Love traveling and want to keep a souvenir but don’t know what to start collecting or have nowhere to keep them? Keep reading while I share my experiences and thoughts on travel keepsakes!
Like most, I have friends and family members who have traveled and now have trinkets all over the house. This can add random clutter to your house and more housework. If you are a busy parent like me, you do not have time to dust more things or child-proof more spaces. Below I will share my 4 least favorite “typical souvenirs” and my top 4 favorite options for various reasons.
As a reminder, I am only sharing my thoughts and experiences with each type of souvenir. I mean no disrespect to those who may love a certain type of souvenir. Anything that reminds you of a certain trip or destination is the perfect souvenir for you!
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Top-Least Favorites
4. Shot glasses
Pros: Can be common in big tourist sites especially in USA, unique designs but would “match” in a collection,
Cons: very fragile to get home, fragile to store at home and easy to knock over (not ideal with small children or animals) not very practical unless you do a lot of shots regularly and don’t mind risking wear and tear on the designs, take up space to display at home, not easy to find in other countries
3. Figurines
Pros: Easy to find some type of figurine in most places, cute and can clearly remind you of a place you visited.
Cons: Can be fragile to bring home, and take up a lot of space displaying. They might look cute in a store but once you put all of your figurines together at home they might not look as nice with mismatched sizes and styles. This also adds to more things around the house to take up space and dust.
2. Spoons
Pros: Very small, easy to get home, easy to store/ display if you have a display case, uniformity (same item but different handle decoration)
Cons: Not very common anymore making them more difficult to find, another trinket to collect dust and take up space, seems very outdated with today’s style and home decor.
My grandmother has all of her spoons displayed nicely in her home and it seems fitting, but would not match as well in my home.
1.Snow globes
Pros: Fairly common, many designs that look nice
Cons: Very difficult to get home. Snow globes are very fragile but they are also LIQUID. If you are flying and only have a carry-on you will only be able to bring a small one home. It technically needs to be under 3 oz and fit in your quart-size baggie. While I have seen some people make it through, I have seen even more people be stopped and forced to throw them away or go back to mail them! I, personally was stopped and told I had to fit it into my baggie, requiring me to unwrap it, fit in my baggie, show the TSA agent then go through security and re-wrap it so it was protected. They also become difficult at home with mismatched styles, dusting, and frailness.
Now onto my favorites!
4. Magnets
Pros: Small and easy to fit into your bag, designated place when you get home (fridge or magnet board), they do not require much dusting or care, pretty common in most places offering a lot of designs.
Cons: If you get anxious by over-cluttered surfaces, this could spark that issue if you collect too many.
3. Pressed Pennies (or coins)
Pros: Very common in all sorts of locations, not limited to big tourist sites. I have many from when I was a child from zoos, aquariums, and museums. Very small! Easy to carry around on vacation, pack to bring home and store! I keep mine in a small box- hardly takes up space and NO DUSTING! Cheap souvenir (usually less than a dollar)
Cons: traditional machines may be dying out but many are being replaced with card reader options, sometimes still need to have quarters and pennies on you,
Find penny machines on your next trip! Search Google Penny Press Finder (also can add location name) to find different websites with locations!
2. Postcards
Pros: Very common (as a collection and available for purchase), very easy to store and bring home, can also be a very inexpensive souvenir option, easy to store at home (I keep them in a box that requires no dusting and is easy to pull out to share), easy to remember certain places or sites and guarantee you a great photo of a certain place without people in the background
Cons: Easy to damage but I always have a journal with me so I put them in there to get home
When I travel abroad I like to mail at least 1 postcard to myself to enjoy the post markings; however, it can be difficult to do correctly. I have had a couple not make it back to me.
1. Tree Ornaments: every year I put up a little tree that only has my ornaments from trips that I have taken. They are low maintenance and I get to enjoy them and relive my trips once a year.
Pros: they have an obvious place to go in the house (ornament box), no dusting or added space taken up since they are not up all year round, no concerns of mismatching since that is normal,
Cons: Could be fragile to get home, could be difficult to find a “Christmas ornament” in some places or at certain times of the year. But try to find small trinkets or key chains that you can add a string to! You could also go home and order online if do not mind that you did not purchase it there. To be honest, I have purchased a couple of my ornaments online because I could not find one I liked but I also thought of this idea after I had gone on several trips. Do not be afraid to order something, just because it was not purchased there does not mean it cannot remind you of your trip. Search on for ornaments on Amazon or fill out your tree with these cute inexpensive travel ornaments here.
Comment below what you think about my rankings and please share what your favorite type of souvenir to collect is or favorite thing that you have brought home from a trip!
Excited to start collecting something? Feel free to reach out to me for help planning your next trip! I am a licensed travel agent.