Old Holiday Cards? What do you do with them?

[AmyZ]

Just wondering what people do with holiday cards from previous years. I have a ton built up, and I'm feeling badly about throwing them out ~ especially when people send photo cards.

Should I just sort by year and put them in a large tupperware box?

[DebbieJ]

If someone sends a photo, we cut it out and put the photo on our fridge. We have all our family and friends there.

The rest of them get pitched.

[infomama]

I would scan the photo cards I loved into my computer then throw out the hard copies.

Here is a link to a place you can send old cards where they recycle them and make money for St. Judes Children's Hospital http://stjudesranch.org/help_card.php

[LarsMal]

If the sender took the time to write a personal note I'll keep it, otherwise cards get trashed at the end of the season. I keep all photos and photo cards in a "photo" file in our filing cabinet. I put them in an envelope and write "Holidays 200_" on the outside. I also put the cards with personal messages and holiday letters with the photos.

[wellyes]

I have nothing at all against people who save cards, but for me -- saving old Christmas cards in sorted tupperware boxes is the road to clutter madness. Save any correspondence with important personal meaning, of course. And it's nice to keep photos of family and friends (less important for co-workers and acquaintances). Otherwise, I say toss 'em and have more space in your house for living.

Since all our ornaments are glass, and we have a new baby, this year we started the tradition of cutting the covers off the prettiest cards -- punching holes in the top -- putting a ribbon through them -- to be used as ornaments next year. Safer tree, plus recycling!

[Ceepa]

Throwing out the cards does not mean throwing out the sentiment. I save a few that have notes written in them from those to whom I'm closest and then throw out the rest.

[jgenie]

Last year I threw out all the old photo cards we had previously received. I was shuffling them from one place to another and finally decided "what's the point?". I can't imagine hanging on to all of those and the gazillion we're sure to generate!

[o_mom]

Photo cards are saved in my "photos to be sorted" pile. Cards I cut the fronts off and put in the "Christmas craft supply" box - then the kids can make stuff out of them next year.

[pinkmomagain]

I remember all the way back in 1st grade (a loooooooong time ago), my teacher would cut old cards into 1" strips for the kids to use when reading (placing the strip underneath the line we were supposed to be reading to help us keep track) and also as bookmarks.

[katydid1971]

I put tha photo cards in an album I keep just for that. It only takes a few minutes to glue them in. Its one of our favorite albums, its neet to see how everyone has changed from year to year. I recycle everything else, makingsure to update any adresses before tossing the envelopes.

[Happy 2B mommy]

I save the photo cards and letters. I save the front of the really pretty ones to use later to decorate a gift or make another card. I even framed 2 artist done cards. The rest I pitch.

I think the St Jude recycling is great

[jent]

I used to save them to make the prettier ones into gift tags for the next year. Now I can't deal with the clutter, so I pitch. Except that I love the photos, so they are stored haphazardly in a box.

(This year's photo cards are still on the fridge-- DD likes to make conversation about her cousins and friends, and they're sometimes a good distraction tool.)

[Corie]

Pitch 'em, Amy!!! You don't need the clutter!

[hillview]

Toss them!
/hillary

[Staraglimmer]

I cut out the pictures and use them as scrapbook embellishments.:D

[justincase]

I cut the photos out of the photo ones and put them in DS's "friend book" (small brag-book size plastic photo album) that he looooves to look at and name all his friends/cousins/etc. We just updated it with this year's shots, tossing last year's. For the rest, he picked his two or three favorites to keep in his "mail bin" (the kid loves looking at all his old mail) and we chucked the rest. I can't take the clutter.

[DrSally]

I used to save them, but this year, I looked through the box and took out the pictures and special notes and let DS use the rest for crafts. I cut out the prettiest designs and he glued them to several pieces of tagboard. He was so into everything christmas this year, that it was fun. I will prob do the same next year. Making the designs into gift tags is a good idea. I also like the "friend book". IMO, the cards with simply a signed name don't need to be kept.

[belovedgandp]

I have an album dedicated to the photo cards. It's 90% holiday photo cards and the remaining are other random pictures, birth announcements, etc we get throughout the year. It's a great place to keep the photos and fun to see kids through the years.

I keep a few of the pretty greeting cards in the craft tub for the kids. Otherwise it all goes. I used to keep the letters, but decided I'm never going to look at them again. This year I only kept two or three special notes from the over 100 cards we received.

[kimbe]

We make placemats.

Get some clear contact paper and cut two pieces to the size of a placemat.
Take the paper off of one and stick the photo cards or the tops of the cards that you like to the contact paper.
Take the paper off the other sheet of contact paper and stick it on top of the cards.
Cut the edge with cool scissors.

You didn't spend money on fancy placemats and when they get crummy, your not throwing away any money. (And there will be another holiday/birthday somewhere that you can make new ones with!)

DD made 4 this year, a photo one, a snowman themed one, a santa themed one and a misc. one!

HTH! It is a really fun project and you can enjoy the pretty cards/photos daily!

ETA --- we toss the ones that we don't use for the placemats!

[JTsMom]

Photo cards are saved in my "photos to be sorted" pile. Cards I cut the fronts off and put in the "Christmas craft supply" box - then the kids can make stuff out of them next year.

:yeahthat:

[DrSally]

We make placemats.

Get some clear contact paper and cut two pieces to the size of a placemat.
Take the paper off of one and stick the photo cards or the tops of the cards that you like to the contact paper.
Take the paper off the other sheet of contact paper and stick it on top of the cards.
Cut the edge with cool scissors.

You didn't spend money on fancy placemats and when they get crummy, your not throwing away any money. (And there will be another holiday/birthday somewhere that you can make new ones with!)

DD made 4 this year, a photo one, a snowman themed one, a santa themed one and a misc. one!

HTH! It is a really fun project and you can enjoy the pretty cards/photos daily!

ETA --- we toss the ones that we don't use for the placemats!

Great idea! Is the clear contact paper thick enough?

[pantrygirl]

I used to save the pretty cards and make ornaments out of them. Now, I use the pretty fronts as gift tags.

As for the photo cards, I keep the cards as scanned images. It's fun to look back on them through the years with family and friends.

[kimbe]

Great idea! Is the clear contact paper thick enough?

It seems to be working well. I keep hoping that they will get gross so that I can pitch them in time for Valentine's Day. No luck yet!

[doberbrat]

we dont send out holiday cards (I cant ever get it together in time) so we dont get many in return but those we get are stuck to my back door where dd can easily see them. when we get new ones, we add them to the door and discard the ones that have fallen off.

[KpbS]

We make placemats.

Get some clear contact paper and cut two pieces to the size of a placemat.
Take the paper off of one and stick the photo cards or the tops of the cards that you like to the contact paper.
Take the paper off the other sheet of contact paper and stick it on top of the cards.
Cut the edge with cool scissors.

You didn't spend money on fancy placemats and when they get crummy, your not throwing away any money. (And there will be another holiday/birthday somewhere that you can make new ones with!)

DD made 4 this year, a photo one, a snowman themed one, a santa themed one and a misc. one!

HTH! It is a really fun project and you can enjoy the pretty cards/photos daily!

ETA --- we toss the ones that we don't use for the placemats!

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.

[s7714]

If it's someone important to us, I'll put the photo in our photo album. Everything else gets recycled and/or shredded. I'm not sentimental when it comes to that stuff anymore.