What do you do with your Christmas cards when the holidays are over?
By cajundharma
@cajundharma (641)
United States
December 31, 2006 12:07am CST
Yesterday I took down all the holiday decor, but I'm staring at a bulletin board full of holiday cards sent by friends and family, and like each year, I'm torn over what do to with them. Do I keep them, despite my minimalist leanings, and end up with another box of mementoes that I rarely look at? Or do I just toss them out, despite the fact that people cared enough to take the time and effort to send them, and I was so happy to receive them?
So, what do you do with the cards you received once the holidays are over? Do you throw them away, keep them, or have some fun craft to make something useful with them?
4 responses
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
31 Dec 06
One pretty funky use for Christmas cards is to turn them into Christmas postcards for next year. Carefully cut the fronts off (to have a neat top edge). Turn them over and draw a vertical dividing line down the center. Then, you just have to write your message on the left and put the address and a stamp on the right, just as you would do with any postcard. Oh -- but do take care not to send the card back to the person who sent it to you ;)
Alternately, you can recycle the fronts into your gift tags for next year. Just choose the nicest part of the design and cut that out to make your tag. If you pick up a pair of scallop-edging scissors at a department or craft store, you can make a nice edge to the tags.
Or, if you are a real minimalist, re-read them all and enjoy the sentiments one last time... then recycle them :) Whatever works best for you!
@cajundharma (641)
• United States
31 Dec 06
Thanks for your response :) I love the idea of recycling them into tags. I also read a craft idea about removing the front of the card and gluing it to cardstock to make a new card. That might be something the kids would enjoy.
We recycled all of the tissue paper from last year's gifts into really cool paper mache bowls that we gave out as gifts this year, and had a lot of fun making them. I was impressed with how well some of them turned out, seeing that I'm the most non-crafty person I know, lol.
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
31 Dec 06
If you have kids around and you're feeling "non-crafty" ... LOL.. you can do what my grandmother used to do for us when I was young. She had one box that she kept in the closet and it was a sort of "rainy day" box. She would keep greeting cards, buttons, elastics, cardboard inserts (from things like shirts and pantyhose), anything that was in good shape (she was environmentally conscious before people really became environmentally conscious, I think!) and then she added in some markers, crayons, scissors, hole punches and things of that sort. When we were bored (or running around more than she'd like), she would bring out the box. We spent HOURS at the table, rummaging through everything and making little projects. We had the best time... and she was always politely impressed with our works of art :)
@maryannemax (12154)
• Sweden
8 Feb 07
yep. tossing them out is just so unappreciative. think that the person who sent or gave that to you extended effort (a little or big effort- does not matter) to have it for you. the least we can do is atleast keep it.
@maryannemax (12154)
• Sweden
8 Feb 07
i always cherish everything people had sent or given me. even the littlest of them all. i have this big box for letters and cards and momentos. and i put them all there. usually, i get back on them once a month. not read them all. but atleast, look at the letters and see who they were from. and i get to smile when seeing their penmanships on the envelopes. the fact that they have remembered me, makes me wanna keep everything inside that box of mine.
