Marriage proposal idea
The Extra Page
Tape a page into the Christmas Eve story so they read your question out loud.
- Cost
- $10-40
- Effort
- easy
- Best for
- the partner whose family has done the same thing every December for thirty years
The idea
Most families read the same thing on Christmas Eve. A book, a passage, whoever gets handed it that year. This year you make sure it gets handed to them, and near the end you have taped in one extra page in your own handwriting. They read the whole thing to the room before they reach it.
It works because the question arrives in their voice, not yours. There is a half second where they are still reading out loud and their brain catches up, and everyone in the room watches it hit at the same time. Nobody has to explain what is happening.
Somebody else will grab the book if you let them, so hand it over yourself and say out loud that it is their turn this year. A loose page also picks the worst possible second to fall out, so run a strip of removable document repair tape down the full inside edge and open the book flat once to test it.
What to say
“You just read it. I wrote that page in November and I've been carrying this book around the house ever since. I wanted you to say it out loud before I did. Will you marry me?”
Say it slower than feels natural. The pause after it is the whole moment, so let it sit there.
What you'll need
- 🎉the book your family reads every yearFind it
- 💐a sheet of unlined paperFind it
- ✂️removable document repair tape or photo cornersFind it
- 🎉a pen that will not smudgeFind it
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Step by step
- 1Find the book or passage your family reads every year. If there isn't one, tell them a week ahead you want to start it.
- 2Write your page by hand. Six or seven lines, ending in the question.
- 3Fix it in two pages before the end, with removable document repair tape along the inside edge or two photo corners so it lifts out clean afterward.
- 4Open the book flat and shake it once to make sure the page holds, then check that no adhesive is touching the printed page.
- 5On Christmas Eve, hand them the book yourself and say it's their turn.
- 6Stay seated until they hit your page, then stand up.
Plan the rest of it
Full Blueprint
Want the whole thing planned down to the minute?
The idea above is the shape of the day. The Blueprint is the rest of it, built around your person and the place you picked.
- A run of show with real times, from the morning until the toast
- The speech, written in your words, with the part to memorize marked
- A shot list for whoever is filming, so they know where to stand
- A supplies checklist with what to buy and when to buy it
- A rain plan, because outdoor asks lose to weather more than anything else
Building the plan is free. The Blueprint is $14.99, added to the plan once you have one you like.
Plan one like this, built around your person
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