What to do with old greeting cards
What do you do with all the greeting cards you receive?
I love getting cards and truly appreciate the thought behind them. And I keep a lot of them! Steven and I have three “sentimental” boxes each that we keep cards, letters, travel brochures and other things in.
I don’t think I will ever get rid of this one from Anne. What could be better than several Henrys congratulating me?
But I can’t hold on to all of my cards, forever. Three years ago, I went through them all (and blogged about it, of course) and it was a really fun memory exercise. It’s time to do that again!
Only this time, I actually know what I am going to do with the cards I pitch! We got an email at work this week, asking for donations of old cards for St. Jude:
The name removed Team is collecting used holiday and other greeting cards through the end of February for the St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program. The program removes the card fronts, recycles them into new cards, and resells them. Deposit your cards in the collection bins on floors location removed. Only the front of the card will be used, 5×7″ cards or smaller are preferred, and Hallmark, Disney, and American Greeting cards are not eligible.
It’s dorky, but I am kind of excited to go through the cards and take some in to work, to donate. I’ve also been thinking about starting to scan the ones I like but don’t want to hold on to (for whatever reason). Might as well have a digital sentimental “box” too!
Themocracy
I take the Christmas card I get each year and store them in a gallon ziplock in my Christmas decoration container. It’s fun to look through the old ones when I’m setting up Christmas things each year 🙂
Other cards are pretty much in a stack in a bookcase, so perhaps I’ll make an end of feb goal to bag those too 🙂
Aww, that is fun! Do you set them up each year, or just look through them?
I found the holiday card you sent with you running in the forest. Such a keeper. I love that one!
Hahaha, all those Henrys 🙂
That’s such a cool idea! I never want to throw cards out, but don’t really know what to do with them. I have a couple boxes full of that stuff too. Just the other day I was going through old letters from my Grandma, it’s cool to re-read those from time to time. But I also have a lot of cards that don’t have a ton of sentimental value that I could probably part with.
I found some great cards from my Grandma’s. Some made me feel really loved, like when they wrote to ask about my architecture projects, and had specific questions. Some made me sad, like when my Grandma talked about my Grandpa’s health (he’s now passed). I saved a lot of those 🙂 I should have put them back in chronological order. I am going to start dating the cards I send out, for sure!
That’s a really neat idea about recycling the cards. I’d send you some if I had any! I only have two that I’ve ever kept. lol Most of the time I open them, read them, and toss them in the recycling. The two I kept are from Michele (and she will probably make fun of me for being sentimental enough to keep them if she sees this comment!) because she’s like the only one who has ever taken the time to write anything inside the card! Everyone else just signs their name. BOOOOOORRRRRRRING. So yep, just those two! I don’t even have any from my husband. lol We don’t get each other cards now but we used to when we were dating and maybe the first couple of years we were married.
Ha ha! I kept the one card Michele ever sent me because it was so sarcastic and funny. Where is Michele these days?! I saw she posted on Facebook. Phew, she is alive 🙂
I found so many sweet cards from my husband, when I was in school and we lived long distance. I want to show them to him and ask him to write some from time to time again. LOL!
Oh and thanks for keeping mine Kim!!!!
And I’m alive, no worries!!! hahahaha!!!!!
Well…you know I must say…something!
I think it’s sweet you keep them! I keep mine too!
And I would never just sign a card!! Who does that?!?!
Aww, she keeps ours, Pam! <3
I sometimes struggle with what to write, but always try to write SOMETHING! 🙂
You are so great at storing mementos! I have a Rubbermaid tote for each of the kids and that’s the extent of it.
This is a fantastic idea! I love the idea behind it. I hate getting rid of old cards because I appreciate them so much but sometimes…you just have too many cards 🙁
This is an interesting post as last week I was thinking about the cards I have received over the last 12 years from my best friend Susie. She recently sent me a beautiful card regarding the death of my mother. After reading her heartfelt words I thought, my life can be documented through her cards. She has sent me a hand written card for many of life’s special and unfortunate moments. Every few years I read her cards. It is usually a laughing and crying trip down memory lane 😉
I also have a(or two, or three)sentimental box that contains special cards, wedding invites and baby announcements. I have kept many courtship and deployment cards from Brian. Those are a trip to read!! We were sooooo very young ;0)
I LOVE the idea of reusing old cards. For the past 2 years my sister has saved the fronts of all the xmas cards she receives. I use them to make our xmas cards the following year ;0)
Wow. Susie sounds freaking awesome! How did you get to know her?! She sounds like a true friend. I love that you are keeping her cards!
I LOVED reading my stuff from Steven, from when we were first dating. So many sweet things! I told him yesterday he needs to start writing that stuff again 🙂
Oh yeah! I forgot you told me your sis does that. Darn. I should have given you all the Hallmark/American Greeting ones I recycled!
I LOVE the idea of being able to donate them. Hmm, can I bring you some of mine to donate?? I don’t usually keep them because I try to limit my boxes of random stuff but I always feel sad recycling or throwing them away, too. It’s a dilemma!
Yeah, you can bring them to me! It looks like they are taking them until the end of February. You know the rules, lol.
I had to keep the ones that had good stories in them or reminded me of certain times. Maybe in a few years I will can them and make a little online book in chronological order (for some reason, I like projects like that).
Oh, that greeting card thing is so great! I was just thinking about how I have a box of cards (that I’ve gone through at least once) that I move with me but that kind of sits there. I’d like to digitize them all, but that takes time to get through the backlog. It seems like most people keep a box of sentimental cards though, so I’ll just try to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand!