How to Organize Greeting Cards
A few weekends ago, I stumbled upon an old childhood memory box my mom had lovingly curated over the years. Filled with over 18 years of mementos, it was bursting at the seams. Amidst the memories, the main culprits cluttering the box were greeting cards: birthday wishes, party invitations, thank you notes, and graduation cards. It made me realize, so many of us don’t know where to start when it comes to how to organize greeting cards.
As I sifted through them, I realized that most had generic messages with little sentimental value. However, a few precious cards with heartfelt notes from family and friends earned a special spot in my keepsake collection. The rest? I let go of them with gratitude.
Looking for the best way to store and preserve your card collection? This post covers a 3-step process plus the tools to make it easy and chic.
Why Greeting Cards Become Clutter
Greeting cards are deeply emotional. They mark milestones and offer beautiful sentiments, but they can quickly pile up. Without a system, they shift from meaningful to messy.
Ready to simplify? Here’s how to transform your card clutter into a curated collection you’ll actually enjoy.
Step 1: Discard Sweet, but Generic Cards
This is the most important step. If a card doesn’t have a a personalized or sentimental message that is unique to your relationship with the “gifter,” recycle, donate, or repurpose it.
Yes, you can donate used cards! Organizations like St. Jude’s Ranch for Children accept card fronts to create new ones for kids in need.
If letting go of cards is hard for you, ask yourself: How many notes could I actually enjoy reading in one session?
For me, that number is 40–80 cards. That means I can read through my entire collection in under four hours. Creating your own “card maximum” can help you stay intentional about what you keep.
Need a boundary? Try limiting yourself to one or two boxes.
Pro tip: We recently collected all the cards from one of our clients’ entire lives, in one of our large card boxes.
Step 2: Display the Favorites
When you receive a birthday, thank you, or holiday card, enjoy it! Put it on display for a week or two in a high-traffic area of your home. Think of it as a floral arrangement: a decorative reminder of how loved you are.
Creative Ways to Display Greeting Cards:
Choose one designated display space, and give it a limit. I never keep more than 5 cards up at a time.
Step 3: Store the Truly Special Ones
Keep only the cards that spark joy, express deep sentiment, or capture a unique moment in your life. The more you keep, the less special they become over time.
a. SORT & LABEL:
Group your cards by occasion, year, person, or sentiment. Label your card categories with post-its or print labels.
Labeling Tools
Label your card categories with post-its or print labels.
b. DIGITIZE:
Take photos or scans of the insides of cards and save them to a “Cards” folder on your computer. It’s much easier to flip through digital files than to lug around a heavy binder or box.
Affiliate Pick: I love the Fujitsu ScanSnap for easy, high-quality scans.
c. CONTAINERIZE:
Store your curated collection in an archival box that protects your paper memories from dust, light, and deterioration.
Our Simply Spaced Archival Card Box is acid- and lignin-free and looks gorgeous on any shelf. To learn more about these beautiful boxes, check out The Perfect Photo & Memento Storage.
Final Thoughts: Card Clarity = Emotional Clarity
Once you declutter and preserve your favorite greeting cards, this step-by-step system will keep you on top of your paper mementos. Remember, experiences are far more valuable to collect than things. If you think of receiving a card as an experience, you’ll be able to appreciate it and let go with grace. Pro tip: Opt for digital cards, birthday invites and more with Jib Jab, my go to digital card maker.
If you enjoyed How to organize greeting cards, you might also enjoy:
P.S. Take the Clutter Quiz to discover your organizing style: Are you a Gold, Silver, or Bronze?
This blog post may contain affiliate links. If you use them, I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and love.
Happy card organizing!
xo, Monica
What about special cards like wedding and condolence cards for your parent? Any suggestion to store or is it ok to toss?
Hi Wendy –
I think it is okay to let cards go. My rule of thumb is to keep letters and cards with really special written messages. A beautiful card signed aunt jackie can go, lovely as it may be.
Monica
Apteranply this is what the esteemed Willis was talkin’ ’bout.
My mom has alzheimer’s, she has 145 mothers day cards(collected) +every occasion I separated by birthday,valentines,etc.People with memory loss like to look at photos and old stuf that is easily displayed and convenient to handle. Can you suggest how to display 145 MD cards from 5 children, and all the grandchildren? I am now considering only using the ones from her own five children and boxing the other offspring and giving those back to their parents. SUGGESTIONS?? ANYTHING?
