Christmas Cards - Birdsboro,PA

Updated on October 05, 2014
V.S. asks from Birdsboro, PA
29 answers

What do you do with old Christmas cards? Do you discard them immediately after the season? Hang on to them in perpetuity? Create something with them? I always feel like I'm supposed to hang on to them for some strange reason or do something with them.

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So What Happened?

It's interesting to hear responses. I have stacks of cards going back years, and I tend to hang on to things for sentimental reasons or because I think I'll remember addresses better and be able to send out cards, but honestly, I never look at them - even the ones with pictures. I just found cards from my bridal shower. I started to throw them out but then thought how they were from relatives and maybe I should keep them for some reason. Why!? So I pulled a couple out of the recycling, put them back in the box, and am back at square one. Smack some sense into me!

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J.K.

answers from Wausau on

I love getting and sending Christmas cards and will display them on a cord as they arrive. After the holidays, I keep the photo cards and annual letters, putting them with my other photos. The standard kind of cards usually get recycled.

4 moms found this helpful

V.B.

answers from Jacksonville on

I tend to hold onto them until the following year. That way I have everyone's most recent address handy, AND I know who sent cards to us last year. After this year's cards are done, then I have the option of cutting them up to use as name-tags on gifts. :)

3 moms found this helpful
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❤.I.

answers from Albuquerque on

I hang them on the wall when we put up the Christmas decorations. I have some from years ago. We don't get too many anymore. Some are just too pretty to throw away! I've heard of people making bookmarks and stuff out of cards.

3 moms found this helpful

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J.B.

answers from Dayton on

Several years ago I decided to keep any card with a Santa Claus on it and throw out any of the others on Jan 1st. Then last year I took everything out of my china closet and displayed the Santa cards only. It was such a hit with my family/friends because there were so many with all kinds of Santas. It's kind of cool looking at them & seeing who they were from. A couple are from family members who are no longer here, so each year seeing their signature on their card brings a tear. I suppose you could pick anything to start a similar collection, snowmen - churches - reindeer, etc..

5 moms found this helpful

O.H.

answers from Phoenix on

I have horizontal blinds in the living room so I slip them in between so they hang and are displayed. I toss them when we are putting all the decorations away. I used to feel like I had to keep the ones with family pictures but then keep them where? So now I toss those too unless they are my immediate family and I just put those in the Christmas decoration boxes. lol

I wonder how many cards we will get this year. It seems like the last 5 years we have gotten less and less. My mom and grandma sent out HUNDREDS every year. I was such a process. I remember when we got a computer and figured out how to print out address labels we were SO excited! lol

Up until last year I was sending out about 75. Last year it dropped to about 40 and after thinking about it, almost all of those are on FB with us so then I was thinking I'm not really going to send them anymore. It's just an extra cost and people don't seem to appreciate them anymore like they used to. It sort of makes me sad to know that the older generations are gone now and social media has taken over. But simply a sign of the times I guess.

4 moms found this helpful
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K.K.

answers from Iowa City on

I always felt like I was supposed to keep them - why I have no idea. So rather than add more clutter I throw them away and feel like some kind of criminal when I do.

I know my Gramma would cut the pictures to make next years gift tags (the To/From tag) and really pretty ones she would frame. She was a decorative clutter kinda person though.

4 moms found this helpful
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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

I would let the kids use them for art projects. let them make bookmarks for the grown up's for christmas the next year. let them make collages to display in their rooms for christmas time. then throw them away after that. I keep them from one winter to the next so I know who I for sure want to get christmas cards out to lol. then after that they are fair game.

4 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

They go into recycling unless it's a family photo card.

4 moms found this helpful

C.M.

answers from Washington DC on

I usually throw them away after Christmas, but if there is a picture with it, then I will keep it and just put it into storage.

3 moms found this helpful
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❤.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I always save the ones w/pictures so I can see the kids grow. I put them
in clear shoe boxes w/other printed photos from the "old days". ;)
I used to keep all cards but no longer do. I cut off the front of cute or
pretty ones & use them as post cards for the next season.

3 moms found this helpful
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O.O.

answers from Los Angeles on

I keep puctures, toss cards Jan 1.

3 moms found this helpful

~.~.

answers from Dallas on

Ones I get at home get tossed immediately. Ones I get from co-workers at work I prop up on my desk and then toss after the season. I'm not a Christmas card person; I think they are a waste of time and money.

3 moms found this helpful
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M.S.

answers from Seattle on

I am someone who scrapbooks so I will often keepChristmas cards. If the card is from someone meaningful, I keep it, otherwise, I save the card to use for scrapbooking. I will often use the design of the card as background for the scrapbook, and if the card has a scripture or nice saying inside, I will often cute those out and use them for decoration in the scrapbook I am working on. I don't use all my cards this way, but I use many.

