I am pretty unsentimental when it comes to hanging on to things my children have grown out of. I know many people like to keep the first shoes or a souvenir babygrow, but I am straight down to the charity shop or the recycling box with that sort of thing.
To paraphrase William Morris: if you don't believe something to be beautiful or know it to be useful, what's the point?
So as my children get older, it's interesting to see the things that we keep beyond their active life, and there are a few things I would never part with: their personalised books.
When my daughter was born, our relatives in America sent us this lovely book which spelt out her name as if each letter was a gift from some beautifully drawn animals.
A few years on, when she was in full princess mode, we got a book like this made up as a Christmas gift.
Then last year for our son we picked out a pirate version, which tells the story of him and his shipmates and their teacher.
I know many people think these books are a bit twee, but I think they capture a unique point in our children's lives that will never be repeated. My daughter can't stand princesses now. The friends mentioned in the book have mostly moved away, though some are still around.
I was thinking about these because I was sent some samples of the new It's Your Story books (pictured above). These are different to any I've seen before, because as well as details of your child's life, they also feature your child's picture as they star in their own book. Maybe I'll see if I can get them to do a version for grown ups - I want my own personalised book too now!
What do you think of personalised books? Too twee or a nice keepsake?