Treasure your memories with a memory box

In our home there is a very special box.

It’s a large chest made of Silky Oak and over 60 years ago, it was a young girl’s Glory Box. The young girl was my maternal grandmother and her 4 brothers handcrafted the box for her. For her sweet sixteenth family and friends endowed her with gifts of linen, doilies, tatting, napkins and cutlery – in readiness for the day she off and got married.

I digress (sorry). The point is that we now have the box at home and we’re creating our own special memories with it. My children call it the Memory Box.

On purpose it’s well within reach. In fact, it’s our coffee table. So lifting the lid and exploring the contents is easy.

Our memory box is our own version of the attic or the basement. A place where we store snippets of lives racing by so that at any time we can revisit, recall and rejoice.

Inside our memory box you’ll find ultrasounds, baby cards, first locks of hair, 4 tiny pairs of shoes, a plaster cast of a tiny foot, the one dummy that somehow managed to escape the dummy fairy, a selection of each child’s most memorable outfits, a few first drawings and a random assortment of collectibles.

It doesn’t matter what goes in – it’s just about creating a spot where we can either sit as a family and remember (or I can sit on my own and bawl my eyes out for the children that are growing way too fast).

I love that my children respect the contents of our memory box above all else. It seems that a peace settles over them as they lift the lid and they are enthralled as they look at photos together and recall memories in accordance with the item they are looking at.

If you don’t have a memory box, I urge you to start one today. You could devote a cardboard box per child, a plastic storage container … whatever. As long as it becomes the resting place for all things special that will allow you to spend quiet time remembering.

Do you have a tradition of saving special treasures in a special place? What precious memory just popped into your head as you read this?

118 Comments

- - tammykilby said
  - 10 Jul 2013
    1:34 pm
what i great idea ive got a box like this that i keept stuff from when my kids were little like the bands from there foot in hospital.. ect

- - tobrien84 said
  - 10 Jul 2013
    11:54 am
What a great idea, I have a box for each of my girls for all those special little keepsakes.

- - earthlydelites said
  - 07 Jul 2013
    4:15 pm
I’m always putting things away for keepsakes in a box, the problem is knowing what’s good to hold on to and what you should get rid of, I always tend to lean towards keeping everything and I just run out of room! then I wonder what I’m going to do with all of these momentos? thats why I’ve really got into using the photo books because they are streamlined and perfect for all those happy memories!

- - jaimilayt said
  - 29 Jun 2013
    10:53 am
Fantastic! Love Mouths of Mums
- zowieh replied
  
  30 Jun 2013 , 2:08 pm
  nice copy and paste! lol
  - lynzstevo replied
    
    30 Jun 2013 , 5:04 pm
    
    I’ve seen a couple of copy & pasters lol
- - kjgarner said
  - 26 Jun 2013
    1:52 pm
Each girl has a memory box, my first born (stillborn) I have all her stuff in a box, her photo’s, sympathy cards, hand/foot prints, teddy bear and blanket. My second and third/fourth (twins) I have a box with their birthday cards and painting in for keep sake as well as first hair cut, hospital tags etc.

- - alm3820 said
  - 26 Jun 2013
    1:08 pm
I’m doing a memory box for my daughters first birthday 🙂

- - chezj said
  - 25 Jun 2013
    8:28 pm
I love this idea – I keep a memory box for my daughter and add things as I go along every year. Keepsakes for her from her birthdays, and other celebrations as well as things that belonged to her dad for her to remember him by.

Great ideas. Thank you.

- - natct said
  - 23 Jun 2013
    8:48 am
Great idea sounds like a cool chest

- - ditto said
  - 17 Jun 2013
    11:52 pm
love this ideas thanks real mum

- - jodie80 said
  - 17 Jun 2013
    9:23 pm
good read thank you .

- - redsage said
  - 17 Jun 2013
    12:52 pm
I’ve had a box of “things” my whole life that I sometimes curate, sometimes don’t add anything for months at a time, but it always calms me to look through it.

- - katith21 said
  - 16 Jun 2013
    12:05 am
was a sweet idea, I think I should try this with my kids

- - zowieh said
  - 15 Jun 2013
    3:50 pm
great article. Thanks so much for sharing.

- - lynzstevo said
  - 11 Jun 2013
    7:13 pm
Love this. I have a memory box that I started as a teenager, but its just a big shoe box. I’ve started memory boxes for each of my children too.

- - jade918 said
  - 03 Jun 2013
    4:00 pm
great idea! i also love scrap books but didnt know where to put the stuff that doesnt fit

- - meros said
  - 02 Jun 2013
    4:03 pm
Mines hidden away out of reach. I like it to be hidden so that when it comes out it is a surprise.

- - rachkap said
  - 01 Jun 2013
    8:20 pm
Thanks for all the tips and ideas!

- - jodiem17 said
  - 31 May 2013
    4:58 pm
each of my children have a memory box- from their first outfit to hospital tags to special occasions and important documents. when my first son died I made one for all his things too and each year add to it

- - callie said
  - 29 May 2013
    12:16 pm
I have one for each of my children as well as multiple scrapbooks.

- - not_amanda said
  - 28 May 2013
    1:46 pm
That sounds lovely. We have a lot of photos but we should treasure other tangible reminders as well.