I sometimes use other cards I've received this way too that have been around for a long time. Cards I don't use, after awhile get recycled.

My Grandma used to take the front of a card and use it again the following year as a Christmas card, if there was no writing on it. this was during WW2, when supplies were hard to come by, and they did't have much money.

3 moms found this helpful

R.A.

answers from Boston on

I use them as tags on presents.

3 moms found this helpful

C.C.

answers from San Francisco on

I put them out during the Holidays, and then toss them.

3 moms found this helpful

T.F.

answers from Dallas on

I put the Christmas cards we get each year on display in the butler pantry area of our kitchen lightly taped to the cabinets so you can see who they are from and read the messages. After Christmas, I toss them.

Now, I do have cards in my baby book that my mom made for me when I was a baby that were attached to gifts and just Congratulations cards. They are all glued into the book.

I have a binder with plastic sheet covers holding all of the cards I received for our daughter when she was born in a box along with the baby book I made for her.

I typically hold onto cards with special meaning to me.

3 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

oh geez, i was right there with you for years. i kept pretty baskets with all the old christmas cards in them so i could 'go through them' and enjoy them later.
only i never did.
so baskets of cards sat around in the way getting dusty.
so i cut it back to 'only my favorites'.
and then 'only ones with pictures'. and 'only handmade.'
and then i realized i never went back through them either.
enough already. if there is a stunning card, with say, a picture of a beloved, adorable baby, or something so gorgeous and obviously handcrafted that i can't toss it, i put it in an album or hang it on the fridge to 'age' for a few months.
free yourself from guilt and clutter. throw 'em out!
khairete
S. (who displays them all with joy during the season, but when the yule decorations come down, out they go)

3 moms found this helpful

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

I keep a few special ones, but most I repurpose or recycle. When my kids were little I donated them to the nursery school and they used them for crafts. Now I take them to Sunday school and the kids use the old cards to make new cards to give to the residents when they go and visit the nursing home.

3 moms found this helpful
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A.L.

answers from Las Vegas on

They go a storage container I have... I just like to save them.. I figure that once my son is grown , he can then go thru and see if he wants to keep any..
I am actually glad I have kept them too because over the years as people pass away (in particular some of the elders) we like to pull out the cards and read them... the cards also include pics of kids as they were growing up.. I guess I am overly sentimental when it comes to some things..

3 moms found this helpful

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

Well, I used to hang on to them...then I saw a box of cards and said DAMN!!! SO I went through them - checked for pictures, etc. then put them in the recycling bin.

Now? I display them on a fishing line in our front hallway and take them down New Years day and recycle them.

I make sure I have the addresses correct in my address book. Scan the pictures and toss them after scanning..

2 moms found this helpful

D.B.

answers from Boston on

When I get cards from people that someone else in my family knows (such as from high school or college friends whom my mother knows), I forward the card, photo or inserted letter on to her. Maybe that's a way to make her deal with it instead of me!

I periodically find a big accordion file or box filled with birthday and anniversary cards I'm saving for no particular reason. Often I weed through them and throw them out. Then every so often I watch a movie in which some character takes out a bunch of cards/letters tied up with a ribbon, and I think it's such a nice thing. But when there are stacks of files in my own closet, covered with dust, that I haven't looked at in 10 years, I wonder what my thought process is!

I've heard of some people cutting up the card and forwarding the cover design to places like senior centers and nursing homes when there is an expressed need or request for things the seniors can make crafts out of. But I'm sure that's a limited need and only in some places.

2 moms found this helpful
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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

I put them out next year at the beginning of the season then as new ones come in I put them in the trash unless they're from someone special like family.

Updated

I put them out next year at the beginning of the season then as new ones come in I put them in the trash unless they're from someone special like family.

2 moms found this helpful
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J.G.

answers from Chicago on

I keep cards for one week.

2 moms found this helpful
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M.P.

answers from Raleigh on

Mostly, I just trash them. The really beautiful ones I will save and frame. It's a nice way to decorate at Christmas time.

2 moms found this helpful
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M.C.

answers from Louisville on

I keep sentimental cards, chuck the rest about a week after Christmas.

2 moms found this helpful
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*.*.

answers from New London on

I have recycle bin...I keep some and recycle the rest.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.M.

answers from Boston on

Save them for a year, look at when u decorate then throw out!

1 mom found this helpful
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J.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

You will think I am terrible person but I dont even keep cards for the season. They go immediately in the trash. I really hate clutter. Cards with kids pictures I keep in a photo album however.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.M.

answers from San Francisco on

Throw them away.

I only keep old letters, photos, and many things my kids made while in school.

1 mom found this helpful
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