If you’re a parent, you’re probably aware of the “pocket treasure” that your kids bring home. At least, that’s what my mom called it. After a while, she just associated my excited smile and exclaims of “treasure!” with my finding random items and bringing them home with me.
While most parents end up tossing out a lot of the trash that kids end up bringing home, there can sometimes be a nostalgic element as kids grow up. Some parents will end up keeping the little “found treasures” that their kids collected and then turn them into something very special. And one mother ended up doing just that for her son’s wedding.
On Reddit, one Redditor shared a very touching post that began with him explaining that over the years, his mother saved all his findings inside a glass jar she kept on a laundry shelf. He wrote, “I remember as a kid, wishing soooo hard that I could get some of the items back, but it was forbidden to even go near the jar.”
Given his mother’s insistence that he not touch it, it was quite a surprise years later when she presented him an entirely empty glass jar at his wedding rehearsal dinner. He admitted that he “started tearing up before she had finished talking.”
He was then presented the following lamp as a gift from his mom:
This lamp has everything my mom ever found in my pockets when doing laundry for me when I was little. She gave it to me at my wedding. from pics
How sweet is that? But it’s not the only keepsake lamp for a boy that has been created by a mom. In fact, on My Old Country Home’s blog, there were two adorable ones made from items taken from when the mom’s sons were younger.
One of the lamps featured matchbox cars while the other lamp was full of collectibles. Another mom, Karen from the Sew Many Ways, showed off something similar. Her children were two daughters, and as they grew up, they kept a lot of different random items inside their storage draws.
Once they had grown up and left home, Karen decided to use these items to create little “memory jar lamps” which she later gave to them as Christmas gifts. She even used mason jars with metal lids to convert them into lamps with the help of a lamp kit.
https://www.facebook.com/165483886873889/photos/a.169327286489549/719380591484213/?type=3
If you want to jump on the decorative lamp trend the possibilities are endless. You don’t even need to use specifically lamps to create heartwarming nostalgic memory decorations for your kids. Any clear jar or other container will do the trick.
One Twitter user, @LaguitoGal, showed off her mason jar creation using the items that her children collected on hikes, such as “bones, a snakeskin, a turtle shell, beach glass, fallen nests, birch bark and way too many rocks.”
A3. My kids have collected so many outdoor treasures on our hikes. This is their jar, filled with bones, a snake skin, a turtle shell, beach glass, fallen nests, birch bark, and way too many rocks. pic.twitter.com/iANefauWYW
— Claire (@LaguitoGal) January 29, 2020
You can even go one step further if clutter isn’t your thing.
One mom and photographer, Melissa Kaseman, made a very beautiful display of all the items her kid brought back home from preschool and then took pictures!
What did your little one come home with in their pockets today? Photographer Melissa Kaseman's 'Preschool Pocket Treasures' series charts the treasure she found her child's pocket at the end of each day. pic.twitter.com/azHvi9YtJ8
— Chalk (@wearechalkNCL) September 10, 2019
What do you do with the stuff your kids bring home? Let us know!