Giving time together: a gift that keeps running
Most gifts of time are over after one evening. There is one form that only begins when it is unwrapped and is finished weeks or years later.
October 2, 2026 · 5 min read · Przemek Zajfert
Look for ways to give time together and you mostly find appointments: a cooking class, a wine tasting, a night in a treehouse, an escape room. Those are good evenings. But nearly all of them share one property: they are over when they are over. This piece sorts out what a gift of time actually leaves behind, and explains why we run no Black Friday sale.
How do you give time together as a gift?
You give time together with a fixed appointment, or with something two people start together and only finish later. Both In Time is a handmade pinhole camera from Stuttgart for 79 euros, on whose single negative two people each expose one half, weeks or years apart.
The forms differ mainly in how long they last and what is left at the end:
| Gift of time | How long it lasts | What remains |
|---|---|---|
| Experience voucher (outing, dinner, tasting) | one evening or one day | a memory, photos on a phone |
| Recurring appointment (course, fixed evening) | weeks to months | a habit, if it holds |
| Time capsule with a letter | until the opening date | whatever you put in today |
| Both In Time camera (79 €, as of 02.10.2026) | until the second person exposes | a picture neither of you made alone |
A voucher without a date is an appointment someone still has to find
Many gifts of time come as a voucher: for an experience on a day the recipient still has to pick. That is convenient for the giver and moves the real work onto the person receiving it. Our own workshop voucher has the same weakness for as long as the next date is not set. The difference lies with the camera: it brings its second appointment with it. Which things to do as a pair actually leave something behind, we have sorted elsewhere. This piece is about the question before that: what to give when the time together should not be over after one evening.
A camera with two appointments
Both In Time is a cardboard pinhole camera, built in Stuttgart, for exactly one picture made of two halves. The first person pierces a 0.3 millimetre hole with the needle, exposes their half of an A5 sheet of photographic paper, tapes the camera shut and writes a date on it. The second person exposes the other half when that date has come: next month, on the tenth wedding anniversary, on an eighteenth birthday. Only then is the single sheet developed, in the kitchen, under red light, with instant coffee, vitamin C and baking soda. Every camera carries a stamped number, counting up from 0001.
An experience voucher gives one appointment. This camera gives two, and the second lies in a future you set yourselves. In between it stands on a shelf, half finished, as a reminder that someone still has a turn.
A Black Friday alternative: a slow gift for a fast day
Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday 27 November. In Germany, where the camera is made, the retail federation HDE forecast 5.8 billion euros in sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025, by its own figures just under two percent less than the year before (HDE press release, 17.11.2025, read 02.10.2026).
In Germany and much of Europe, the day after, Saturday 28 November, is Buy Nothing Day; in North America it falls on Black Friday itself. The day was invented in 1992 by the Canadian artist Ted Dave (Wikipedia, read 02.10.2026). For that weekend, Germany's Federal Environment Agency advises giving shared experiences instead of material things, and, where something is bought, choosing durable and repairable products (Umweltbundesamt, page of 18.11.2025, read 02.10.2026).
We sell a camera, and it would be dishonest to pass that off as buying nothing. What we do on Black Friday is less, and clear: no Black Friday sale, no countdown, no red percentage signs. The camera costs 79 euros that day, as on any other. Buying nothing that weekend is a perfectly good choice. If you want a gift that does not just promise time together but holds an appointment in the future, it will still be there in January. The picture waits anyway.
Giving time together at Christmas, without delivery stress
Each camera is made only after the order, by hand, in Stuttgart, so we do not promise a delivery date before Christmas. For something to hold under the tree, take one of the two vouchers: they arrive by email within minutes, with a card to print that fits any envelope.
- The camera voucher (79 €). The recipient redeems it with a delivery address in Germany whenever they like, and then receives their own numbered camera.
- The workshop voucher (87 €). A seat for an afternoon in Stuttgart, camera included, the picture appearing in the developer tray. To be honest about it: the next date is not set yet. The voucher is valid until the end of the third calendar year after purchase, for any future date.
Both are on the voucher page. The camera itself is in the shop.
Who this is not for
People who want to see the result tonight. A pinhole camera shows nothing until it is developed, and this one shows nothing until two people have exposed their half. If waiting feels like a flaw, give an evening instead; that is not a lesser gift, just a different one. And for a time capsule of letters and photos you need no camera at all: what belongs in a time capsule has its own piece.
But if, while reading, you already know who should expose the second half, that is the answer to how you give time together: you give it a second date.
Common questions
- How do you give time together as a gift?
You give time together with a fixed appointment, or with something two people start together and only finish later. Both In Time is a handmade pinhole camera from Stuttgart for 79 euros, on whose single negative two people each expose one half, weeks or years apart.
- What is a good gift of time for a couple?
One that cannot disappear into a cupboard because it is not finished yet: a letter that is opened a year from now, a course with a fixed weekday, or a camera whose second half still has to be exposed. What matters is a date both of them know.
- What is Buy Nothing Day?
A day of protest against consumer pressure, invented in Canada in 1992 by the artist Ted Dave. In Germany it falls on the Saturday after Black Friday, in 2026 on 28 November; in North America it is held on Black Friday itself, 27 November.
- Does Both In Time run a Black Friday sale?
No. On Black Friday the camera costs 79 euros and the workshop voucher 87 euros, the same as on any other day. There is no countdown and no offer that expires tomorrow.
- Will the camera arrive before Christmas?
We do not promise a delivery date before Christmas for the camera, because each one is built by hand in Stuttgart after the order comes in. The voucher is the safe option: it arrives by email within minutes, with a card to print.