I love memorabilia. I still have the Valentines that I received in grade school, and I love the link they provide to that time in my life. Valentines were different back then. Today so many of them are entertainment industry-oriented, where back when I was growing up, they were more generic and yet some of them would never be considered politically correct in this day and time. To me, it’s all so fascinating–the way times change can be seen even in our Valentine’s. How cool is that?!
So I save them. I don’t fuss a lot with these pages, but I do save them. Above is my fourth grader’s collection from this year. There were just a couple homemade valentines, a lot of valentine’s that included a spot to put candy, and this year – she received one from a boy that had a bunch of x’s and o’s on the back of it…and so it begins!
For my kindergartener’s valentines, I kept it even simpler. The heart bag was part of what he brought home, so I punched holes in it, put the entire collection of valentine’s inside and called it done. I also included the Valentine that he gave out this year on the outside of the bag. I did my journaling about his first Valentine party and recorded some of his quotes inside, as a note that he can pull out when he pulls out his keepsakes. I like to include little surprises in my kid’s albums!
My oldest is in 10th grade now, but he also has his Valentines tucked away in his school album. You’ll notice that all my Valentine pages are 8.5 x 11. While I typically scrapbook using mostly 12 x 12, I don’t restrict myself to a size. My kid’s books are filled with pages of varying sizes, and most of their school memorabilia are also on 8.5 x 11 to help keep things simple.
Above are my 10th grader’s second grade Valentine’s. This is the first year that I remember seeing a Harry Potter Valentine, and he got quite a few of them that year. We have seen them every year since. This is what I enjoying about keeping these bits of memorabilia…looking back and comparing them from year to year.
I put together my Valentine’s memorabilia pages very quickly. I tend to do them within days of when they come home with their Valentine’s, because I don’t enjoy them floating all over the house or on my desk. I keep things simple, as my main goal is to get them included in each of their books.
Another thing love about these kinds of “memorabilia” pages is that they contain a little bit of history as to what I liked at the time, or what was popular in scrapbooking when I made them. As I look back, it becomes evident on one of my oldest child’s pages that one year it was metal, another year it was sewing, and another year it was vellum and eyelets. I pounded a lot of eyelets that year. I don’t think I’ve pounded one since.
Even if you just save one year of Valentines–or one Valentine from each year–think about the stories they will tell and the history they will share. Notice how they change in trends and styles from one year to the next. And think about what memories they will bring back to your child when they pull them out years down the road. I know when I revisit my Valentine’s from school, I instantly flash back to first grade and the Valentine envelope taped securely to the front of our desks to gather those little notes and treasures. I love flipping them over and seeing those little messages from people I still know and keep in touch with today.
And if we preserve our memorabilia–our kid’s will be able to enjoy that too someday!
[stormanen]
