The Best Souvenir Ideas

Is it just me or are souvenirs so hard to buy? I want something to take home as a memento of my trip, but I don't have a ton of money or space and eventually, socks and t-shirts kind of get old. (If those are your things, more power to you!) My family and I have found some fun, low-cost ways to bring home a memory of our trip that we can all enjoy!

Idea #1 is postcards. I've collected postcards on my travels for YEARS! What I love about them is that they are a) cheap, b) small, and c) they showcase where I went. On our trip out West many years ago, I got a postcard from almost every state (I forgot one and I'm still sad) that featured something we saw. I keep them in 4x6 photo albums so storage is easy. I have to admit that I sometimes cannot decide and so end up with more than one postcard from a trip, but hey, they're cheap and small! I have heard of people who mail themselves a postcard from wherever they are, but since postcards are so easy to lose in the mail, I'd rather just buy it and bring it home.

Ornaments are a great memory that can help you relive your trip each Christmas when you decorate the tree! When my family went to Hershey, we found a box of candy ornaments and there were five, so we bought the box and each claimed one ornament as "ours". That way we each have a souvenir but it didn't cost a lot.

A lot of places have fun or unique food that we want to enjoy anyway. Maybe it's fudge on Mackinac Island or beignets in New Orleans but you're going to eat it so turn it into a souvenir! The first way to do that is to take photos of your food and you eating it. Another way is to save some of the packaging (if applicable) as a memory. I cut out part of my fudge box and put it in a scrapbook with other mementos from my Mackinac trips. If you bought something that comes in a cool container, that can become a souvenir as well. Maybe it just becomes a curio or maybe it can be repurposed for another job at your house, but you already bought it so there's a souvenir right there.

I also sort of collect stickers. They are a great low-cost souvenir from everything from concerts to vacations to small businesses that I want to support. I've seen people cover their laptops, guitar cases, and water bottles with stickers from their trips (and many other things as well :) I haven't decided what to do with mine yet, but I have them and they are a great little souvenir from my trips.



My thought when buying a souvenir is "what can I reasonably afford that I like and will use/enjoy and I have space for?" The answers to those questions are going to be different for each person and family, but if spending less and saving space is your goal, then I hope these options will prove beneficial to you or maybe spark an idea in another direction!

What do you collect on your trips? Do you have ideas for us? Leave them in the comments below!