What keepsakes do you hold onto for kids?

[FSUMama]

I tend to throw everything away because I'm just not sentimental about stuff. But I feel like I should hold onto some things for DS but I'm not sure what. Do you keep birthday cards from grandparents? Baby clothes? Toys? I hate clutter but I don't want to regret tossing everything.

[anonomom]

I keep very little. The bracelets they wore in the hospital and the outfits they came home in. 1-2 pieces of artwork or writing a year, so they can see how they've grown. I think I have a mylar balloon from DD1's first birthday ('cause she'll totally want that in 20 years) and the hotel key card from her first vacation. And possibly a birthday card written by my mom, but only because there won't ever be another of those.

I'm not sentimental about toys and the idea of keeping things like teeth or locks of hair skeeves me out.

[lalasmama]

I started a clear Sterilite container with a flap lid, I think it's the 18-gallon size, give or take. I allow myself to fill the container up each year, but keepsakes can't ever go beyond that one container. Currently, it holds:

--Three large (seriously large) scrapbooks from her first, second, and third grade years at her old school (they make them for the kids each year)
--A 1.5in binder with school work from Pre-K up til now. Each year, I cull out a few things as I add in a few more. I keep her report cards in this binder too. Fun to see how her handwriting has changed, and her great "splat" animals from Kindy (when she drew them like she was looking down on them, legs out to the side, which gave every animal the look of being stepped on).
--The outfit she wore when she came home forever.
--A few things from her first Disneyland trip.
--Pictures of her birth family (she has a few easily accessible to her, but others are put away so she can't lose them).
--Pictures of her when she was young.
--Her Cabbage Patch Kid that she wouldn't go anywhere without.
--Her baby blanket.

I have 3 similar containers from my mom--one from her childhood, one from her marriage to my father, and one with my things. I started one when DH and I started getting serious, and it has random things from our dating and married life, and our daughters can go through that when we are gone, and they can decide what they want.

[Mommy_Mea]

I am not sentimental either, and don't keep anything (well not on purpose, LOL). Every time I think I should keep stuff, I get overwhelmed by the idea of *stuff*, and out it goes.

I do take a zillion photos, and I am working on making yearbooks, so that will be my legacy :)

[hillview]

not much

[DualvansMommy]

I'm so in the same boat, OP! I detest clutter and am pretty ruthless in throwing stuff out.

My DC are young but here's what I already have and will do going forward:

DS1 hospital band & pregnancy sonograms pictures.
Collage photo on foldable billboard of his first year.
Yearly photo calendar of milestone with pics. (On 2 nd year)

DS2:
Hospital band & sonogram pics
Will create collage board of first year to present at 1 at birthday party & keep .
Will create yearly calendar/ photo books every year of all milestone photos.

That's pretty much the keepsyakes I'll do/ keep. Oh and I've kept DS's first bible book, Tiffany hairbrush
and silver rattle given to him as his baptism gifts.

Will do the same for DS if he's given similar items for his baptism next month .

[elephantmeg]

I have a container for each it has: some birth stuff, some special toys (one from each of our grandparents, their grandparents), some board books for each, some special clothes...

[scrooks]

This is a timely thread. I've been starting to think about purging baby items now that ds2 is now almost 9 months old :crying: I've wanted to start a small box of keepsakes for each DC. Can anyone suggest some nice boxes. I was thinking something a bit fancier than a sterilite/Rubbermaid type storage box but maybe that would be fine because it would keep things dry???

[queenmama]

This is helpful to me because I am the very definition of sentimental and I need to cut WAY down!

Lara

[zag95]

I am keeping things for each of my DD's. Here is what I have so far:

Outfit they came home from hospital in
First Halloween costume (they were both pumpkins but different sizes!)
First Christmas dress
Special quilts/blankets made for them
Special things- like tshirts from the colleges that DH and I attended (1 each for each girl); and special dresses that my parents bought the girls when they were in Italy (handmade dresses!)

I plan on keeping a few toys- wooden blocks, wood train set, wooden rocker (see a theme here?!!) and maybe a few special toys- once they are done with them.

