Great idea. Probably the best gift I ever gave to my girls were for their high school graduation. For one - though it wasn't inexpensive- I gave her t-shirts (I saved them all from camp, places we'd gone, etc. etc.) and a quilt as made. At 29 (tomorrow) she still has it with her.

For the other one who had won lots of awards I took a scrapbook and a picture of the first day of school. For each year I had the picture and then some work and/or award she had won. Simple and inexpensive so don't forget to take pics on the first day of school! You can really use any picture during that year! Jo

What an excellent idea.  I had never heard of a Memory Jar.  Well it's never too late to start.

I don't quite do a Memory Jar, but I do a Memory Book :)  I scrapbook every occasion.  For me, I like Pictures more than anything else so like Jo said it's very important to take photos!  Sometimes people might role their eyes when I pull out the camera at every little event, but looking back it makes great memories!

I have a memory book as well. My wife and I received it as part of a wedding present and we put keepsakes in it from time to time.

Probably advisable to be verrry selective with grandparents tho:

"Who... did what?"

Love the memory jar idea!  My mother used to keep a jar on her counter, but it was full of chores that we had to pick from if we whined about being bored!  Of course, those created some memories, too...:P

One year, my mother got a book (can't recall the title) for my dad for Father's Day that is basically a journal of his memories, his values, his own family of origin, memories of us as kids, etc.  When we get together, she'll bring it out occasionally and ask him some of the questions in it and fill it in for him (since he refuses to actually write it out).  One day, we'll have those memories to read to his grandkids!  Great gift that will help us keep those important moments, long after we're all gone and later generations want to know about their family.

I think things like memories or things from the heart are so much more special than anything of monetary value. I would rather have something from the heart than an expensive piece of jewelry or whatever.

My younger son who just turned 19 is not at all the type of kid to be mushy or even act like he cares about much. He doesn't hug and says "Uh-huh" when I say I love him. On my birthday, he made me a photo collage with captions from pics I didn't even know we still had on any computer. He found them and put them together and captioned them all with silly things we supposedly were saying. One had me saying to him "I love you!" and him saying "I love you too, mom".  It was buried in there with the silly captions and I happened to see it rather quickly.

I cried because that said it all. He didn't have to say a word. I cherish that collage more than the gift he did buy which I like but...nothing beats memories and from the heart things. :)

When my son was younger, he made me a little bird house in shop class in high school.  I always cherish it ;)

This week, I made pork ribs for the elderly lady down the block, who said pork ribs was her middle name...lol...so we surprised her when she got back from church with a small plate of my bbq'd ribs ;)