What Do You Do with Christmas Cards You Get from Friends and Family?

Hi, S.

Take an empty coffee can, remove the bottom and completely cover the can with string. (Winding the string/yarn from top to bottom, completely covering the can, tie it off. Take the cards and slip each one through a string for a beautiful display. You can also do the same thing with birthday or get well cards. It makes a pretty nice conversation piece.

A.

I just tape them up to a wall (all in the same place) - it looks like a christmas card collage :) The kids love it b/c they can help tape them.
Oh, and I only apply the tape to the written side of the card. Then when I take them down after christmas, I cut off the unused, pretty front part, and save them to use as fun gift tags for next year!

I went to Ace and bought silver key rings, tied a ribbon through them and slid the card onto the key ring. They hang really nice from the beaded garland that I push pinned to the wall.

Hi, I bought a large slide in photo album and after Christmas I slide the photos in the album. It is fun to see how the kids change over the years and my kids love to get the book out and look at it all the time. Also, this year I put a cute corkboard at the end of our basement stairs and put the cards on display there (it usually has my kids art work on it!)

Hope this helps.

We cut the cards at the fold and give the fronts to our church. They use them the next year to make tags to hang on "The Giving Tree" that they have up during Christmas. (They put the gender and age of someone in need on the back and parishioners take the tags, purchase gifts, and return them to the church).

As for the pictures, why not buy an album that is just for the photos you receive in your Christmas cards? That way, you can look back and see how the people in the photos have changed over the years. Even if you aren't into scrapbooking, you can add the year to the top of the page and some decorations to make each year unique. This would be a great thing to pass onto your kids some day.

Have a wonderful holiday!
L.

S.,

I heard of a mom (somewhere, can't remember where) that takes the pictures and puts them into a photo album that stands on its own and can be flipped from front to back.

Every evening at dinner the family flips to the next photo, talks about the family pictured - time spent together, where they live, past memories - and includes them in their evening prayer.

I thought this was very sweet and a loving.

Have a Merry Christmas!

-C..

We tape ours to the closet door, with the pictures inside them. My MIL tapes them to the table side of the kitchen cupboards. You could get a card wreath from bed bath and beyond to hang on the door.
A. H

I usually hang a 1/2 to 1 inch thick grosgrain ribbon (or any fabric ribbon) and pin the cards with stick pins. Last year I tied a bow at the top of the ribbon and hung it on the wall where I had removed a picture (stored in the basement for the holidays), so the ribbon hung vertically down the wall. This year, I tied the ribbon so that it hangs down a bit on each curtain rod over the windown in our dining room. I have been displaying the folded paper cards on our curio cabinet on and I hid the pincushion behind one of these cards. Then when we get a photo card, I pin it to the ribbon over the window. I saw the idea on Martha Stewart a couple years ago. Mine is not nearly as fancy (or perfect!), but I think it looks really cute and it was practically free to make.
Instead of stick pins you can use binder clips, paper clips, safety pins.

I literally tape them to the wall in my entry way.

I tape the pictures to the inside of the cards and then tape the cards to the doors of my closets and pantry..it spruces them up for the holidays!

I make a scrapbook page for pictures or letters - just tuck them in there. Or - what my kids like to do is cut up the cards, glue them to construction paper and then laminate or cover with contact paper and use them as posters or placemats the next year.

For the past couple of years I've been taping them to the back (inside part) of our front door. This way we can see them every time we pass by the door (especially the pictures)!!

for the pictures, I make a "photo board' on one of the cabinet doors in the kitchen. I just tape them up. Depending on how many i have, I also add a nice looking card. It adds a lot.
i have a wire card holder that can hold a bunch of cards out. I put that on the floor under a table (due to no space) or on the stair by the front door.

another ides is --my sil tapes all her cards around a door frame.

good luck.

Tape them to your front door. Every time you leave you all the wonderful greetings and well wishes.

I put them on the inside of my front door. After Christmas I cut out the pictures of the ones that look like they could be used for scrape booking. Or some other craft that maybe a church with preschoolers could use.

We put our's on the refridgerator. My mom gets a few more than we do and finally a couple years back purchased a metal card "rack" that hangs over a door. The front of it is designed to be able to hold several cards. I've seen them a couple different ways, her's has some swirls that you slide the cards in, I remeber seeing some with clips as well. Good luck!!!

I tape all my pictures to my fridge, so that I can enjoy the pictures through the year. It's really nice when the next year I get to update the pictures and see how much things have changed from the previous year.

Hello , I have always had a Christmas card "holder". You can buy them at Hallmark or other places I am sure. Mine is a cloth wall hanging very pretty, decorated with patterns of Christmas trees and snowmen. There are 3 slots for putting cards in. You can't actually SEE all of your cards at one time, but they are right there for you to pull out and take a peek at. Many cards fit in mine. I situate them so I see a bunch coming out of each slot. They also sell card "fans", You stick your cards in a slot and they fan around like a wheel. With that kind, you CAN see most of your cards, but if you have alot, you may need two of them. Good luck and Merry Christmas! A.

