Fluff: how long do you keep birthday cards displayed?

I still vividly remember the first time I found out that people do this. As a teenager I gave a handmade birthday card to one of my best friends and watched as she smiled, thanked me, read it, and then turned around and put it straight into the trash. I was absolutely stunned and crushed. (and no, I never gave her a card ever again). 

I've gotten somewhat less sentimental as I've gotten older. As a teenager, I kept everything. Now I keep a selection of special things and I go through regularly to see if they're still special, like the one card that got torn in the mail that is the only example I have of my Poppa's handwriting. I guess if I'd thrown it away right when I got it it wouldn't really matter. Maybe I wouldn't even have realized that I'd never seen my Poppa write anything. But I kept it a while and then he died and I realized this was it - the one physical proof of his caring about me.  

I am always vaguely disgusted when I get a $5 Hallmark card with a scrawled signature and nothing more - I wonder why the person even bothered. What a waste. I'd rather just get a post it note at that point. And I don't keep every handmade card either. I do see now, better than I did as a teenager, that the purpose of a card is to convey a message of love and once it has done that, it has served its purpose. But I am still loathe to toss a beautiful image right into the trash - I guess I feel like it's less wasted if I display it for a little while and enjoy it.    

About a week. My sister and I celebrate our birthdays together and it's a family event, so I cut the fronts from the cards and use them on my scrapbook page of our Birthday party! Yeah, I know they aren't acid and lignin free, whatever. They will be fine.

I don't display them at all.  I've never been big on birthday celebrations so when I get cards, they are read, appreciated, then tossed.

I've never displayed cards. Even Christmas cards.

My birthday was mid May and I took them down around June 1st or so.  I have a few taped up at work that I haven't tossed yet.

Cards I get from my mom, my kids or my DH actually go in the scrapbook in a pocket page.  Cards that come from coworkers,etc I sometimes save but usually don't.

This kind of hurts. Not because I even send cards anymore except to my mom, but my mother reads 50 cards before she finds just the right one. She just writes, "Love you, Mom" It does take the person thinking to even get you a card, going to the store, then selecting it, then buying it, getting your address on it, a stamp and getting it to a mailbox. If they hand it to you a few steps fewer. But not thoughtless at all. Maybe you could look at it a bit differently because being disgusted seems a bit much toward someone who remembers you with a card.

Yes, you're right. And yes, disgusted was the wrong word. (If I'm disgusted it's with Hallmark and their awful cards, not the person who sent me the card). I guess I feel let down when I see a barely legible scrawl from my MIL who sends cards that reflect what she *should* be thinking and feeling about us, that are in no way reflected in her actions towards us. She's a person who will send you a loving card on day, and the next, accuse you of stealing from her. (My feelings towards her are part of this, obviously).

I definitely do appreciate that the person thought of me and sent me something. And yes, some people do spend ages choosing just the right card.

The people who tend to do this in my life might be trying to be thoughtful, but they just don't know me very well, because they don't really care very much about me. That was coloring my reaction to their card giving habits.   

I keep cards. These days I get so few, that I treasure them. In a box/basket where I might not see them for a while, but they are treasured. In fact, the only valentine card I got was my XH2 nieces' former MIL (got that??). She makes cards, as does my SIL makes cards, and I always keep hers because I know the effort that goes into them. And they do get scrapped.

When my sons were growing up, we put cards up on the mantle. July and August were "birthday season" me, 2 of my sons, and then my XH within 3 weeks - so cards were only there until the next batch went up

I might stand them on the kitchen counter for a day or two, then they start to annoy me and they get tossed. I'm not sentimental about cards. 

I display them on the fireplace mantel for about a week.

Just long enough to make if from my hand into the recycling.

Unless they're really funny... Then I'll hang on to them. I don't ever display them though.

The responses are surprising to me. I keep them displayed for a week and I keep every single card. I didn't know people just threw them away (no judgement)! 

I make cards, it can take me a while to make a card for someone. I usually customize it so that it's what the recipient likes (favorite color, sequins, etc...). But I will be sad to know if it just ended up in the trash. Actually I rather not know. But I also understand that people don't want to have a lot of stuff laying around.