Mrs. Pear's Hope Chest Methods - Part 1

As I mentioned here, part of what got us started on a hope chest for our daughter so early was the special things we wanted to save, which were numerous in her first year! While my goal is to set aside things that are valuable to our family, I do hope to avoid the problem the DHM of the Common Room finds herself in so I have shown more restraint in the second and third years!

We also had a strong desire to do something special for Miss Pear's first birthday, but all the keepsake ideas just seemed like more clutter we did not need! Plus we knew a move was in our near future at the time, so more clutter was not in order! I am not sure exactly when it occurred to us, but as soon as the idea of starting a hope chest came to us we both knew it was the right idea for us!

The idea of a hope chest had a few immediate benefits as far as we were concerned:

• it gave us a way of saving stuff that was special that we felt Miss Pear would need or want one day
• it gave us a way of doing something special for not only her first birthday but each birthday
• it was part of an answer to prayer, or at least the seeds of it - I will eventually talk more about this as God is really showing me lots in this area, but I am still figuring it out.

It had long term benefits too!

• it was a way to slowly start accumulating stuff for when Miss Pear has a home of her own (I try to include nice linens at this point because stuff like that is rare when you first move to a home of your own!)
  
• it was is a place to store projects she makes as I eventually teach her the arts of knitting, sewing, quilting, cross stitching, and ribbon embroidery just to name a few! (I would love to learn to crochet and make lace too and then pass those skills on too!)
• it marks special times in Miss Pear's life that would likely not be saved if we waited until she was older.
• it keeps me faithful in storing up a special gift for her one day.
• it keeps keepsakes safe - who knows if mugs put away now would survive if they were just tucked into a corner of a closet!
  

Now, while all this is well and good, I am trying very hard to keep this project from becoming gargantuan and taking over the house, especially considering that she is only 3, and that we don't have an attic with storage room or a basement! And our garage is very small.

So when I decide to save things I ask myself if I will really regret it if I don't save it, if it is really so special that I cannot bear to part with it. I also ask myself if it will be really meaningful years from now or be useful. Just because it is fun or nice now does not mean it will be 20 years from now!

And when we are selecting things to put away each year we definitely consider how large it is. There will come a time when larger things are added, but that is not now. There will also come a time where I add more each year, but again, that time is not now either!

Even if your kids are older, it really is not too late to start, and if you have boys, you can always put away a few special things because one day they will have families too and I am sure their future wives will appreciate your forethought!

Do you have hope chests started for your kids? What kinds of things are you saving?

Note: The methods part is clearly going to be a series, so I set up a hope chest label so that you can find it all later if you would like.