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Time capsules — the part that arrives later

Sealed letters and predictions that open years later — a first anniversary, an 18th birthday, ten years after a graduation — emailed to you to pass on, and graded where there's something to grade.

Last reviewed 5 min read

On this page8 sections
  1. What each occasion can seal
  2. Setting one up
  3. What your guests see
  4. Sealed means sealed
  5. The day it opens
  6. The one thing we can't promise
  7. Common questions
  8. Related articles

Everything else your guests do lands the same week. A time capsule is the one thing that arrives later — sometimes much later. A wooden box in a garage depends on somebody remembering it exists. This doesn't.

Guests fill it in during their RSVP. It seals. Then, on the day it opens, we email it to you to pass on.

What each occasion can seal

Baby shower — Letters to the baby. Guests write to the person this baby will become, which is exactly why nobody writes "congrats". The letters open on the baby's 18th birthday — counted from the real birth date once you record "The baby's here", and from the shower until then — or on a date you pick.

Bridal shower — A letter for year one. Guests write to the couple, and the letters open a year after the wedding. Paper is the traditional first-anniversary gift. The wedding date on the suite's first card is what they count from, so add it before you switch the letters on; if the date changes, the letters move with it.

Graduation — The 10-year capsule. Guests call where the grad will be in ten years — the city, the work, what they're most likely to have done, one word, one wild prediction — plus a sealed personal note. For a preschool or grade-school graduate the questions are about the grad at 18, and the capsule opens at their high-school graduation.

Retirement — The one-year capsule. Guests guess how the first year goes — the first proper trip, how many months before they take a class, whether they'll un-retire — plus a sealed personal note, opening a year after the party.

Birthdays don't have a capsule.

Setting one up

Switch the capsule on in your occasion's suite, then press Schedule it.

You'll almost never type a date. Each capsule already shows the day it will open, worked out from something you've told us — the event date, the wedding date, the baby's real birth date. Your job is to read it and agree. If you want a different day, change it; a date that's already gone is refused rather than opening the moment you press the button. A date you typed yourself never moves on its own.

You can cancel a scheduled capsule at any time, and it stops immediately.

What your guests see

The capsule sits beside the keepsake prompt on the same RSVP screen — the predictions where there are any, then the sealed note. Above the box, every capsule says plainly what the guest is doing — "Write to them as the grown-up they'll be when they open this." A guest handed a blank box writes "congrats". A guest told the horizon writes a letter. They're also told that it's emailed to the host on the day, to pass on.

Sealed means sealed

A sealed note can't be read by anyone before it opens — not you, not the other guests, not even the guest who wrote it. In the suite you see how many notes are waiting, and that's all you see.

Predictions behave differently on purpose: they're a game, so they're graded and shown when the capsule opens.

The day it opens

We'll email it to the address on the account that owns the event, on the day it opens — the suite shows that address and the date, so you're never surprised. The link inside is private and never changes, so you can forward it: send the graduate their own capsule, send the couple their letters.

For a graduation or retirement capsule, the page has a short form. The graduate or the retiree types what actually happened, and every guess is graded against it — no login, nothing to remember a decade later. Answer three of five and three get graded. Get one wrong and correct it; the board recalculates.

The one thing we can't promise

Worth reading before you schedule something eighteen years out.

What's solid: the capsule is sealed complete the moment your guests write it. It doesn't depend on anything else surviving — not the party, not the invitation, not you logging in. The link never changes.

What can fail: the email address. If the one on the account stops working before the day, we can't know. For a capsule opening in eighteen years, use an address you expect to keep.

Common questions

Where does the capsule get sent? To the email address on the account that owns the event, and the link inside can be forwarded. The one exception: when the baby arrives and you record the real stats, the guests with the closest baby predictions are emailed that they won.

Can I read a sealed note early? No. Sealed notes are held on our side and there's no screen anywhere — host, guest or author — that shows one before it opens.

Can I change the date after scheduling? Cancel the scheduled capsule, change the date, and schedule it again. Dates worked out from the wedding or the birth move on their own when those dates change.

What if nobody wrote anything? The capsule still opens, and says so plainly rather than arriving empty and confusing.

What happens if I delete the event? The capsule goes with it. Nothing is delivered afterwards.

What happened to next year's birthday interview? It's no longer offered. An interview that was already scheduled still shows in the suite, and you can cancel it there.

Is there an extra charge? No. Capsules are part of your occasion's games and keepsakes, included on every plan.

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