Birthday Cards

I have many years of cards and stuff up in my loft. Cards from close family and what my children sent me when they were little. Birthday from my mum and dad when I was about 8.
Valentines cards from my ex husband. Our wedding cards.
All our children's cards when they were born.
Their first dummy, wristband from when they were first born.
First romper suits and dress.
Playschool and School paintings. Pottery things they made.
School reports and a few of my report
Decorations from our wedding cake and that of my sister. My sisters first teddy. She didn't want it.
And the list goes on. .........
Mine are going to curse me when I'm gone.

Yes, I keep some ‘special’ ones

Over the years I have kept those cards really pretty or special in some way and now can look back on them and remember the people gone from my life.

I kept the last birthday card my Mum sent me as hortly before she died of pancreatic cancer. We knew she didn't have long left and I expect she got my sister to get one for her to give to me. We very year on my birthday I put it up with my other ones. I save it carefully for the next year. I don't keep other ones. I did keep a special rainbow card my DGS sent me he had drawn himself during lockdown when I couldn't see him. The rest are enjoyed for a week then recycled.

Have a few special ones such as cards from my late Mum. But I have kept ALL my baby congratulation cards from the births of my three children. They are in albums and looking at them brings back such happy memories of those fleeting, joyous days. If someone wants to chuck them when I go, fine, but they are so very precious to me.

I scan all my cards and keep the ones from my nearest and dearest.
That’ll be from my son - DH and I are going through a very sticky patch and I can’t remember the last card he sent me. I still buy him cards though. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I cull christmas cards by tearing in half and keeping the picture bit as handy notelets. I keep a few special ones tho such as a birthday card my m in law had ready for her son but she died tragically before she could give it. I get few birthday day cards as at a silly time of year so am guilty of keeping a couple of nice ones to put out each year! Young folk dont seem to 'do' cards anymore?

I agree with you, Granmarderby10, I didn't begrudge the time I had to spend sorting my mum's stuff after she died. I t was a task done with love. Mind you , I have a LOT more things than she did, I am a bit of a hoarder, so I am trying to go through it and keep what is really precious to me. For instance, I have stacks of House Deco magazines that I thought I could never bear to throw away, but going through them I realise that in a lot of them the style is so dated that they are of no interest any more. Birthday cards I do keep, but not Christmas cards, I used to but really they just take up cupboard space for no reason.

Same Cabbie21- i used to have loads but had to (sadly) drastically reduce when i downsized last year.Same with all the drawings etc from the kids & grandkids 😥 just could not keep every single one

My friend keeps all cards for a year, then throws them out if the sender has survived! If they’ve snuffed it during the year, she keeps their ‘last card’.

I keep them for a wee while, then out they go.

I keep special ones & those from immediate family, the rest I cut up and use as postcards for competition entries.

I've got most of the ones, if not all, my son and daughter, now adults, have sent me. Estranged from both now(their choice) so won't receive any more from them. Some days it hurts to look at them, others remind me they did love me & I can't have been all bad.

If it’s a particularly pretty card, I will cut it up to make a bookmark. I always have several books on the go, or I use bookmarks to find favourite recipes in cookbooks. Otherwise, bin.

Only the ones from husband and daughters. With letters from them.

I used to save them but not any longer. and we have stopped buying special family/relation Christmas cards too. I much prefer to send one from boxed selection bought in aid of a charity and make a donation to another cause rather than spending £3 to £4 on a single card specifically for brother, sister, aunt, etc when only the card shop benefits.
Sorry, I have rather gone of track with my response

Funny you should say that. It was my birthday recently, and I felt bad about throwing the valentine's cards out.

I am keeping cards from my Mum and Dad now, as they are both very poorly and the cards will be a comfort to me should the worse happen.

I'm not at all sentimental. After they have been on display for a few days, all my cards go in the bin.

I don't keep cards but do re-use them before putting in the recycling.
They are great for small children to practise cutting skills so we usually have a 'trimming' session, then they are used for book marks, shopping lists, letters to the fairies in the garden, notes to neighbours etc.

As I always have to say on threads on this subject, the Germans don't "do" cards. So between us we might get two or three per year. We have a frame around the mirror in the hall where we pin photos of events during the year, theatre tickets, birthday cards and the like. These go in an album at the end of the year and then we start again. I wish I'd thought of doing this earlier. I only started doing it about 5 years ago.

However, if you do have birthday cards to spare you could use them as bookmarks, or have the nicer ones framed. It is usually form the dedication inside that you would like to keep them, though. I think, in theory I would like to be organised and keep them in a scrap book, but in practice, I will keep them in a pile somewhere or in a drawer, and throw them away at a later date.

My mother had kept all the postcards she received from my eldest son on his travels. I recently showed them to him and he had a lovely time re-reading them - he said it was like a time machine! There were the cards that I had sent,too the pile was over 3" high!

I have kept most of the cards DH gave me. He never bought ‘wife’ cards, or ones with poems or sentimental words, but always a beautiful picture, including many scenes of the Yorkshire Dales, or maybe a beautiful bird. I think I will put them in an album.

I don't but how I wish I'd kept some of the lovely cards my late DH had sent me over the years. Just to read his messages as much as anything.

Grandmabatty

Nope. They are on show for a week, then out they go.

Me too - cards are appropriate for a very short while. If I particularly like the picture, then I might keep it a little longer.

Calendargirl

I have a couple of yellowed, faded birthday cards which my dad sent my mum when courting.

Had never seen them until clearing out after mum died, (dad had died many years earlier).

These 60 year old cards made me weep, seeing my dear, unsentimental, unromantic dad’s careful handwriting with his few words of love. Had never known him send her a card after they married.

Ahhh, that's so touching.

Germanshepherdsmum

I still have a box of my son’s drawings and paintings when a child, which I will burn before long. I couldn’t bear to throw them out when we downsized but the time has come.

I made a memory box for each of my three adult children and put in drawings etc that they had given us - including their home made cards. Now that they have their own families they have had a great deal of pleasure looking at them, remembering some of them and then showing their children. What they did with them afterwards I have no idea and don’t really care. I just didn’t want to bin them myself.

I have a couple of yellowed, faded birthday cards which my dad sent my mum when courting.

Had never seen them until clearing out after mum died, (dad had died many years earlier).

These 60 year old cards made me weep, seeing my dear, unsentimental, unromantic dad’s careful handwriting with his few words of love. Had never known him send her a card after they married.