Family Greetings cards

When we downsized a few years ago, I had to get rid of a lot of cards, but I still have some in scrap books, even though I know they'll be thrown away when I go, and I have no problem with that. I've told our daughter that just because some items mattered to me I know she won't have the same attachment and she's free to get rid of everything without feeling guilty. But I still get pleasure from browsing through those scrap books of cards occasionally, so they're staying.

I keep them and those off my grandkids my hubby and my parents . I l8ve coming across them , when im gone they can bin them but they still bring me joy x

I keep the ones from my children up until they married.
If I threw the cards away it would feel as if I was discarding a part of them and their care in making/choosing them.
Some of them are beautiful with hand drawn pictures depicting events in our lives or things I like.
No...I could never part with any of them, not for any amount of money.

I have just read this post. I have 2 small drawers in the table full of old greetings cards. I Wii put them in the bin as soon as I have finished posting this. They are no use to anyone. My daughters are not sentimental and certainly won't want to look at them when I'm gone. I would say get rid of them they are of no interest to the modern generation, who probably don't know the people who sent them in the first place. Go , do it now.

Really srn63? I am afraid I totally disagree. I LOVE getting cards - to be honest I'd rather have a card on my Birthday than a present. I so enjoy reading all my cards - my last Birthday card from my son had printed on the front "MUM you're Bloody Amazing" - "sorry for swearing!" Trust me when I later spoke to him - we all gather here on Birthdays for a takeaway (I have 2 daughters as well and their partners) - he was never going to say that to my face. I don't mind saying that I have kept that card and take a look at it often.

Only very special ones but am really trying to de-clutter............one of us has to ?

I never send cards or expect to receive them, I think they are a complete waste of money. I always ring or visit or have a meet up on some one's birthday or other celebration to wish them the best and have a catch up and usually get the same back, which I think is worth a hundred cards.

I have saved all my daughters cards and l thought l would never throw them away but sadly now they just bring me heartache.
We have always been close , phone or text each other every day until she divorced and found a new partner
( before her divorce came through) the divorce was amicable
He took complete control of her life, the phone calls dwindled as did the texts and now nothing.
Divorce came through, we now have no contact at all .
I’ve been so near a breakdown, it’s as though he has taken over her Life,
She sent a text to my husband saying she never wants to see or hear from us again,
Hard to believe l know but there was no argument nothing happened.
I have now found out she has told a lot of lies and l can’t defend myself. We have no other close family .
My hubby is trying to stay strong for me but it’s so hard.
I sorted some of her cards a moth ago the last one she sent said

Mum if l am half the Mum to my boys as you have been to me l will be a wonderful Mum.
She is now trying to stop us having contact with our grandsons making threats to her ex if he lets them see us.
I don’t know if l should destroy them or keep them, to read them breaks my heart .
I’m not sure what to do .

I've kept loads! Reading this has made me think though and it's not fair to leave them for others to sort later. I need to tackle them soon....

Oh thats a brilliant idea Theoddbird! I might just do that.

My friend is a terrible hoarder, along with everything else she hoarded, she used to keep every single card she ever received for herself and her children. Finally her loft was so crammed with 'stuff' the ceiling below started to sag and she was in danger of being buried under it all when it fell through!
She had to get ruthless so she doesn't keep new cards any more and has restricted herself to only keeping one special card per person.
She and her husband also keep and resend their Christmas and birthday cards to each other - just adding the current date each year. Quite a nice idea I think, they are up to five years now.
As she says, the sentiments in the card are just as valid now as the day it was first sent.

Yes they might enjoy looking back through them,but i doubt they will keep them,maybe the girls will,one or two from them for memories,but most ive kept will be recycled i guess.( yes GN's,you all mean,you recycle them,not bin them!)

When I bought my boat to live on I had to seriously downsize. I had three big plastic boxes...one for each of my adult children. All the cards and drawings etc belonging to each of them was put in their box. Was then up to them what they did with them. Decision was not mine...result

I do save GC cards.& any special ones from my own children through the years.

