It’s hard to remember what you did yesterday, never mind every detail from that family holiday last year, so it’s important you find a way to preserve precious family memories to look back on later.
Pictures are all well and good, but if you’re the type who stores everything on their phone or computer you won’t be able to enjoy these all the time. Here are six creative ways to store family memories, that can be placed around the home for everyone to enjoy:
Shadow boxes
As kids get older their once well loved toys are retired to the dustbin or charity box, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Shadow boxes are great for filling with little mementos and once you’ve given those old toys a good scrub you can place them in one of these boxes and have their once favourite toys on show forever more.
You’ll remember them being young and carefree playing with the toys whenever you look at your new piece of art on the wall and they can always remember who their favourite teddy bear was when they were seven years old.
Scrapbook
Better than a traditional photo album, scrapbooks allow you to save your photographs but also preserve memories by including items from your day out or holiday. This could be something as simple as that Autumn walk you took as a family and filling a page with crisp leaves and twigs along with your scrapbooking supplies (i.e. lots of glitter).
In a Christmas ornament
Take your little one’s hospital bracelet and newborn hat and pop these in a transparent bauble to hang on the tree every Christmas. It’s a lovely way of preserving those memories of them being so small and you could even include a tiny photo of them if you have several children.
Holiday jars
Mason jars are still a popular choice when it comes to crafting projects and if you have a few lying around dish these out to the kids once you return and give them the task of creating ‘holiday jars’, which are essentially scrapbooks you can have on display as ornaments.
Ask them to use a zip lock bag to collect some sand from the beach, shells and seaweed and perhaps a toy won on the pier,then add all these to the jar along with a photo from the trip to create a memory jar that can last forever. Place it on the mantelpiece and watch this fill up overtime the more you go away.
Get quilting
If your Gran taught you how to make one of those elaborate patchwork quilts when you were younger, it might be time to make use of those old baby clothes in the loft. Create a quilt made up of scraps of these, plus other pretty fabric and give this to your child as a present when they’re older – make sure the baby clothes are clean first. No one wants toddler spittle on their quilt! You could also just keep it in the spare room for when the kids stay when they’re older and perhaps as a way to remember all the terrible baby grows you made them wear!
Storing family memories can be done cheaply and easily with these tips. Start preserving those precious memories now and you should have plenty to look back on in years to come.