<p>My wedding dress is still boxed in the basement, 27 years old. who knows- the giant sleeves and sweetheart neckline may come back in style some day! </p>
<p>Of course the bridal magazines tell you to have wedding gowns properly “preserved.” I’ve gotta say - how do I know that the gown has been cleaned, or is even in the box the cleaner gives you? When d1’s gown was preserved, they put it in a heavy cardboard box and instructed her to keep it in a cool, dark place. Forever, I guess! Anything could be in that box. Back in the day, wedding gowns were packaged in a box with a cellophane window on the lid, so you could at least see that a gown was in there.</p>
<p>I have my wedding gown, and my mom’s, hanging in a closet in heavy plastic zip-up bags. I’m willing to get rid of them, but so many other things should go first …</p>
<p>I not only have my wedding dress, but my sister’s. Suggested making a christening gown for a grandchild, but DIL wanted a boy outfit. I just hate to throw stuff like that out. I do, however, still have a bunch of toys from my kids and now the grandkids are playing with them. My son LOVES watching his son play with those and says they are so much better than toys available today. I have a set of nesting boxes that were a gift for my oldest. So 34 years ago. It’s grandson’s favorite toy and my DIL is astounded that I have them. Her mom has nothing. She said that after the first three kids grew, her mother got rid of everything and had to get new stuff for the fourth. I wish I had kept even more. They really don’t make toys like they used to.</p>
<p>I’m hanging on to lots of old toys for future grandchildren. I’ve gotten rid of the pink plastic stuff. But we have those wonderful Duplo blocks, waffle blocks, Playmobil sets. I love generic old toys!</p>
<p>I was part of high school production team. Please don’t assume your local HS will take your old clothes of any kind. Most high schools do not have costume shops or storage for costumes. Our school kept very few costumes, and these were specialty items. Sorry to say…old wedding dresses are a dime a dozen, and we could not and would not have accepted them.</p>
<p>They make angel gowns to bury preemies and infants with old wedding and other gowns. Just learned that last night and are they are happy to accept gowns–wedding, formaldehyde, 1st communion, christening, etc. Volunteers clean and then handsew 2-24 gowns out of each dress and ship them to hospitals nationwide. You can search online for angel gowns. There are several nonprofits doing this. </p>
<p>I am keeping the wedding dress longer. I just have boys, but maybe some DIL will want it? Or want to cut it up and use it somehow? If no, I will let my grandkids worry about it. Maybe my granddaughter will want it</p>
<p>Probably not what anyone else would do with theirs but… My grandmother was married for 60+years. She kept her wedding dress. She wanted to wear it or have it put in her coffin and buried with her. I’m not sure exactly sure why she wanted to do that but she did grow up in Lancaster County, PA and although she wasn’t Amish I think they bury the women in their wedding dresses so maybe that’s where the idea came from. So that’s what we did.</p>
<p>Oh, Thumper, LOL. No, I won’t be trying to sell stuff like that on eBay. I have lots of other, better stuff, too.</p>
<p>Not so fast everyone! I attended a beautiful wedding this summer, and the bride wore her mother’s wedding gown – from the 80’s! It was a much more classic gown, however (no big puffy sleeves), and she had it slightly altered to fit her own style. But it was such a wonderful sentiment. Her mom beamed!</p>
<p>One of my friends wore her mom or grandma’s wedding gowns when she was married. It was white satin and slightly discolored in areas despite cleaning, but everyone was very happy and the couple is still happily married these 3 decades later.</p>