Marriage proposal idea
The Early Shift
Get up before them and do the one Thanksgiving job that has always been theirs.
- Cost
- $20-60
- Effort
- medium
- Best for
- the partner who has never let anyone else touch the kitchen on a holiday
The idea
Every year they do the one job. The pie, the turkey at six in the morning, the table set the night before, whatever it is that has been theirs since before you met them. This year you set an alarm an hour earlier than they ever get up and you do the whole thing yourself. They come downstairs and find it already done.
Nobody has ever taken that job from them. That is what lands before you say a word. They will stand there doing the math on how early you got up and how long you have known the steps, and you ask while they are still holding that thought.
You will do it worse than they do, which is fine, but not if you wreck the actual meal. Practice it once in October and pick a job you can finish alone, the pie or the table, not the turkey if the turkey is the whole dinner. If you are at their family's house, tell one person the night before so nobody wanders in at six and starts helping.
What to say
“This has been in my coat pocket since Sunday and I can't sit through today with it there. You've done this every year since before I knew you and I wanted to know what it actually takes. It is not as good as yours. 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
- 🎉their apronFind it
- 🎉the ingredients for their dish, bought two days earlyFind it
- 🎁a small box that fits an apron pocketFind it
- 💐coffee, made before they come downFind it
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Step by step
- 1Pick the one job that has been theirs every year. You already know what it is.
- 2Practice it once in October so you are not learning it at six in the morning.
- 3Buy everything two days early and hide it, because one missing ingredient ends the plan.
- 4If you are at their family's house, tell one person the night before so nobody comes in to help.
- 5Set an alarm an hour before they ever get up. Wear their apron, put the box in the front pocket, and do the job start to finish.
- 6Hand them coffee when they walk in, let them look at the counter, then ask.
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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