Keepsakes for when they're older

[k4th]

Do you collect keepsakes for important moments?

When dd was christened we bought a pandora bracelet and every now and then we add a charm. So for her first birthday, first holiday, first day of school. That kind of thing. She's never worn it and it's more for when she's older...

However I'm becoming more uncomfortable that we don't do anything like that for ds. I'd like to start before it gets too late.

Looking for inspiration!! Does anyone collect anything to mark milestones?

Thanks!

 

[loeylo]

I just have a box and a book. I'm quite sentimental but also hate too much clutter.

I was going to do a bracelet for my dd but I thought it would mean more to me than it would to her if that makes sense.

I have got a pregnancy notebook where I glued all her scans (we had lots of scans) appointment cards, I recorded milestones etc in.

I then have a record book for her first year which I sort of filled in most of the time.

I have got a big scrapbook that I glued all her first cards (my cards from when we announced pregnancy, baby showers, birth cards, first Christmas, first Easter, and first birthday cards) and a photo from each occasion.

I also have a frame which I made which has some scan pics, her hospital bands, her first onesie, hat and mittens, a soft rattle with her year of birth, and a vest with "born in 2015" on it along with a few other trinkets and a big letter G which I made. It's all pinned onto the first blanket my mum knitted for her.

I have a big box with other bits and pieces - her first painting, her first drawing, her balloons, her first haircut certificate, etc.

In terms of something to give her, we put £50 into her bank account at each birthday and Christmas (and other special occasions) and will continue until she is 18/21 (this is in addition to savings etc) - then she will have money to use for her first car, university accommodation or to put towards a house deposit. I'd ask her to spend 10% of what's there on something sentimental to keep. My grandparents did this for me, my gran so happened to be diagnosed with terminal cancer a few days before my 21st so I spent some of the money on a gorgeous bracelet with her birthstone. To me, letting them choose a sentimental goft themselves can be more meaningful.

I do think it is easier to find sentimental gifts for girls than it is for boys.!

 

[CRWx]

I made my DD a photo box for her first birthday with pictures from her first year inside. I glue gunned tiny pegs on the back and attached a piece of card with the date that the picture was taken on and wrote a little context about the photo so she can read what we did when she's older. I also made a month and picture banner for her 1st Birthday that I've put in her memory box.

She's got a necklace that's a lucky penny, the coin has her birth year on it and her name stamped on it, I've got one too. I bought her an infinity bracelet for when she's older for her 1st Birthday too with a note in the box that said I love her infinitely.

She's got a memory box full of bits and bobs- scans, hospital bracelet, little card that was on her cot when she was born, first outfit, cards, letters etc in.

She has various picture frames and two money boxes which will be added to and transfered to her bank for when she's 18/21.

 

[Scout]

I have a box under her bed and put all her birthday (4 so far) shirts in there. I always have a birthday shirt made from etsy with the year and her name and whatever she is into that year. When she's 18, I hope to have them all made it to a quilt for her.

I do a shutterfly photo book for each year. Just pick out my favorite photos from the last birthday and end with the current years birthday.

And I have another little box that I keep a couple things from her school year. She's in preschool so I kept, I think, 3 different things.

That's about all I do. Oh, on her birthday I get a pic of me holding her in the same pose each year. On her photo book for the year, the cover is made of those pics. So the first photo book just has the one photo, and the 2nd has 2 photos and so forth. It's neat to see her grow in my arms each year. (of course, don't know how I'll do this when she's a teen LOL)

 

[petite ping]

How about a photo book for each year? I have a photo book for each of my girls for the first year with their scan images and photos of when I was pregnant with each.

I have one for each year with the whole family but you can have one for each child with photos of all the special moments and in the case of DD1 all her best creations at preschool.

 

[whatwillbex]

I set up an email account for dd when I first found out. I send emails and photos to the account of any precious moments and about my pregnancy. When she's 18 I'm going to give her the password to it.
Felt bad as I haven't done the same for my next one so I have sort of merged it and making it into a joint one at the moment :/ haha I do try to keep some hard copies of photos and drawings etc. I just figured we are in such a tech world now but it's still nice to have some thing real to hold aswell. Ive even kept her first tin of milk and kept lots of bits and bobs in there. X

 

[Babybump87]

I keep a lot of the girls things . They both have special memory boxes I keep cards etc in but DD1 has far more things than DD2 partly because she was the first grandchild and girl in the immediate family for a while .

I've got loads of photographs and clutter say we say but I just can't bear to part with it !

I also have baby books for them which I am still completing with pictures of my bump , scans , pieces of their hair etc .

I think with our busy lives these things sometimes pass us by . I just put things away in a specific place and sort them out later .

 

[DeuceMom]

deleted

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I have a box with day they were born clothes, a newspaper and a few other bits, then a memory box like I have her hat she wore on first holiday framed along with a picture.

We have a time capsule style thing. We filmed everyone we know holding her and reading her a favourite quote, poem, story, song etc and we are going to do it again on her 1st birthday and put it away until her 18th.

I also have a book collection for my girls when they are older. I have filled a scrap book of quotes and relevant snippets of wisdom.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Oh we have some royal mint coins.

 

[KatO79]

My son is only 8 months so not a toddler yet but figured it'd be ok to me answer anyway

I'm planning on making a photo book of his 1st year so taking lots of pictures. May also include his scan pics and some of my pregnancy pics as well. I've saved the clothes we brought him home in plus the cap they put on him shortly after he was born and the hospital bracelet I wore (he didn't get one as they forgot to give him one). I may make photo books of his other years but increase it so it's over a span of 2 years instead of one. Planning on saving other things of sentimental value e.g. the clothes he got from his great-grandmother before she died in early April this year. He also got some nice gifts at his baptism so will be holding onto lots of those as well plus anything that was a favorite toy.