If you’ve read my blog, you know I’m a worrier. One of the times I worried most was during John’s deployment (duh, haha). If I had too much time to think, my worries overwhelmed me, so I dug into crafts and care packages. Keeping my hands busy kept my mind busy and eased some of those creeping worries. I found one particular craft that makes for a great care package on its own. If you’re dealing with the worries of a deployment, I hope these origami paper stars can help you the same way they helped me!
Origami paper stars are awesome for a few different reasons. First, they’re totally personalizable. The paper you choose can be simple and classic, or something more unique like glow-in-the-dark, glitter, or hearts. (There’s a pretty neat selection of red, white, and blue stars in this collection, too!)
Once you’ve chosen your paper, write some messages on the sides of the paper strips that’ll be inside the stars. Draw a small picture or try your hand at drawing an emoji. Write a short message, like a fortune cookie message.
You can also come up with a longer message, number each paper strip, and then write one word from your message, in order, on each strip. As your SO opens the stars, they’ll begin to uncover your message and can piece your words together like a puzzle.
Second, I love these because I couldn’t be in contact with John every day, even though I wanted to. Instead, I made enough stars (730 stars, to be exact) that he could open one each morning and each night each day of deployment like a countdown. I loved the idea that he got to open something that I made just for him, every single day.
If your SO is already deployed, consider sending 100 stars to countdown the last 100 days of deployment. Or send them like vitamins, with a prescription to “take one a day.” You could even separate out your stars into brightly colored “good morning” and darker colored “goodnight” with matching messages. Like my Open When letters? Create a few categories, like “Open when you’re bored,” “Open when you’re tired,” or “Open when you miss me.” Then write corresponding messages on a handful of stars, separate them into boxes labeled with your “Open When” categories, and send them. Get as creative as you’d like with these little babies!
Finally, these are super easy to do while you’re watching your Hulu or Netflix shows, when you need a little phone-free zen before bed, or any time you’ve got a few minutes to spare. Because they’re made of paper and are rather small, they’re totally portable, too! Just pop your strips of paper into a clean food storage container, toss the container into your bag, and poof! You’re ready to go! Put your finished stars back into the container to keep them safe while you’re on the go.
