December is typically the most exciting mail month of the year, as beautiful photocards pour in showing faraway loved ones. Then there's January, which is typically the month of recycling those cards or stashing them in a box somewhere, likely to be forgotten. Here's a smart solution.
At the end of the holidays Michelle at Close 2 My Art compiles an annual holiday photocard book. She punches two holes through each card and uses metal book rings for a quick binding job. It's nice to bring the books out at holiday time to see how families have changed from year to year, and the books are great year-round for kids who will take pleasure in learning the names and faces of family and friends everywhere. Check out this project and others at Close 2 My Art.
(Image: Close 2 My Art)
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Scan them in and use for slideshow the next holiday season
I cut the fronts off mine, cut them into tiny strips and use them to make paper chains with a stapler. They are airy & beautiful. Also, when friends or kids come over before the holidays it's a ready-made and VERY easy craft to do for fun. I toss the backs. I don't cut up the ones with family photos--I like the scanning idea by Pinkalbatross but that will just never happen. Friends picture cards go in the recycling; family pics get dismantled & put with other saved photos.
If you like keeping things this is a good solution. However, I would never go back to look at them. At the end of the season I pitch mine. Any guilt or second guessing goes away within a couple minutes. The best way to deal with clutter is to never let it accumulate.
We donate cards for craft to organizations that take them.
We cut off the backs and use the fronts for gifts tags on packages.
Don't become hoarders, people. Enjoy them over the holidays and then donate or into the recycling they should go.
I wouldn't do this every year with Christmas cards, but I was thinking of doing something similar with the holiday and birthday cards my son got in his first year.
I love keeping cards - I have just about every handwritten letter anyone has ever sent me, all my Christmas cards and all birthday cards sent to my girls. I love looking at them. I think this idea is great!
I feel a tad guilty tossing photo cards. This is a fun solution.
I *LOVE* this idea!
Sheesh! Just.Let.Them.Go! You'll get another batch next year.
These days our cards come from many people far afield who we hardly, so while they are photo cards they go into an album like any other photo (however, I must admit, I'm tempted to scan them and trash the albums sometimes). People I don't know well that send them get recycled.
As a parent of young children, I love this idea. Living far away from friends and family, this is a great way for my kids to stay connected. Last year I kept them all in a basket after the holidays were over, and I spent countless nights collecting them from all over the house after my daughter was done looking at them. These books are such a great way to consolidate them all and keep friends and family in the minds of your little ones throughout the whole year....
This is such a cute idea! My family always feels bad for tossing them away so we usually cut the backs off and reuse the front image. Whenever we get customized photo greeting cards, we usually just cut the photos out and save them in a photo album. :)
Like Helebirdie, I have kept everything that anyone has ever sent me. I don't look at them often, but it feels almost sacred to have written cards, notes, and letters from friends and relatives, many of whom are no longer with us. In this age of going paperless, these wonderful tangible documents are becoming even more rare, and more precious, at least to me.
I only keep photo cards. As for the infamous "Holiday Letters", my middle-school teacher-daughter takes them to school for the kids to practice expressive reading in front of the class. (Edited where necessary.) It's a fun way for her to ease the transition back to school after the long break.
brilliant, wonderful, great. especially super for little kids who love looking at pictures, looking at pictures of their friends and family, and having their own books.
I understand the need to pitch things, but some things are worth saving. My grandmother and my mother saved cards and letters. They have both passed. What a treat to have my mother's letters home when she was a young woman starting out on her own and to have all of her 1940s gradeschool valentines pasted into her scrapbook. These are what I would save if the house were on fire.
I recycle them, too. I have kept a handful of cards and letters that have sentimental value, and in those, I wouldn't punch holes. I might consider this for next year as a space-saving way to display the current season's cards, but I don't like to accumulate things that don't actually have a use.
Holy moly, I JUST posted about this today! Loved Michelle's idea!
http://thenestinggame.com/2012/01/11/christmas-card-booklet/
Unless they are very personal (most holiday cards are generic) I would just throw them away. Letters of course are another matter all together.
I have a friend who keeps all kid photo cards with a separate page in her scrapbook for each kid she knows, so she can see them grow over the years. I love this idea but I have never managed to do it myself (I don't even have a baby book for my own kid... though I DO have a blog all about her.) I like the idea of scanning them, especially if you organized them somehow like this. I also use the non-photo ones for gift tags the next year. You're either a hoarder/crafter or you're not, I guess. Both are equally valid, yes?