Collections?

I realize they're not nearly as sentimental, but I collect savings bonds and CD's (the kind that earn interest) for my children. I also save the newspaper from their birthday every year.

Every collection I held sacred (stamps, precious moments, teddy bears, barbies) was sucked out by Katrina - the CD's and Savings bonds remained safe.

JMO

When I got pregnant, a dear friend gave me a dreamsicles (sp) magnet. At each birthday until my daughter was 7 she got a new dreamsicles item.

Other than that, I collect Christmas ornaments for my daughter. Every vacation or special place we visit plus something special each yesr. SHe also gets a special ornament from grandmother and my special friend each year.

OH....The savings bonds and coins. We do that as well. We always buy savings bonds and it is also really neat to collect coins. I give coin sets as gifts.

Susan

I collect some snow globes, have about 20 or more, as well as shot glasses and have about 90.

I agree with the savings bonds, cd's, etc. My mother-in-law did that for my husband when was young. We have decided to do that with our son also. We have also decided to purchase things from the U.S. Mint (sheets of money, special edition coins, etc.) as a collection for him.

have you ever thought of Willowtree Angels (Demdaco) or Boyd Bear resin figurines? Those are awfully cute..

What about a charm bracelet? James Avery has great charms you can buy.

My mom has been giving me Christmas ornaments every year since I was a teenager. Admittedly when I was a teen, I thought they were hokey and a waste of money, but now I love to get them out and put them on my tree every year and look forward to what she picks this year. They usually have the year and sometimes writing on them commemorating something special from that year or my life.

My husband and I buy Lenox Christmas ornaments. They are so beautiful! We buy one every year to signify a milestone we might have reached that year.

I agree with the idea about the charm bracelet. A co-worker of mine talked about doing that for her daughter. She said that she started collecting charms for her when she was born and bought one every year for her birthday or Christmas. However, she did not present the bracelet to her daughter until either her 16th birthday or graduation (sorry, I can't remember which). I thought it was a great idea. You can also have the charms engraved with the date or year so that she will know what part of their life they were for.

Ever since my first was born we have gone to Things Remembered and purchased an ornament that represents the stage the kids are in. We pay a little extra to have thier name and year engraved on it. The kids love it and every year they know which ones are thiers on the tree.

I had the same delima last year for my daughter first Christmas because my grandmother does Christmas ornaments for her. I decided to do a build a bear that is personalized for her and the particular year. For instance last year I bought her a dog with a sweater that said "Isabelle's First Christmas", she loved dogs last year. This year I bought her a eddy bear that is wearing pink boots (Izzy wont leave w/out her boots), the bear has pig tails (like Izzy) and roars like a lion. My daughter loves to "scare" people so she roars like a lion, when my husband saw the lion roar at build a bear we had to get it. I take a picture of her with the new each year, out it in a scrap book and explain why she got that particular animal.

I was going to do the charm bracelet because I have a James Avery bracelet but it would be way to heavy by the time that she was old enough to wear it. Not to mention it would be a $500 plus piece of jewelry for a teenager that may or may not appreciate it later, but I guess you could judge that based on the child. I plan on waiting for the bracelet until she is a little older.

Good luck!