Keepsake Boxes

Memory box or keepsake box: how they differ

The two names overlap and are often used for the same thing. Memory box is the name people tend to give a roomier box that gathers a whole chapter of life in one place: the photographs, the tickets, the letters you could not throw away. A keepsake box is more likely to be a smaller one, kept for one treasure or one day. Whichever you call it, the point is the same: a closed box keeps the things inside together and out of the dust, ready to be opened on the days you want them.

Tooth boxes, curl boxes and certificate boxes

Some of our boxes are made with one particular keepsake in mind. Among them are curl boxes, for a lock of hair from a baby's first haircut, and tooth boxes, for the first milk tooth. That tooth usually comes out around the age of six, so a tooth box is often given early and put away until the day arrives. Small silver boxes for a tooth and a curl have long been a traditional christening present. Some of ours are made to hold a certificate, keeping an important piece of paper with the keepsakes it belongs to.

How to pick a keepsake box

Start with what will go inside. A curl or a single tooth needs very little room, while a stack of drawings or a bundle of letters needs a larger box. Then think about where it will sit: a box on a dressing table or a shelf is on show, but one kept in a drawer can be plainer. Among our boxes you will find some in white, which sit quietly in a child's room, some with a printed design, and some in metal with a silver finish that suits a christening. Photographs you want to see daily belong in a frame; a memory box is for the ones you want to keep for good.

Birth, christening and wedding keepsake boxes

A box to mark a birth makes a lovely gift for parents in the first weeks with their baby, while the congratulations are still arriving, and some of ours are made for exactly that. Some suit a christening, and a few suit a baby shower, where guests can write a note for the baby to read years later. A baby keepsake box is a present for the child's room and the years ahead, never a toy, so it belongs on a shelf rather than in the toy basket.

You will also find boxes made for a wedding, and a few with couples in mind: a place for the invitation, the order of service, a pressed flower from the bouquet and the cards from the day.

What to engrave on a keepsake box

Some of our boxes can be engraved, which turns a gift into a record of the day it marks. We do not engrave, so they come plain, ready for your own engraver. Short wording reads best: a first name and a date of birth, initials and a christening date, or two names and a wedding date. Before the box goes to your engraver, we suggest writing the wording out in full, checking the spelling of names and deciding how the date should be set out.

Storing curls and teeth, and looking after silver plate

Keep the box somewhere dry and out of direct sunlight, which fades photographs and yellows paper. Make sure a tooth is clean and completely dry before it goes in, and tie a curl with thread or wrap it in acid-free tissue so it stays together.

Some of ours are plated in real silver, a thin layer over a base metal. Silver darkens slowly in air, so buff the box now and then with a soft silver cloth rather than an abrasive polish, which can wear through the plating, and keep it away from rubber bands, which tarnish silver quickly. A white or printed box needs only a soft, dry cloth.