Items To Keep And Pass Down To Your Children

Many people are extremely sentimental and hold on to certain items since they were children to pass them down to their children or simply keep them in the family somehow.

However, many items don’t need to be kept for the next generation and are just taking up space in your closet. You need to know which items are worth saving and which you can throw out.

We have compiled this list for you to decide which items to keep and which you can bid farewell to.

Recipes

You know your grandma’s apple pie recipe will be a hit at parties for the next thousand years, so you must keep it with you for as long as you possibly can. Recipes are an excellent heirloom to pass down.

Not only will having these recipes remind you of happy times and places in your life when you make them yourself but they are tried and tested and passed down through generations, which means they will always taste amazing.

Photographs

In the age of social media, printed photographs are becoming few and far between, with them being posted onto various social media sites before they even have a chance to get to the printers.

However, photographs of your family spanning back generations are worth passing down because they are precious keys to your past and your ancestry that you will never be able to get back once they are gone.

Jewelry

Now, it is important not to misunderstand this one. We are not talking about that claw machine ring that your 8th-grade crush won for you at the arcade. We’re talking about valuable, sentimental pieces of jewelry.

Perhaps the wedding rings of each family member or a particularly special locket that belonged to your great grandmother’s great grandmother. You should pass down pieces filled with history and stories.

Religious Books

No matter what your religion is now, passing down the religious books that your family used and worshipped before you were even thought of is an excellent way to remember them and honor that memory.

This is not to say that you have to worship from these same books, but keeping them might allow you to feel closer to your ancestors. This is not an heirloom that every person will be keen on passing down, and that’s okay.

Quilts

Something that everyone will always use blankets. In every season of our lives, we need them, and if they are important and sentimental, they are even cozier. Passing down quilts through generations is an excellent heirloom.

If the quilt is particularly old, it is probably best not to use it but rather to store it away safely or keep it in some sort of shadow box or display case that could help preserve it longer to be passed down again.

Clothing

Again, this does not mean the luminous headbands you have from your ninth-grade school dance. It is geared much more towards sentimental and valuable items of clothing that can be passed down and remembered.

A good example of pieces of clothing to pass down would be wedding dresses, military uniforms, or items of clothing worn on a momentous day in history. These can be passed down as a sign of fashion in that time.

Furniture

Many families have items of furniture that have been passed down through generations for children and grandchildren to use and enjoy. In fact, furniture might be one of the most popular heirlooms.

You will mostly find things such as chests of drawers or cedar trunks, but you can pass down any piece of furniture that has been significant to your family at one time or another, whether it be a bookcase or a bed frame.

Musical Instruments

Musical instruments are works of art in themselves, and it would be a shame not to pass them down through the family line. Of course, many people sell their musical instruments off, but they can become excellent heirlooms if you keep them.

It is best to ensure that you keep the musical instrument in good working order, but it can be difficult as the instrument ages. If you cannot keep the instrument in good working order, you can simply keep it as a display piece.

Art

As you may have already found out, art can be extremely expensive. Having art passed down through your family line might be a much easier and cheaper option than buying the art on your own.

While art bought by your ancestors can be special, the pieces that your ancestors created are even more important. Having pieces that show and celebrate your ancestors’ creativity is an excellent heirloom.

Collections

We all know how hard we work on collector’s items. We spend a lot of time and money collecting every piece of a collection until it is complete and becomes something of a masterpiece to us.

For this reason, passing down collections through generations is an excellent idea. Printer’s trays or action figures that hold value and sentimentality can be passed down and preserved for future generations.