Hello.
I have 2 girls and my youngest is 2. I doubt I'll have another so have donated items over time. I'm at the point I have just clothing items I really liked that are still in good shape. I have a good friend that like to have some items (economic strain), but do I ask for them back or just give it as a gift?
What have you kept from your kids when they were babies?
Thanks for the ideas!
I kept the items that I can still visually see my daughters wearing and that I really liked. Not many, but the few I keep I will cherish. I am also having fun seeing the pics of my cousin's daughter wearing some of my girls' clothing. Pretty cool to pay it forward.
I kept my kids outfits that they came home from the hospital in, their "blankies", and I kept a pair of doggie slippers that my oldest son always wore. He would never take them off, and they have toe "holes" in them that I just love!! I can't part with them. I have also kept all their hospital bracelets too.
I have a box with things from her doctor's appts., locks of hair from haircuts, etc. I plan to have my dd create her own scrapbook when she's ready (that's what I did with my old childhood things.
As far as clothes, practically nothing is saved. If you give it to a friend, don't ask for it back...Clothes usually don't have as much sentimental value as pictures they drew, preschool and school age writing, etc.
When I give, I give with the intention that I will not want anything/get anything back. If you are considering lending/ letting her borrow, that can get a little sketchy with getting them back etc. I would save the pieces that are super special to you and pass along everything else that you think she could use.
I have special clothes for each child and a few toys as well. Everything else my kids grow out of or aren't interested in anymore, we pass along to our friends/family.
If you are going to give them away, then give them away. If it is a special occasion and they need to borrow something, then loan it and ask for it back. In any event, they may not be returned in the same shape they were in.
I have kept my ugly stretch marks. My 6 year old apologizes every time she sees them.
We're not 100% that we're done. Pretty sure but not 100. I have a niece a few months younger than my daughter that is getting a lot of the clothes, they are trying for a second.
I have saved things that are special and those don't get passed around. First dress I bought when we found out we were having a girl, first outfit bought when we found out we were pregnant with our first, coming home outfits, Everything handmade by family and friends.
Until we are 100% very little usable items are going very far.
No idea what I'll do once we know we're done.
Oooo, this is a fun one!
I have a large, plastic bin with their hospital hats and bracelets, coming home outfits, and other special newborn clothes that they wore often. I have the first outfit I bought my daughter when we found out she was going to be a girl, her first Christmas dress, her Daisy and Brownies vests, her first softball jersey. I have their christening outfits, my daughter's First Communion dress
I have a separate bin for their art work from school, report cards etc...
I'm usually not a saver except when it comes to that kind of stuff.
I saved a couple favorite baby outfits for each of my kids. They are stored in one of those underbed storage boxes. Over the years, I'd add a favorite dress or T shirt. You know the ones they want to wear every day that you have to bribe them to take off to wash, then they wait by the dryer and put it right back on as soon as it's dry.
If you are not sure whether to keep at outfit, put it aside for now. You can always decide to give it away later but you can't decide to get it back later if you donate it.
I kept a bunch of my daughter baby clothes, I am making them into a quilt for her. That way we can still have them and enjoy them and not just store them in a bin. Scrap quilts are pretty easy to make, especially smaller size ones. Or you could have each of their favorite baby dresses mounted and framed and hang it on the wall. From when I was a baby I just have my baby quilt, that my grandma made for me.
Special blankets, storybooks and loveys, first shoes, first dresses. That's pretty much it, but I am the total opposite of a hoarder I am DRIVEN to clean out and make space, lol!!!
I kept my son's coming home from the hospital outfit. I also kep another outfit he wore all the time b/c it was the only one that fit for awhile - he was pretty small. Obviously, we have his fave stuffed animal, still using his blanket and all his hospital stuff - ID bands, etc. I also kept his 1st pair of "big boy" underwear which is probably weird but they are about the cutest thing I've ever seen! Otherwise, I let the other clothes, etc. go. It kind of broke my heart but I didn't have a use for them. No sense in them sitting there, practically brand new. I also kind of felt obligated since a lot of people had been pretty generous to me - felt like I should pass it on!
Special outfits like coming home from hospital, first Christmas etc. Lovies, for sure. Art/school work.
Don't give the clothes away unless you never want to see it again. Expect exactly what Riley said.
If you give them away... expect:
a) Never to see them again
b) For them to get ruined
c) For the one good one that didn't get ruined to be passed on to someone else.
AKA = Only give them away if you can give them as a gift.
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I kept my favorite clothes of my son (and still do!) because I'm planning on making a memory quilt out of them when he grows up! Also a gazillion and 1 pictures. And a few random things I taped into a box and have NO idea what they are! LOL, came across it in the basement the other week looking for something else, and haven't opened it yet.
I got FURIOUS with my husband... because I sorted out my son's clothes into 'give away' and 'keep DO NOT TOUCH'. The giveaways were clearly labeled in ziplock bags according to size. So what did he do one time when he was ticked at me? Gave away about half of my keepers to a coworker. No worries, not their fault. Ring them up, say "Hey, DH goofed, and gave you the sentimental clothes, can I switch those out with the ones I'm passing on?" and got stonewalled by the coworker, and then bashed by my husband (ahhhh... SO glad he's my soon to be ex!)
Moral of the story: If they're special to you, keep them.
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Other things : I had some of his artwork framed. Did his growth chart on a piece of wood (we moved a lot when he was little, and I wanted to bring it with us), and his lovies can be pried out of my cold dead fingers in a hundred years.
I still have my baby blanket. I had my aunt sew it to the center of a larger black blanket and that's what I cuddle with on the cold Minnesota days. I also still have two of my favorite stuffed animals that I had as a child that I have now passed on to Oliver. So I will definitely be keeping all of Oliver's and all of my future children's baby blankets/favorite stuffed animals.
