Recycle them.

Maybe they are too out of style or too out of shape to put new lenses in, or maybe you just don’t want to. If it never even occurred to you, you’re not alone. Reusing your old frames is just one way of recycling them. The other would be to look up your city’s recycling codes and following them.

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Get artistic with them.

Take them apart and let your kids or grandkids make them into colorful wind chimes or puppets. Let them be the foundation for learning about hot glue and rhinestone accessories. Make sure that they know not to do this with just any old pair of glasses. Put them in frames to decorate your library or use them in photography. Glasses are great for shadow work and they refract light. (Psst-if you homeschool they can be good teaching aides.)

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Donate them.

If you aren’t particularly crafty, or you have just finished spring cleaning which has lead you here, you may just want to be rid of them. You probably spent a good bit of money on them and they may have a few miles left in them. There are a lot of charities that collect glasses to distribute to people who cannot afford them. The Lions Club is the most vocal about this mission. You can ask local hospitals and retirement homes if they need any for their residents as well.

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Give them a final send-off.

Halloween and Christmas are great times to whip out old articles of clothing you don’t mind losing. If you don’t get snow to put your old specs on snowmen, embrace your inner Potterhead or Austin Powers and go trick-or-treating. If you have a dog, be Velma and Scooby Doo. Have fun with it!