DD1 is 6, DD2 is almost 2. I have DD1's scrapbook started and need to catch up on it- and then start DD2's. I did digital book for DD1's 1st yr of preschool and will have 2nd yr complete soon. Not as much to keep from K. Am in the process of purging items. My hope is to limit the boxes to 2 total- and I am using clear storage bins.- right now I have maybe 1/2 of one for each girl done.

[azzeps]

Ugh. I have so much stuff. Boxes full of cards from DDS baby showers, and then when she was born. Tubs full of clothes and toys. I have heard its good to pick a container for this purpose and stick to only that. I just haven't implemented it!!!

[pastrygirl]

Phew! The title of this thread stressed me out, because I don't really keep anything and thought maybe I should start. I'm not sentimental, but I would like to hold onto some things other than school/artwork. I'm relieve to see that I'm not the only one who doesn't keep stuff!

[specialp]

Like others, I have a small container. There is a baptism and coming home outfit & a couple of meaningful cards, a newspaper, a couple of books. I will eventually put the recorded book my mother gave of her reading the story, but that is still in high use. I make an annual photo book. I scanned my sonogram pictures and included those in my photo book. I also scanned a few cards so there is a one page collage of those versus a stack of them. I will eventually order additional copies of those photo books for them to have. So, if you worry about something like cards, you can take a picture/scan it and put it in a photo book. If there is a toy with a lot of attachment, I will keep that.

I try to look at it as what do I wish I had and the answer is very little. We lost my coming home outfit and a beloved Christmas ornament during a move. That’s it and all I wish I had. I have lots of big stuff from my grandmother and great grandmother - ring, plates, serving dishes, fur coat, wedding dress, handmade quilts, piece of furniture, artwork- stuff that I keep because I feel like I have to, but I have no idea what to do with except leave it in the attic. I know those are different relationships and not childhood things, but it reminds me not to keep too much. Even if you are sentimental, there’s only so much attic space. DH’s family didn’t get rid of a lot (close to being hoarders so it wasn’t out of sentiment) and the only thing he wants is his first scout uniform and letters from his beloved uncle and grandfather that he keeps in the safe deposit box. He just has no attachment to the other stuff.

[MamaMolly]

I think most of the stuff I've saved is for me, not my DDs. They will never understand why a pink Carter's onesie is so important to me, even when I tell them why I've kept it.

I plan to keep the child size wooden rocker we have, as well as the infant smocked dresses they looked so precious in.

[almostmom]

I don't keep much, but I do keep special books that we've loved, even after they've outgrown them. My parents did this, and I have loved going to their house and picking up my old books and reading them with DC. I would probably have forgotten about Ferdinand and Mop Top if they didn't keep them. I keep some school stuff from every year, but mostly writing that is significant, or a piece or two of special artwork.

[okinawama]

Next to nothing. Most of the stuff is sentimental to ME, not my boys. Why would I burden them all the clutter and then have them deal with the guilt that comes with wanting to throw it away? I do want to document certain events, and help my kids remember specific times in their life, but I try and not do that by holding onto a million items. Rather, I do a lot of it electronically. Each academic year, I scan each art project they make, put it in a free 8X8 shutterfly book each, and then throw all of the projects out. I take a zillion pictures, keep up with a family blog (that I treat like a baby book of sorts, with tons of pictures, videos and scanned items... and have plans to print out via a company that does that sort of thing) and try and create at least one shutterfly book with various events that have happened over the last year, but very very rarely do I keep anything.

[FSUMama]

I'm not sentimental about toys and the idea of keeping things like teeth or locks of hair skeeves me out.

Our stylist laughed because she said I was the first parent who didn't want a lock of hair from the first haircut. So I just thought I was the only parent who didn't save these things.

I like the one box idea and I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one tossing stuff! Thanks for the input!

[lovin2shop]

So, I don't keep much, just their going home baby outfits and some school art work / hand prints. But, I do admit to keeping their teeth, which totally grosses me out, but I just can't bring myself to throw them away. Even worse, they are mixed up now, so I don't know who's is who's!