Champagne is synonymous with celebration. Rappers lament over ‘popin’ bottles’ but for us normal who don’t have champagne showers, a bottle of bubbles usually signifies a monumental occasion. Whether it’s an engagement, wedding, new house or simply a Friday after a stressful week, it is fun to celebrate life’s milestones. But what do we do when that bottle is empty? We can’t save numerous champagne bottles and although the memories will live on, it’s always nice to have something tangible- a memento.

Growing up, every time my family opened a bottle of champagne for a special occasion, my grandfather would keep the cork. He would cut the bottom, put in 5p and write the date on the top. ‘Keep this somewhere safe,’ he would whisper. ‘And then you will always remember this day.’

Over the years I have consumed quite a few bottles of champagne and no, I haven’t kept every cork, but as I enter a new phase of my life, celebrating the most miraculous moments (engagements, new houses, new babies, etc,), my Grandfather’s tradition has become one of my own. Although not every cork gets a 5p (it’s tough to get international currency) and the introduction of screw caps makes it hard to treasure every wine worthy event, we try to keep the corks to remember all of our greatest moments.

There are many different and creative ways to keep your memorable corks without feeling like a hoarder.  We have a decorative cage spelling out WINE that we put all of our important corks in. We have red wine, white wine and of course, champagne- I can name the occasion at which each bottle was consumed.  I remember them fondly.

There are so many ways to keep corks. You can make a corkboard for your wall, create a backsplash, a place to hold your jewelry or even a chair. Some time on etsy or Pinterest will definitely get your artistic juices flowing. With the great shift toward screw caps, who knows how much longer we will be able to maintain such a fabulous ‘cork keeping’ tradition.

Next time you are celebrating with a bottle, keep the cork. Write the date on it. Make a corkboard. Hold onto those champagne worthy moments- literally.

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