Fun Things to Do Together with Your Incarcerated Loved One

1. Get your incarcerated loved one an e-mail account of his own! Tell everyone he knows to e-mail their letters, jokes, funny stories, etc. to it. Then go in and print them off and send them to your loved one via snail-mail.
2. Order a devotional (like "The Daily Bread")...one for you and one for him....read the same passage each day......discuss the passages that you read.
3. Throw him a birthday party! Buy a birthday cake/ice cream etc. and invite family and friends. Have your loved one call at that time. When he calls, have everyone sing Happy Birthday to him. Take pictures of his party and send them to him!
4. Take pictures of new things happening around his home town. Take pictures of your yard/flowers, things that you have bought for your house. Send the pictures to him!
5. Put your perfume on ALL of his letters. He will feel like you are right there with him!
6. Send your loved one cards on EVERY holiday such as Sweetest Day, Earth Day, Ground Hog Day and April Fool's Day. Let him know that you are always thinking of him!
7. Cut out newspaper articles that your loved one would be interested in. Find articles from his hometown paper.
8. For Christmas or on his birthday....order him a subscription to their hometown newspaper.
9. Play tic tac toe, chess, checkers or another game through the mail.....keep sending it back and forth until someone wins!!
10. Make a calendar for your loved one. List all pertinent dates on it!
11. When sending packages, get 2 copies of a book...one for your loved one and one for you. Agree on the number of pages to read and later discuss what you read/thoughts, etc.
12. Have a writing "marathon". See who can write the longest letter to the other!
13. Pick a topic (such as a news item, etc.) and a night, and each discusses it in their letter for that night.
14. Find a crossword puzzle, make a copy of it and send one to your loved one. See who can fill them up more or get them finished first!
15. Send pictures to him of places you want to visit, live, etc. when they get out.
16. If they have a tv, pick out a program that you both want to watch and then know that you are watching it together...as a family!
17. Do you both love to write? Decide to write a book! One of you write a chapter send it to the other one and then back and forth until it is finished. Or what about writing "our" story. Each of you write a chapter like the first one was "the introduction" and then send it to the other person. It will be great to hear the other person's side, what they were doing before or after the date, what they thought at first, if they were nervous or not, etc.

18. Send each other lyrics to songs you like.

19. From Lynn: "One thing I do is whenever I am going to decorate at home,I pick up those brochures with paint colours in etc and send them in to the prison.That way Richie gets to help choose the colours at home. Then when buying a new piece of furniture,I choose a few I like,then send in a photo of each of them,or pictures from brochures and let him help me choose. He can give me an opinion on what would look good with what I already have in the room. That way,when you loved one comes home,he/she will feel as though they helped create and maintain your home."

20. From Lynn: "When my son has a school holiday,we make a book we can send in to Richie for each day,we make it like a diary,telling him what we did each day,sending a photo or two for each day also. I took pictures of my son baking gingerbread men,flying a kite,playing his ps2,making a farm scene out of coloured pom pom's. Nothing exciting,but it makes Richie feel as though he isn't missing so much."

21. From Lynn: "We also got a sheet of paper(large one)and painted our hands and feet and put them all over the sheet,we had me,my son,my neice and my friend all do it,then sent it in and he had to try and guess which foot and hand prints belonged to which person."

22. From Lynn: "Also sponsor a child in Ghana for him,it costs around $20 a month and Richie gets a letter from the child every couple of months and an update on his education,the improved living conditions in his village etc,he really feels like he is doing something worthwhile,after all,if I sent him that $20,the prison would take a 20% cut and he'd spend the rest on junk.Now it goes to something more productive and Richie has to work for any money he wants."

Have any other ideas you would like to share? E-mail them to me and I will include them!

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page