Do you save birthday cards?

[cwnhokie]

that your kids receive? that you receive? if you do, what do you do with all of them? I feel guilty throwing them away, but I don't want them to take over the house either.

 

[jillyjoey]

Absolutely not. I belong to the school of thought that cards are generally a waste of money -- so I guess that is why I don't save them.

My mother on the other hand -- I think she has every card that she has received since 1972. Before my grandmother passed away, my mom and her would check the backs of cards to make sure they were good ones. If someone didn't send a "good one" (I guess this means Hallmark) they would complain.

 

[denisenh]

I have a big storage bin for each child. I save cards and things that I have recieved, that are special, also report cards, awards, school papers....stuff like that, but not everything and I will give them to each child when they are older. That way, I don't have to feel the guilt.
I enjoy looking at the things that I gave my grandmother when I was little. She was a "saver"....big time.

 

[dizneenut]

I saved some cards. I saved Sweet 16 cards, cards from when my boys turned 13, stuff like that. Right now they are in a drawer in my nightstand. I do plan on buying those plastic shoe box size totes for them, though. One for each boy.

 

[Christine]

No.

 

[Hannathy]

Yes I save everything like that! I put them in bins like the other poster said. I really enjoy looking back on things and now that my Mom is gone I'm glad I saved her cards and letters. It is really nice to go back and read her thoughts and messages that didn't mean a lot then and I could easily have thrown them out but now they are like gold and I'm very grateful I was a pack rat! A Rubbermaid bin can hold a heck of a lot of cards and certificates!

 

[denisenh]

I saved some cards. I saved Sweet 16 cards, cards from when my boys turned 13, stuff like that. Right now they are in a drawer in my nightstand. I do plan on buying those plastic shoe box size totes for them, though. One for each boy.

LOL, I STARTED with small totes. (I still have them, I'll give you mine LOL)
You'll need a bigger bin.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I throw them away now. However I do keep my mom's but she handmakes them with pictures. It is more of a "scrapbook card"....
For ex. my mom has been working on dd's card for 2 months ...It is 40 pgs for her 16th birthday...

 

[jbmom]

I save them for the kids to cut up and paste. It keeps them busy for hours. I wouldn't save them just to save them though.

 

[KLAIT]

I have a funny story about saving cards. A lady at work confessed the other day to us and her husband. She has saved cards for years..puts them in a rubbermaid tub. During Valentines day, she decided to go into the tub and pull one out that she had given her husband years ago and give it to him again this year. He thought it was such a nice card....she confessed that she did this and he thinks it is a GREAT idea. With the price of cards now, recycle, recycle, recycle...

 

[cinmell]

No.

 

[tiff211]

Yes, I keep all cards except xmas ones!

 

[Saphire]

I am by no means a 'saver' of anything, but when it comes to my kids, I feel differently. I have a huge shoe-box type container that has cards from my children from years ago up to this year. I love to see what they wrote to me and look at their handwriting more than anything else. I especially love the home-made ones.

 

[Luv'sTink]

Count me in as a card keeper for my DS, he can and I have doubt will throw them out when he is older.

 

[Brianne]

No. I'd be afraid of how many cards I'd end up with. My grandmother's the type who will normally send two cards per event. Then will forget she sent the cards, so she'll send a couple more. Rinse & repeat. Although she did forget DD8's birthday recently--but then wanted to overnight her birthday cards, which would've cost more than the cards combined!

The only cards I save are the ones my older DD makes by hand for us but they're saved in her folder to look back on eventually.

 

[barkley]

over the years i've saved certain ones (1st bday stuff like that) and put them into the same photo albums with photos related to that event-but i don't save them for the most part.

my mother is realy big on saving cards, and i cannot tell you how many DAYS it took to go through all of these when she moved from her home into an apartment. i was'nt willing to just toss out bins of them (even with her permission) on the off chance some important paperwork had accidentaly gotten into the same bins. so i had to open each card and check it-and did end up finding a couple of peices of paperwork that were important.

i think it's fine if people want to save this stuff for their kids, but honestly i look at the stuff i have from my childhood-the certificates, ribbons and stuff like that-while i occasionaly look at them, my kids have looked at them-it's just going to be more 'stuff' they (like dh and i) got handed when we got our own place and has just taken up space in the garage to be hauled from one house to another. complile that stuff with bins upon bins of old bday cards from kids they don't remember and it's just going be something they will get left to toss.

my kids have always enjoyed taking old bday cards and using them in craft projects-they like to cut the pictures out and make stuff. the schools have welcomed them as well for this purpose. there are children's hospitals that welcome the fronts of these cards for art projects, as well as some senior centers. i would prefer to see these items recycled and enjoyed by someone than taking up space in the garage.

 

[disykat]

I'm in the "birthday cards are a waste of money" club. I display them for a few days, then ask the boys if they want them. They say no, and I toss them.

I do save Christmas cards for a year. I go through last years batch again when I'm writing the new year's cards.

I saved baby cards and wedding cards for 10+ years. I've been married 16 years and the boys are 11 and 14. I tossed all those cards about a year ago. I enjoyed looking through them, but it was time.