn't that old color. And SURPRISE! It's drywall and not plaster!! But it's disintegrated and will be a pain to clean up. That will probably be tomorrow. My dumpster still hasn't arrived.....Waiting since Tuesday; called last night, he'd be here at noon today. Well, it's 6:20 now. He missed noon. I guess it doesn't matter because I'll be carrying it out in buckets so the buckets can just as well set in the garage. I left a message tonight that I would gladly come and get one of his little containers that would fit in the back of my truck. With snow coming Monday/Tuesday I really need that dumpster! If I'm here with nothing to do I'll scream!

We found time capsules of sorts when we took down layers and layers of wallpaper in various rooms of the house. The original residents of the house had graffitied details about how the house was being built onto the walls. There were lots of lists, stketches and plans and notes. The people removing the wallpaper were really excited and ran to get me when, in one room, the master bedroom, they found that someone had sketched with remarkable detail many tanks and missiles. The house was built right after WW 2. Someone was still preoccupied with military matters. The details and proportions were amazing for freehand drawings. Should have taken a picture before we painted and resurfaced the walls.

Good thread, pinch_me!
Lisa

I was thinking of including all of the bills from the renovation.

Perfect answer, salal_08! How do you decide a cut off point for "renovation"? A few things I bought really weren't necessary for the actual kitchen replacement.....I bought it because "it would look so nice in the new kitchen!" And I don't keep track of pet expenses for the same reason I haven't exactly kept track of every penny I spent on the kitchen.

The most fun thing to find in our house will be a bottle of tequila. I also wrote cheeky and sexy notes on the inside of the drywall. :OD