Why Did We Keep Boxes Full of Childhood Treasures as Kids?

Talking about hanky boxes this week reminded me just how important boxes were and are to kids.

When I say boxes I mean boxes for keeping little important things inside. Treasure, trinkets, gumball toys and papers for instance.

My hanky box, which I still have, was for all my small papers connected to my passion for Kung Fu and the martial arts in the early to mid-Seventies. Things like postal order stubs, snippets from comics, gum cards and little drawings and notes. Its pictured below, the 'budo' box.

I must have had other boxes but just can'r recall them.

My daughter's old treasure box is still in our loft. Its stuffed with all those bits of magic she found throughout her childhood. A lump of Fool's Gold, her first teeth, some home-made cards, some small pebbles, a Garbage Pale Kids card, a scratch 'n' sniff card and perhaps my favourite's, a dried sea-horse and a puffin's beak.

This box reminds me of a Victorian's cabinet of curiosities and the very essence of collecting, to bring things you love together in one place. It must be in us all from birth!

Nowadays there are loads of boxes and pots around our house and all of them have random artefacts inside - batteries, dried roses, scissors, Lupe, pens and a small bible. These lack the passion of my youth and are more practical than anything. However, its a similar impulse having them around.

More akin to those old treasure collections, I do still have modern boxes full of loose small vintage toys like SpaceX and loose parts like spacemen and bits that have fallen off. These are a reminder of the treasures boxes of childhood for me.

Did you and do you have trinket boxes full of your special things?