Family can be many things to us, but it is definitely where we trace back our roots to. We have several ways to connect with our family, and make sure the family dynamics stay strongly intact. One of the ways you can bestow your family values to your children is by creating family heirlooms for them.
If you work smartly there are some family heirloom ideas you can work with to create something beautiful for your children to hold onto and pass on to the next generation!
Before creating family heirlooms for your children, it is important to understand what exactly can be considered a family heirloom and the importance of the practice.
So, what are you waiting for? Let us dive straight into it!
What is Family Heirloom and Why is it Important?
Before we get into this blog, it is vital that you have a clear understanding of what family heirlooms are and why they are so important to exist in a family.
A family heirloom can be any object that is considered valuable in a family which has been passed down through generations. These objects may be anything, and to an outsider, they may or may not hold any significance or value. But to every member of the family, a family heirloom is one of the most precious and invaluable objects to exist.
These objects can be jewellery, furniture, books, recipes, etc., that has a story behind them which holds the family’s values. Values, yes, that is what we need to focus on when we think about family and heirlooms.
So why are they so important? Each and every family heirloom holds the power to narrate a story of the family and what are the foundational values the family is based on. The oldest family heirloom a family owns will also narrate the history of the family.
The passed-down heirlooms are, of course, very precious to you and your family, but as your family expands through each generation, it also becomes your duty to add to the heirloom collection. An heirloom piece also suggests so much about the time it was first passed down, so introducing a new heirloom from your generation would be a great idea!
Let us now look at five heirloom ideas in which you can introduce new heirlooms into your family that your future generations can cherish and hold onto.
What Are Our Options?
Remember, you can always choose any random object that carries significance to your family. But below, we have curated a list of heirloom gift ideas that are most creative and heartwarming.
Choosing the below heirloom pieces to give your children would add more emotional value and meaning to what you decide to make your heirloom.
1. Handmade Custom Family Portrait
Nothing can bring a family together like a family portrait. In an era of selfies and groupfies, choose to get a custom-made family portrait. Paintings have a strong association with memory, and by creating a family portrait, you are immortalizing every family member through the painting.
Portrait paintings are a better option than family photographs because there is an extra touch of personalization and royalty with handmade portrait paintings.
There are some of the best custom painting services online that you can avail to create the perfect family portrait, which will be cherished through generations.
These paintings can go up on the walls of your family house or family cabin, where everyone gathers for holidays, events and celebrations. The portrait painting will be a reminder of how you will always have your family’s love and strength with you.
2. Family Heirloom Jewelry
Another family heirloom idea that you can pass down to your children is something that you already possess, your jewelry! Jewelry is considered valuable and precious in many families, especially if they are made of precious stones and metals. But what holds most value is the emotional memory attached to the jewelry.
You may own a jewelry heirloom piece of your mother’s grandmother’s and even great-grandmother’s. It might be a simple necklace or an earring, but what makes it so special is that the older generations who wore it have also left a trace of them on it.
While you can choose to keep the handed down jewelry in the family, you could also add a new addition to the heirloom jewelry collection!
3. Family Heirloom Quilt
Now you can wrap the generations that come with your love through a family heirloom quilt! The process of making a family heirloom quilt is equally fun and important to pour in all your love and stories.
To make the quilt, you can choose old clothes like shirts and t-shirts or any fabric that holds a strong memory and sew it together. This adds a lot of sentimental value to the quilt.
Each fabric you use to make your quilt will also have a story of its own that holds great importance!
4. Family Heirloom Recipe Book
Every family will and should have a special dish that is served at holiday celebrations and family events. Some of these recipes are often passed from generation to generation, and they are not usually documented.
What you can do to create a family heirloom is collect all the family recipes and curate a cookbook that can be passed down to the next generations without missing an ingredient or a step. You can bind it well and also add your own newly founded recipes to it.
While making the cookbook, make sure that you put it together in a way that new recipes can be added to it by the younger generations. After all, scrumptious food is always meant to be shared!
5. Family Heirloom Time Capsule
Time capsules need not just be an individual activity; your whole family can participate in creating a personalized time capsule. You can choose a huge chest, trunk or box and decorate it, and this box will be used to store memories, random objects and even notes by the family member, maybe on their birthdays or any other special day.
As years go by, these items can be taken out and passed down individually to the younger members of the family. Apart from that, all the members of the family can sit around the fireplace at the end of the year and go through everything in your customized time capsule.
The more memories, the merrier experiences!
All the above options for family heirloom ideas are not just curated for you to find or make these heirloom pieces but also create beautiful memories through quality time while creating them. All of them naturally become a bonding experience with your family, and you never know how much that can bring a family closer even more.