I’m a hoarder as we’re both my parents, so I inherited their sentimental cards to add to my already ridiculously large collection! I’m sure my children won’t be interested in them, but you never know - I won’t be there to get upset.

I am a bit of a hoarder so keep hand made ones, cards from Grandhldren etc, cards from major birthdays. They bring back lots of memories when I look back through them.
My MIL kept my DH's first birthday cards , after she died they came back to my DH and the whole family were interested in looking at them, such different styles from today so from the historical aspect they will be interesting, depends on how many though.

I cleared out my mum and dad's bungalow. They were in their 90's. Dad had just died and mum has dementia so was moved to a carer home. In a box there was every card they had sent to each other for over 50 years. That's 2 anniversary cards, 2 birthday cards and 2 Xmas cards pet year. So I now have a box of around 300 cards! I feel I can't throw them but then I'll be just putting them in a box for my children to sort one day. I have some of the cards my children have sent me as kids and a few of them when they are adults (and now have grandkids ones). They don't amount to a huge about though which I feel it's fine to keep. But as for 300 cards over 50 years , it's put me in an awful position at what to do with them. So i'd say keep a few but not all of them.

I have recently recycled all hoarded greetings cards some going back to childhood - felt less “brutal” than binning them. I did save one card from each of my grandparents just to remember their writing.
Next project is to dispose of fifty three years of diaries. Plan to skim read through over a few afternoons, shudder at what was so important to me in my teens and condense any “big deals” / events into notebook which in a few years I will let go of too.
I go to so many vintage fairs where there are piles of photographs, postcards, letters etc that have been carefully saved for so long - for what?

I keep them as something in me feels that it’s some kind of betrayal if I don’t. I keep one’s from my Mum, too but I know that neither of my kids keep the cards I send them. Don’t know whether my Mum keeps mine or not. I never seek them out to look at them later!

I've got all the cards from my wedding day,32 years ago. My husband died in June and I just can't get rid of them,yet I know they will probably be thrown out when I die.All other cards get binned after a week,but now I'm wishing I had kept some of the cards he sent to me,he always chose such lovely words.Feeling sad this morning.

I have kept all my cards for the births of my 3 children and the "Congratulations" cards for becoming grandparents! (Our first grandchild - born in May this year)
I must have been a strange child because I also have kept lots of my birthday cards from when I was little - mainly age 11!
I have lots of little notes and letters from my 2nd daughter - which made me cry when I read them again - such sweet and loving words! Letters home from my children's school journeys.
I have newspapers from important events - Diana's death...the Twin Towers disaster etc which might interest my family in years to come - so you can maybe see why I have cleared out bags and bags of greetings cards.

I treasure cards and keep some as they bring me pleasure to know that someone has taken time to think of me. Especially cards from people no longer with us. My late husband, grandma, mum, sister and all - in their handwriting. I probably will dispose of them before I go, as my sons have said they will "get a skip" to put all my stuff in! Not a happy thought.

When my dear Mother died I found every card the family had ever been given !!!
I
Kept a few of the older style eg wedding cards from 1947 , my birthday cards etc from 1950s but binned the rest .
Don’t want my son to have to do the same thing as it’s hard enough when you lose a loved one.
Be brave and get rid .

I kept every card that had been sent to my children while they were still living at home; not only their birthdays, but also cards sent to us when they were born, christening cards, the whole works. Somehow I didn't feel I could throw them away, both through sentimentality, and the fact that they weren't mine.. They were stored in individual bags, and when we moved house and the children came to help they binned the cards without a second look. I have to do the same now; they stay on display for a week and then out they go. So true Daisymae one day someone will have enough to sort out without a hundredweight of greeting cards.

I keep the family ones but the following year through the previous years away. That way I will always have the last card someone sent me.