Top Tips For What To Put In A Memory Box

A memory box is a deeply personal, individual and heartfelt gift, filled with mementoes, photographs, and trinkets the person holds dear.

Exactly what you should put into a memory box depends on the person you are giving it to and the reasons for doing so. For example, a baby memento box will often be given to a child as they get older, whilst a memory box filled by someone with a terminal illness is often a gift to the family.

Here are some top tips on how to choose the items stored in a memory box.

Follow The KonMari Principle

Marie Kondo is a minimalist who provided a simple, but brilliant way to decide what should be kept or not. Whilst she was primarily talking about overall tidying and decluttering, the same KonMari principle can be applied to filling a memory box too.

Essentially, it is to take items you are thinking of adding to a memento box, such as baby clothes or blankets for a baby, or music, ticket stubs or other mementoes for different recipients and ask yourself if it sparks joy or not.

If it triggers a strong association to a particular time, place, event, memory or feeling, it is probably worth keeping.

Tell A Story

The best memento boxes are those that have a few items that tell the story of a particular event or capture a particular moment.

This is part of the reason why time capsules are so popular; taking baby mementoes, photos and gifts that are to be opened later so a child knows how much they were adored as a baby and how much they’ve grown since.

Wedding boxes are also very popular for remembering the details of a day that can often be a blur for the happy couple. Putting pictures, scraps of the wedding dress, confetti from the day and other tactile pieces can bring back the memories of a special day.

Use Technology But Try To Future-Proof

In more modern times, many time capsules and memento boxes feature CDs, DVDs and USB pen drives which contain more pictures, memories and even recorded messages.

Whilst these are amazing, it is important to try and future-proof your message as much as possible. Consider the Voyager Golden Record, for instance, which is arguably the most famous time capsule ever made and needed to be universally playable.

If you can, include a device you can use to play the pictures and music on, such as a digital photo frame, but failing that, try to choose technology that will last a very long time.