I have a doorway between my living room and kitchen and we hang all holiday cards and pictures on the sides. My kids put lights around the doorway already so the cards just add the the holiday cheer.

We tape ours to our slider windows. My mom keeps them in a basket on her mantle. When we are done with the cards, we have the kids pick out their favorite cards and make puzzles out of them. We glue them to blocks and then the kids have 6 puzzles to play with throughout the year.

C.

S. -

I tape the cards and pictures to a door - one that everyone walks by frequently in the house. I used to put them on door frames but my small children couldn't see them.

After Christms, put the pictures in scrapbook along with any personal notes or letters. The cards I try to recycle, but haven't had much luck the past couple years finding anyone to take them.

Hope this helps.

Merry Christmas!!

K.

My mom tends to put hers (cards and Christmas pictures) on the side or front of a cupboard. Easy to see and easy to take down once the season is over.

My parents would put their Hanukkah cards and the Christmas cards they got from friends and clients (they do taxes) in the doorway between the dining room and living room using scotch tape. After the holidays were over, they would throw the cards away, or if they really liked it, they would put it in a box and save it.

Each year I tape all of the cards and pictures that I receive on the door to our hall closet in our living room. It makes as a nice decoration and people love to look at all of them when they come over. I have been doing this for YEARS~

Hi S. ~
I usually tape the Christmas cards on a door, like our coat closet. That way, the door gets decorated, and we can see all of the cards all the time, and it doesn't take up any space. I usually hang them at kind of an angle, do 1 row at a time, and mix them up (as far as long ones, tall ones, all mixed up instead of in neat rows. As a kid we put them all in a basket, but I'm like you, I want to see them.
D.

We scotch tape them to our front door. They are on display but not taking up surface area in the house or getting in the way of things. We leave them there until the middle of January. Good luck.
J.

Our front door is metal so I went to Joann's and bought a bag of about 50 small round magnets (they are a bit smaller than a dime). I hang them them on my door and that way the door is not bothered by the tape, which never seems to stay with the door being cold anyway. As far as the pics go, I do put them around a large mirror I have in my family room and then after the holidays, I cut out just the pics from the holiday cards and put them in a large collage frame (I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond and it's probably (3' X 5') so I can enjoy them all year around. I even make it scrapbookey but taking any school pics that I've received from friends that come in the wallet size but putting pretty colored paper behind them so they fit in the collage nicely. Hope this helps!

Afew years ago I got an over the door hanger that holds cards and pictures. This is out of the way and a great decoration. Also I keep some of the fronts of the cards and that's what we use for gift tags on our gifts the next year.

We have a pass through window between the kitchen and family room and so I tape them around there and if that gets full I start taping them around the doorway right next to the pass through. And I put the pictures on the fridge. I keep them up all year. Usually at this time I take down last years photos and replace with this years.

what you do sounds good (hanging them over the string) after Christmas I actually keep my cards with my Christmas decorations and the following year, I look at them (to compare to recent cards from people) to see how much their kids have grown) then i throw them away. I have seen some people use the top part of the card (that usually have pictures on them) for gift tags..I have personally never done this - but might this year!! :)

I hang all of my cards around my arches and doorways with clear scotch tape. After the holidays, I make scrapbooks with all the pictures from the year. :)

I do what my mom always did. I tape them to a doorway. In my current house they are around the door frame going from the dining room into the living room. As you get more it becomes like a garland around the door.

We put ours on the tree! It is a near way tp display themand keep the house clutter free too!

clothespin the pictures

A couple of years ago I bought a wire rectangular hanging thing at a Hallmark card store that I hang inside my back door. It has places to stick cards and holds a lot. I have a French photo board on the side of my fridge all the time, and I stick the photos under the ribbons, replacing last year's with the new ones. I also sticking on school photos and grad photos that folks send me. When people visit, they love to see their photos there. I used to hang a ribbon and drape them over that, from curtain rod to curtain rod. This takes up less space. I've also just thrown them in a pretty basket, which is what I do after the season is over, for a few weeks.

I bought a wreath where I can display all the cards, they just slip into the loops and I can have them all up on the wall where they wont be taking up tons of extra room or played with by little hands.

I use a wired ribbon and attach the cards with gold paper clips. In the past I have removed a picture from the wall and hung the ribbon there (with a bow at the top), but this year I have hung two over our picture window in the dining room. The kids love to look at all of the photos and cards.

Merry Christmas!

I save the cards each year with my wrapping items and then the following year use them as gift tags. Cut off the front of the card or a circle, be creative, and tape it to the front of a package. Sometimes I cut out the saying that is in the middle of the card and put that somewhere on the package too. Since I get a lot of cards I can coordinate cards to wrapping paper or particular pictures to particular people (cat lovers get that card with a picture of a cat on it and so forth). It's a way to recycle/reuse and I don't spend money on gift tags anymore.

S.