saraha Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 We tore off and are rebuilding a mud room addition to our house. House was built in 1890’s. We were hoping to find something cool as we dug through all the layers but didn’t find anything, so we thought we would hide something. The builders were regaling our 11 year old with tales of gold and coins and things they have found hidden in walls over the years and he really wants to do that but we can’t think of anything! They are finishing up Monday so we have the weekend to think of something. please share any ideas you have, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 Oh! And feel free to share anything you have found! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I'd probably leave something weird or funny like the Elvis gnome we got as a white elephant gift. 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopmom Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Time capsule? With family photo, picture of the house from outside, maybe a few trinkets. Ive never found anything except mouse skeletons 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Can you wrap something in a newspaper front page? That'd be interesting to find. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 We moved into a house where at least one child compulsively stuffed things into the cold air returns, lol! I think the most consistent find was random sports cards. Pokemon or other game cards would probably work too. I like the newspaper idea, but I think it could fade or disintegrate depending on climate conditions. I think anything pop culture that might be readily compared to something like it many years later would be fun. I think half the fun of finding things is that they are often random and accidental. Oh, maybe postcards from your local area so they can see what is the same and what has changed would be fun! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Found in old walls: comic books, buttons, coins, barrettes, small toys like toy soldiers and cars. Assembling a time capsule would be fun. A mask would be an obviously timely item, with perhaps a newspaper: not that people often have the physical ones lying around any more, but they'd give a sense of today's issues. Coins are always good. Whatever little things your kids think represent the era best from their point of view. Are friendship bracelets popular still? Lists of favorite movies, tv shows, books, music? Sounds like a fun project! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 We left a time capsule in a house we remodeled. It had a newspaper, some small toys, a letter from us, and a goofball. We found some cool stuff at a vet clinic we remodeled. There were old newspapers in the walls, dating back to when Houdini and Mussolini died. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 He has a good sized pickle jar and is planning to put in the front page of our teeny tiny local paper and a picture of our family. So hoping the pickle jar keeps time from messing it up too much 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 8 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said: picture of the house from outside You know what this made me think about: the old house I fixed up had been home to a large family in years past, but it was very small: like, one real bedroom. I would have loved to know how they used the spaces. Maybe a plan of the house, with "girls' room," "boys' room," "kitchen," "attic bedroom", etc. Photos would be wonderful. A plan of the yard, with information about significant plants ("Maiden's Blush" apple, grafted from Granddad's; oak tree planted 2021). The pickle jar sounds good. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 20 minutes ago, Hilltopmom said: mouse skeletons Yeah. Lots and lots of mice. And the odd rat. It was deeply, truly filthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericathemom Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 You could do what my then 2yo did when he saw a hole in a wall of our home: push several dozen q-tips into it. So, that future home remodeler will have those to find. 😂 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Our house came with a disc with photos before the remodel/modernization. It wasn’t in the walls, lol, but a very cool bit of history that has been handed down from various owners. If it’s an old house, it would be neat to include any stories you know about the house. Ours was once used as a credit union—I can’t find any information about how but it’s a well known bit of history in the neighborhood. I’d love to know more. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I think any news pieces are going to be Google-able with the date. I like the front page idea. What I would put in is a family photo and some things about you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonhawk Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Sweet (kinda sad) story. My grandfather had Alzheimers and was fading away for years before he eventually had to go to a nursing home. Part of his dementia included hiding things in very random places, and he became particularly concerned his money was being stolen because it kept disappearing. My nana was a bit of a neat freak and so was always trying to put things back as they should be, and had to always tell him that no, she wasn't stealing the money. He died in 2010, she died in 2018. My mom showed me this note he left my nana: "My love, I am probably gone now. I am hiding all of the cash in the pipe underneath the shed. I hope you are safe. Love --" She had found the note while cleaning out the house after my grandmother's death, at the back of a drawer in his room. So my nana probably never found it. Unfortunately the shed is filled to the brim with a relative's belongings now and so we can't investigate if his stash is still there, or if he even did what he had intended to do. However, the thing I can speak to is that the same house has a wall filled with jars in the patio. You can see some of the jars through a crack. It was where they stored canning supplies. I guess when she stopped canning they just decided to wall that up with everything as it was. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 A newspaper from tomorrow morning; 20 years after 9/11 & in the middle of the pandemic. A few coins. Small toys your children have outgrown. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasProud Posted September 10, 2021 Share Posted September 10, 2021 3 hours ago, MEmama said: Our house came with a disc with photos before the remodel/modernization. It wasn’t in the walls, lol, but a very cool bit of history that has been handed down from various owners. If it’s an old house, it would be neat to include any stories you know about the house. Ours was once used as a credit union—I can’t find any information about how but it’s a well known bit of history in the neighborhood. I’d love to know more. Yes original architecture drawing and stories of what happened in the house. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted September 11, 2021 Share Posted September 11, 2021 We have now-deceased family members who created hiding spots in the house to store/hide valuables. In both cases, they sold the house, and then several months later wrote to the new owners telling them where those spots were. I don't think they left anything in the hidden spots. It's too bad, that would have been fun. If it's something you expect to be hidden for decades, small bills and current coins could be fun. It's amazing how much our legal tender has changed since I became an adult. I expect that before my lifetime is over, cash will have been phased out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth86 Posted September 11, 2021 Share Posted September 11, 2021 (edited) A face mask? lol Would be a good representation of the times. Edited September 11, 2021 by Elizabeth86 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted September 11, 2021 Share Posted September 11, 2021 It's common here to find children's shoes in the walls, but our house is too new for that. 😄 I think I would stash a few coins, a lego man, and a house picture. Future generations would probably get a kick out of seeing an "ancient" toy that's still the same. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 A letter and some physical photographs, perhaps a drawing of the house by your child as well. LOL, I read a true story once about somebody who found a note written on the wall under the wallpaper telling them how many rolls of paper it took to cover the room! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ealp2009 Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 We found a trunk full of old ladies shoes, in the house we moved into when I was a child. I think my dad was hoping for something more exciting when he found the trunk. He did find a nice camera though too, but he somehow managed to figure out who it belonged to and returned it. It had belonged to a previous owner but not the most recent owner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 Maybe a currently popular doll that reflects something of pop culture? Or a deck of souvenir playing cards representing something unlikely to remain "in" for long? A current issue of a magazine? A ticket to a nearby amusement park, ball game, or concert? The only thing I remember finding in the walls was an old key. My childhood home was built in 1929, and the key was probably from back around then, but I never did find out what it went to. For a long time, I searched for a safe / treasure chest / secret passage that I was sure was hidden somewhere .... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 We do have a locked safe in our current house. I never did find out the combination to open the safe. I have always wondered whether the previous owner left anything in there .... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 (edited) 25 years ago, our upstairs friend/neighbor was moving state, and came to us with a massive bag of pot that he couldn't take across state lines. Did we want it? Well, we were not the smoking type, but we were so stunned, that we said sure. It was like a pound of weed. It was a huge bag. We figured that we would pass it on to someone else who would really appreciate it. Well, within 2 months, my dh was transferred to NZ, and now we were in the same situation that our friend had been, but we didn't have the guts to offer it to anyone. We were just too chicken. So.... What to do?!?! Where to put it?!?!? We were in an old apartment building that had fireplaces that no longer worked (closed chimneys) which we kept candles in. But the flu still opened. So we opened it, stuffed it up, and closed it quickly before the bag fell out. I assume that someone in the last 25 years has opened that flu, and I bet they were very surprised. 🙂 Edited September 12, 2021 by lewelma 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 My brain has a difficult time recognizing that brand new things will someday be old. It’s not that I’m dumb, lol, but I’m sitting here, working to wrap my mind around the idea that, someday, the house we’re building will be 100 years old. And now you all have me wanting to plan something cool. Normal/basic stuff, definitely. But I want to come up with some sort of added mystery. In our current house, we just wrote all our names on the subfloor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 Stumbled on this kinda-related thread this morning. The one with the train is amazing. Now I want to make miniature niches in my house. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 8 hours ago, SKL said: We do have a locked safe in our current house. I never did find out the combination to open the safe. I have always wondered whether the previous owner left anything in there .... That would drive me to distraction! Absolutely bonkers! 12 minutes ago, Innisfree said: Stumbled on this kinda-related thread this morning. The one with the train is amazing. Now I want to make miniature niches in my house. That is sooooo cooool! I wish I had even a fraction of the talent that he/she has! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said: My brain has a difficult time recognizing that brand new things will someday be old. It’s not that I’m dumb, lol, but I’m sitting here, working to wrap my mind around the idea that, someday, the house we’re building will be 100 years old. And now you all have me wanting to plan something cool. Normal/basic stuff, definitely. But I want to come up with some sort of added mystery. In our current house, we just wrote all our names on the subfloor. Oh please do! When they ripped off the floor we were all gathered around just hoping there would be something there, and the piles of rock they used for a foundation were such a disappointment 😆 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 (edited) This is family project so the kids are giving ideas too. We are so far including a picture of us, a letter telling as much of the history as we can written in cursive 😉, and an MP3 player with earbuds. Same child wants to include my old cell, we might if there’s room. I suggested a lego guy, but lego kid is not sure about that 😆, and a dollar and one of each coin. this is harder than I thought! our local paper didn’t have an interesting front page at all, sonot sure whether to put that in. I was hoping for something about COVID or 9/11, but got minutes on a boring city council meeting one town over 🙄 Edited September 12, 2021 by saraha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 55 minutes ago, saraha said: This is family project so the kids are giving ideas too. We are so far including a picture of us, a letter telling as much of the history as we can written in cursive 😉, and an MP3 player with earbuds. Same child wants to include my old cell, we might if there’s room. I suggested a lego guy, but lego kid is not sure about that 😆, and a dollar and one of each coin. this is harder than I thought! our local paper didn’t have an interesting front page at all, sonot sure whether to put that in. I was hoping for something about COVID or 9/11, but got minutes on a boring city council meeting one town over 🙄 Put in a charger for that MP3 player. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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