What to Do with Old Christmas Cards?

There is a little article in this months (January) Women's Day Magazine that tells how to make ornaments out of them.

I toss them after I record the address.

Something that might be even easier than a scrapbook would be to buy a super cheap 4 x 6 photo album (like from a dollar store)and stick trimmed-to-fit pictures in there. I only even consider saving photos of people that we actually see on some kind of regular basis, they're truly friends and not acquaintances, and I'm not going to feel strange if I see my kids looking at their pictures every now and then. Anyone who is sending a photo to someone that they're not very close to has got to understand that you can't keep their picture hanging around. Don't feel guilty--it's the thought of sending holiday wishes that counts, not saving pictures of people you're not close to.

By the way, does anyone know for sure if photo paper is recyclable?

We toss them...which is way we don't spend alot of money on the cards we send out. We figure our family and friends toss ours too.

Each year my kids and I would take pinking shears (scissors) and cut around the face of each card to make gift tags for next year. We buy plain or foiled wrapping papers along with the printed ones the day after Christmas when all is on sale. Then we use the pinked tags the next year. I now have my grandkids doing this. It's fun to sit down and talk about the giver of the cards as you're trimming them. It's a great way to recycle and to also extend the beauty of some of those cards. Plus while cutting you learn a lot in conversation about how your kids and grandkids view gift giving and receiving. Some lessons can be taught then too. As for the photo cards, we keep the last set sent in our address book by the sender's address. It helps to keep current with the families as most that send the photos are long distance (at least in our case). Hope you have a blessed holiday.

Bev

We put ours in a basket on the kitchen table. We take one out each night at dinner after Christmas and talk about that family and pray for them, then we toss it. If it is a photo card of someone special to us, then I put it in a scrapbook where I have a collage of cards we receive for the year.
Paper is hard to manage, isn't it?
A.

I put the photo pictures in a Photo Album -- and have been doing this for 2 years (this will be the 3rd) This way we can see how friends and their kids have changed over the years.

I bought a scrapbooking gift tag punch and I use it to cuts tags from the fronts of the Christmas cards. Then I use the tags as To/From gift tags on presents.

This year I plan to take the fronts of Christmas cards and decoupage the outside of an old suitcase. Then I'll use the suitcase to store my Christmas ornaments.

Good question!

I gave them to my daughter for cut and paste play. She loves having holiday fun all year long, her favorite part of the cards is pictures of candy canes!

I throw them away.

Years ago, I would send the parts that had no writing to the Children's Hospital for craft time.

Throw them in the recycle.

maybe allow your kiddos to cut them out and make a collage on a large poster w/ the year Christmas 2007 etc...and hang it in their playroom/room to remind them of all the friends/family they have and how much they and your family is LOVED and how thankful and special they are to Jesus!
Take it down after the holiday and put it back out every year adding the new one from the year before...

I used to just throw them out, but the last year if there are any pictures, it's usually someone that is my kids friend, I let my children have the pictures.

The Christmas cards without pictures, I cut out the different things (everything from birds, stars, trees, etc). Then we will paste them on decorated paper towel rolls or TP rolls. It makes a unique napkin holder or name holder for Christmas dinner. The kids enjoy making them as well.

St. Jude's Hospital in Tennesse at one time collected discarded Christmas card fronts.

For the last 5 years I have put mine (trimmed down to name and photo only) in a scrapbook that I add to each year. I only save the ones of close friends that I know we will love to have memories of later in life. Already it is fun to look at it each year. I only have the scrap book out at Christmas and I think that makes it a little more special.

I keep mine and one day (when the kids are in college hahaha) plan to put them in a scrapbook album. I want to put the same family on 1-2 pages to show how they have grown through the years. If it doesn't have a picture, I have just been throwing them away unless there is something meaningful written in them. My grandparents used to make gift boxes out of cards.