Hellobee Boards

I toss it all.

I toss most. If I’m feeling attached to something I put it in their memory box. I clear it out every once in a while and I find it much easier to purge after the fact, especially when you can see how much “memory” stuff they have, and it makes clear which are really special.

@LadyDi: Toss it. All. I mean I’ve kept 2-3 cards and thrown away 30?

@DesertDreams88: mind. blown. 🤯🤯🤯

Everything goes in the garbage. The only things I save are cards the kids make for me.

I actually hate birthday cards, it’s such a waste of money and paper. The best thing about having kids is you can fold a piece of construction paper in half, get them to scribble and slap a few stickers on it, and boom, a card for any occasion.

I would just throw them out if I could. Or send them to St Jude's Ranch for their card program.

DS who's 5 insists on keeping them all. We homeschool so we have a binder for all his work for the year and I just tuck them in there with everything else. He and his brother love looking through their binders and seeing their work and their birthday cards.

@DesertDreams88: wow!!! who would have thought.... where/when/how did you come up with this?

My kid's baby books go up to age 5 for birthdays, so I keep a couple (grandparents/sponsors) and put them in the book.
After that I'll most likely pitch them all unless there is a special note.

I do what @bhbee: and @catgirl: do. We have a couple memory boxes for each girl and put cards and other mementos inside. Each birthday I usually save a couple cards from grandparents or us.

When DD was younger she would like to keep ahold of them and play with them or look at them for a while after each birthday or holiday (our familes send cards for EVERYTHING) so we let her do that until she gets bored of it and then it goes in the box.

Also, I tend to keep more cards from when they are really small. Like all the cards sent celebrating their births and more 1-yo bday cards, first Christmas, first [insert holiday here] and then save less and less over the years. Someday they might like to see them, someday they might toss the whole box - their choice.

I also keep almost all the Christmas cards we get for future crafting projects and making gift tags, but those get put in the xmas decoration box and come out for the next year during the holidays.

@Ajsmommy: I thought of it when I was cutting up our wedding cards - I was saving the written messages, then realized I could reuse the cards to make homemade ones.

@bees_knees: @jennlin821: pictures:

1. Get all your materials: cards, scissors,
colored cardstock (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003A2I4V2/)
and 3M spray adhesive
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PCWRMC/)

2. Fold all cardstock in half. I use a ruler or scissor handle to really flatten the fold.

3. Cut the old cards along the crease (I use a paper-cutter like this at work https://www.amazon.com/Swingline-Trimmer-Guillotine-Capacity-ClassicCut/dp/B00006IATI/)

**no picture** Match them via color to the cardstock. Best to do it all in one go, so that then you can match up all your cards and not run out of a certain color.

4. Spray the adhesive on the back of the old card. Best to do this outside, with old newspaper underneath.

5. "Mat" the old card onto the front of the cardstock cards.

*no picture* Use a paper-cutter at work to trim the cards (some cards are much smaller than the standard card stock.

$9 cardstock + $6 spray adhesive= about 70 cards for $17.