A new baby is quite possibly the most precious thing in the world and every first thing they encounter will be a special memory.  First smile, first tooth, first giggle. Of course you’ll want to hold onto all those treasured memories but you simply can’t keep it all. Not unless you want your home to disappear under boxes and boxes of keepsakes! Although you may not want to let anything go, you’ll need to be selective. So how do you choose what to keep? How do you decide what you should not? Here are 9 essential keepsake items for your baby’s memory box.

♥ Keepsake 1: Your ultrasound scan

Usually at around 12 weeks into your pregnancy you will have an ultrasound scan to work out your due date and to check baby’s development. This is quite an occasion as it will be the first time you have seen your baby! A magical moment. You will probably be offered a printout of the scan and this is a definite to pop into your baby’s memory box. A word of advice: Do NOT laminate it. Most ultrasound photos are printed on heat sensitive paper. That is to say, the heat from the laminator will destroy the image.

♥ Keepsake 2: Baby’s hospital bracelet

If your baby is born at hospital, and around 97% are, then the first thing they will wear will be their hospital bracelet. This will have all their essential birth info on it – their name, time and date of birth, weight – and needs to go in baby’s memory box for sure.

♥ Keepsake 3: A nappy (an unused one!)

I promise you, when your little one has grown, even by just a couple of years, and you look back at baby’s memory box together, you will not believe just how tiny their first size nappies were. They’re lightweight, don’t take up much room, and are such an evocative memory of this super special newborn time.

Real or Disposable – What’s your nappy plan?

♥ Keepsake 4: Babygro

Same goes for the first bodysuit that they wore. Your heart will melt as you hold it up and you will hardly believe just how teeny tiny your baby once was. Did they really once fit into one of those adorable little pure cotton white vests with the envelope neck and the easy-fastening poppers? *sigh*

♥ Keepsake 5: Favourite toy

So this one might have to wait a while until they can be parted from their favourite toy. Obviously I’m not suggesting you pop their bestie in with the keepsakes before they are ready to be parted! But a very special cuddly friend who helps in any given situation, who brings a smile or calms a tantrum, is definitely worthy of a place in baby’s memory box.

♥ Keepsake 6: Coins

Inexpensive and easy to do. Another great idea is a coin minted in the year they were born. Who knows, maybe by the time they are an adult we will have a whole new currency or system of payment. They might find it difficult to believe we had something as small in value as a 1-pence piece. Then again, maybe they will marvel that we had metal coins at all!  A coin from their birth year can also be a symbolic gesture of good luck, health and fortune. Who wouldn’t wish those for their child?

♥ Keepsake 7: A lock of hair

I am not going to start a discussion on when is the right age for your little one’s first haircut. But whenever it is, keeping a lock of their hair is a must.

There are many different ways to store your baby’s first lock of hair. A quick look on Etsy or similar will give you lots of options. Personalised tins, jars, wooden pill boxes, even jewellery. Or you could simply pop it in a an envelope. However you decide to store it, a lock of hair from their first haircut is a very special thing. Plus, according to Wikipedia, “A common superstition holds that a lock of hair from a baby’s first haircut should be kept for good luck.”

♥ Keepsake 8: Milestone cards

What are milestone cards? They are a fun way to document your baby’s development. Printed with certain ages and important firsts throughout their first year, they are a helpful way to remember when things happened. For example, “Today I am three weeks old” or “Today I slept through the whole night!” Basically, you can pop the milestone card next to baby and take a photograph. Date and info recorded. Simples. Sometimes the cards have a space for you to fill in with info, such as “My first word…” Such a quick and easy way to note these important occasions to look back on. Of course you don’t have to take a photograph. You can simply date the cards and then put them in the memory box.

There are plenty of designs available, something to suit every budget. These cards from JoJo are super adorable.

♥ Keepsake 9: Newspaper from their day of birth

All things considered, this might be a job to give to a friend or grandparent. You might just be a little too busy on the day they are born to remember buying a newspaper! However, this is a great keepsake item. Containing all sorts of information about how the world was when they were born.  When you look back through the mementoes together in years to come, it will remind you of how the world has changed.

These are only 9 essential keepsakes. There are so many other items you might want to include. Other great suggestions for baby’s memory box:

• photo of your first Mothering Sunday
• photo of your first Fathers Day
• birth announcement card
• birth congratulations cards
• list of new baby gifts received
• first dummy
• photo of Mummy-to-be with a fabulous baby bump
• baby blanket
• first tooth
• newborn handprints / footprints
• first shoes
• first drawing
• photos from their first birthday Cake Smash

I could go on and on (and on!). And these are just keepsakes from baby’s first year. Of course you could carry on and make more memory boxes for further years.

Above all, only keep the things that truly mean something to both you and your child, to evoke fabulous memories for the future.

Only keep the things that truly mean something to both you and your child

SAMPHIRE PHOTOGRAPHY | HORSHAM PHOTOGRAPHER | SPECIALISING IN NEWBORN, BABY AND MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHY

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