Feel free to share for others facing this disease to help cope with their loved ones, but let me know here and email. Thanks so much. Anything is helpful.
I’d like to start with the suggestion that you do a little more editing of the cards you decide to keep for your mom. It’s much easier to handle, read and appreciate a selection of the truly special cards than a mass that can be overwhelming. Select the best cards with special notes written in them. 145 cards is a lot for anyone to process at any one time. I have kept special cards with important sentiments (like from my wedding) in simple DIY books. I made them by using a hole puncher any punching small holes along the edge and tying them together with ribbon. This makes it easy to grab off the shelf and appreciate as a group. They are also accessible and can be appreciated as opposed to stored in a box that I will never look at. Perhaps you could do something similar in categories that make sense to your mom. ie Children, grandchildren etc. I think the key is to make sure you don’t overwhelm her. Maybe make the groupings by year or by person.
Thank you. I did exactly that. It was so special for her. I chose only home-made from childhood,and special noted ones. Also used the ones from immediate five children and left out grandchildren, etc. It was such a good feeling to see her reading and looking at the book over and over. I am just trying to hit a nerve, entertain her, or shake up her memory. Thanks for the input. It is a long road, and a terrible disease, Alzheimer’s. Learning how to interact and what tools to find their interest is on going. Thanks
Thank you for this excellent article. I have gone through phases of save or toss many times. With both of my parents gone now I wish I had save a few more things, but as you said, most were generic. I would recommend saving at least one with the signatures. Weird, I know, but meaningful. Also, as my dad’s dementia started(though we didn’t know it) he would sign my cards with his full name, like he was sending a letter to his bank. I’m glad I save one of those just to mark the time.
I found 3 boxes of photos, my graduation cards, etc. I thought I could throw some of this out, but as I started looking thru them, I felt like I couldn’t. Even though it has been years since I looked at them, I still couldn’t. Do you have any suggestions for letting go of some of this? I am a scrapbooker and some of this I could use in an album, but some of it I couldn’t use. At first, I found d cards from people I don’t know well and thought why keep, then I found special messages then wanted to remember all that came to my party so wanted to keep all cards . anyway I have the cards hole punched on one end and all attached to a ring. I have so many photos . it seems I should be able to let some of the photos go and just save the ones I want for an album but I don’t know where to start and I don’t want to spend all day on this because I am trying to do my whole room.
This article is close to my heart. My husband and I just spent 5 days going through 3.5 large boxes of cards and letters. It was physically and emotionally draining. We moved the whole house around but it was this card project where we really felt the weight for some reason. I’m the same—I dont keep unless there is a message written too. But as you move through the layers and years you feel differently. We are ending up keeping from key people and got these attractive letter boxes with labels from Target. The ones from special grandmas and grandpas that are now gone we will keep forever…and they cannot be replaced. When I was in my 20s I hung onto a lot of stuff and I am glad I did because the messages from those loved ones that are no longer here will stay forever.
I like the idea of saving Christmas cards by punching a hole in the top corner and putting a ring or ribbon around them by year. I have not been very organized over the years and my mother sent many letters to me over the years since she retired to Florida. She passed a few years ago and now that I am retired and going through boxes and bins I have been pleasantly surprised when I find a letter from Mom. I now have a special flowered box from Michaels with a magnetic top that I place those letters in along with other special items. I went through a lot of cards for my kids and separated them into clear shoeboxes and put them all in a wooden trunk. I don’t think the boys will care but I know one of my daughters will.
Thanks for the post – some great ideas. I wanted to share a quick tip I’ve picked up regarding the annual holiday photo cards. It always seems like a waste when people go to so much effort to design a card and then to throw it away. With annual cards from special friends and family, I’ve taken to replacing the contact photos annually with what they send. That way I have current pics of my nephews and friends for an entire year until the next card comes.
Hope this idea helps!.
What a fantastic idea – love it! Thank you.
[…] How to Organize Greeting Card Mementos […]
I found 3 boxes of photos, my graduation cards, etc. I thought I could throw some of this out, but as I started looking thru them, I felt like I couldn’t. Even though it has been years since I looked at them, I still couldn’t. Do you have any suggestions for letting go of some of this? I am a scrapbooker and some of this I could use in an album, but some of it I couldn’t use.
[…] labels, in addition to being useful for sorting, displaying, and organizing cards, are also useful in filtering cards. To add a label, click the Trello card you want to add and […]
Wonderfull ideas.