What clothing did you keep for memories?

[BellaClaudia]

Every year I struggle with the same issue of what items go give up and what
to keep for memories and so it seem that I just have accumulated too many
"memory" items. I would like to hear from experienced mamas how the
perspective changes on your decissions on what you kept over the years...

What do you find most valuable after years and what you think is reasonabble to let go..

I for some reason find all the used dirty and "hole-y" clothes with old stains more valuable then pretty dresses but still.. keeping some pretty ones too of course..

What did YOU keep for memories and how much you accumulated after let's say 5 years of child's life?

What do you keep what do you give away/sell etc?..

would love to hear from you.

[crowcaw]

The perspective of time solved this for me. Procrastination made it so I had piles of clothes to sort. By the time I got around to it I only remembered dds wearing a few of the things because they had been favorites; sometimes of theirs and sometimes of mine. At that point I could easily give away the rest. The favorite pieces I culled and have a work-in-progress quilt (or something, but it could end up a quilt) from the most memorable bits -- the ruffles, logos, ties, whatever -- that made the piece a favorite. And for this it doesn't matter how holey or stained. In fact I think I even incorporated a stain or two. I have one box for each dd with the cut up bits that I'm slowly putting together. Of course if you have a good memory, this isn't helpful.

[lynsage]

I kept a pair of newborn socks and the hat she wore when she was born. They're in her "baby box", which is a memory box with a baby book and some little drawers for keepsakes. I also kept one of her newborn diapers that I sewed myself and I let her use it on her dolls now.

I think a quilt is a great idea if you want to hang onto a lot of clothing items!

[mamazee]

I take pictures of them in favorite clothes so I'll remember them, but I don't actually save any.

[StephandOwen]

DS is almost 7. I kept the outfit he came home from the hospital in, a pair of his newborn pj's I really liked as well as a matching hat, another hat he wore when he was a newborn and his first pair of shoes. Any other outfits that I really liked we have pictures of him wearing His infant clothes were handed down to ex's sister (who had a baby boy almost exactly a year after ds was born). Then when my mom had a boy I started just handing ds's outgrown stuff down to her for her boy (ds is almost 7, my brother is 4 so as ds outgrows stuff my brother is just getting ready to fit into them.... works well!). I only get to see my little brother a few times a year but I love seeing him wear ds's clothes, especially if it was one of the special outfits that I loved

[Alyantavid]

I've only kept the outfits they came home from the hospital in.

[Carley]

I only keep:

Christening Gown - they're family artifacts- about a billion years old! They'll be handed down to my girls if/when they have babies

1st Baby "shoes" - Babies used to wear shoes. I have 3 generations of baby shoes including the 2 pairs of baby shoes that my babies didn't wear. I decorate the Christmas tree with them!

1st Baby Hat - these are family artifacts too

That's it! There are a few random baby outfits that DD uses on her dollies, but other than that they're condensed in a small tupperware box (except the shoes that are with the Christmas decorations )

/edit - items that were "special" I hand down to someone who will appreciate them. The rest are either handed down in mass bags or consigned

[snoopy5386]

gosh, such hard liners here! As of right now, I've kept mostly everything, except for the stuff I didn't like for baby #2. Baby #2 is another girl born 8 days after DD1 so all of the seasons match and DD2 can wear all of DD1's old clothes, so I'll be keeping DD1's clothes for DD2 for the forseeable future.

BUT my plan for both kid's clothes is to turn my/their faves into quilts. A baby clothes quilt to give to each of them when they have their own babies and a favorite clothes quilt from age 1-18 to give to them when they go off to college.

[spmamma]

Originally Posted by lynsage

I think a quilt is a great idea if you want to hang onto a lot of clothing items!

I incorporated a few of DD's birthday dresses and special outfits into a twin-size scrap quilt I made for her earlier this year. Other than that, I don't plan to save much. I have a cute little sweater and hat set, and maybe an outfit or two. The rest can go once I'm done having babies.

[Grace and Granola]

Oh dear, I have the same problem. I am going through the change of season clothes right now and I get so sad letting outgrown clothes be put into the "sell" pile. It was a lot harder with the baby clothes up until about 2T when it became more clear which clothes were actually special. Right now my boys are 3.5 and 5, and It wasn't as hard to put them in that pile this time. Their clothes now aren't as cute and adorable as they were when they were babies and toddlers, but maybe you have better clothes than I do! I can imagine if I had girls, there would still be adorable dresses that I would want to hang on to, but orange t-shirts with monster trucks and diggers, not so much!

As of now, I probably have saved about 10 pcs each from the age of 0-2. And 5 pieces each from 2-4. I have put them in their memory boxes. But i have found that if it's been years since I go through the memory boxes, some of those special things, I don't really remember why they were so special!! But they were for a time, so I keep them there.

If you're having trouble discerning what to keep, maybe you could set yourself a limit, such as 3 pcs for every age. Or whatever would be reasonable for you!

[NicaG]

My mom didn't save anything of mine. I'm not particularly sentimental and I like to declutter. I hate having old boxes, piles, etc. of stuff I don't actively use. So I've kept the kids' coming-home outfits and maybe one other really cute outfit that reminds me of a specific fun time or something. I've also kept a couple of things that grandma knitted for them. And that's about it.

[BellaClaudia]

oh my.. thanks! that is such a great reading, you guys made me cry and laugh and oooh and aaah..

please keep writing

[limabean]

I don't keep much. I have their hospital hats and coming-home outfits, and DS's first pair of shoes. I kept more of DD's stuff because by the time I had her I was getting into sewing and have kept a few of my favorite clothes of hers to make a quilt later.

Another great way to "save" favorite pieces (this mostly works for stuff where you love the print) is to scan it and print it to use as scrapbooking paper. I saw a woman do that with her DS's pajamas and it looked really cute -- she even freestitched the printed paper to another piece of paper with a little batting in between and used that as the background on a large layout. Or I guess you could even quilt a piece of the actual fabric to paper and use that in scrapbooking.

I'm a big fan of saving a small amount of stuff and finding a way to honor it within the home (thanks Peter Walsh! ), instead of just having boxes and boxes of stuff randomly stowed away.

[Norasmomma]

For DD I have a couple cute baby dresses, one was her Christmas dress, it's 3 month. I would have saved her coming home outfit, but she ended up coming home in jammies because the outfit was too cold. Her little baby shoes with the Christmas dress.

DS we just did this, we did keep his coming home outfit because it was a gift at the hospital and some cute tiny jammies he wore for like a day. Also a Baby Brother onsie my SIL made for him-I'll keep DD's Big Sister shirt too.

I can't find DD's Robeez

I went through a declutter freak out and some stuff might have gotten given away. I'm not that sentimental with clothes, I freak on the clutter after awhile. Also I think that someone else deserves to use nice barely used clothing, it really is doing me no good taking up space.

[ZinniaGarden]

Well, I tend to keep a lot. I have several dresses from dd, quite a bit of the newborn baby stuff like gowns, sleepers and onsies that all 3 used, a couple of Christmas outfits, a couple of Halloween outfits, and of course the coming home from the hospital outfits. Two of the dresses were dresses that were made for me by my grandmother. I have several teddy bears that wear a special dress or outfit but I love the quilt ideas. Wouldn't that be a perfect getting married or baby shower gift!!!

[Danielle283]

I have the first onsie she wore in the NICU, her coming home dress, baptism gown, and little newborn booties that looked like Uggs that I just loved. Nothing since then though. I have a hard time getting rid of her clothes because of all the memories they hold, but most are hand me down or thrift store clothes so it makes it easier knowing someone else got rid of them and I can too.