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I used to buy a stuffed animal from each place that I visited. When I became a travel nurse, the dogs ate all of my stuffed animals back home. At first, I was upset, but then I realized that with all the places I will wind up going, stuffed animals will be too much of a hassle to keep up with. I would still like an item to remind me of each place I've been to though. What do you guys collect as souvenirs?
Magnets for the fridge.
I have a bunch of fridge magnets but, if you put them all in a box, they weigh a lot!! And, now that I have a stainless refrigerator, magnets don't stick!!
You could try postcards which are quite compact and don't weigh a lot. There are some places where it is becoming harder to find postcards since so many people communicate on line now.
Do the postcards go into scrapbooks? memory boxes? Not sure what I would do with them.
Christmas ornaments!
We typically end up buying postcards, Christmas ornaments, coffee mugs, and drink glasses everywhere we go.
I once wanted to collect snowglobes from everywhere we went, but was surprised at how hard they are to find in most locations.
Sometimes we will try to find an item that is unique to a specific location, but we don't always find things that are practical. For example, I collected sea shells and a little sand from a beach vacation. Then when I got home I put the sand and shells in a glass container with a cork lid and placed my favorite picture of us from that trip inside. I display it on my foyer table in the summer months. We got a clay candle holder from a trip to Colorado. The clay used was supposed to be from somewhere local. I keep that placed on my desk. We pick up nice "coffee table books" when we can find them and place them on a table in our living room.
I have also bought my kids t-shirts from every vacation we have taken. I kept them all, and when they graduate from high school my mother in law will make a quilt out of all their vacation t-shirts, as well as school and sports t-shirts. They can have the quilt if they want it, otherwise I will keep it for myself!
Definitely magnets, and usually coffee mugs and keychains from every trip. If something else jumps out at me, I'll buy that as well.
We have gotten out of the habit of buying souveniers that we cannot use regularly. It's just more junk that accumulates dust. I usually buy the boys tshirts or sweatshirts depending on the time of the year. I like buying tennis visors for me. Our main souvenir are our pictures. We do picture books and hang some favorite pics in our home.
I try to buy bowls carved out of a native wood when I travel. I have them displayed around the house. While I usually go for carved wood (because I love the look of it) I have occasionally gotten other carved items - like a jade bowl in China.
I want to do one of these quilts with my Disney shirts. Maybe I should expand it to all of my travels.Quote:
Originally Posted by buzznwoodysmom
Do you do your own scrapbooks or have a company make books out of your pictures?Quote:
Originally Posted by AZ Disney
Same here! And I too was collecting stuffed animals. They had to have something that had the place on them. Like I got a stuffed moose with a t-shirt that said Maine when we went to Acadia. But am out of room now for the stuffed animals, so for now, I just continue with Christmas ornaments. My niece suggested wine glasses as an option for us, but I have not done that yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDuckRocks
My sister has a charm bracelet and buys a charm on each of her trips.
Magnets are easy. I bought a huge magnetic board and an easel and display them that way.
I also collected tiny snow globes but don't suggest that because after all these years they take up a lot of space even though they are very small and some have discolored.
I also have picture books from most places like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Newport..etc...
We do magnets. We are a little OCD about it. For example, in WDW we have magnets for every attraction that they sell them for! Every museum we go to, zoo, etc we snag oneI Never thought about them not sticking to a stainless steel fridge, but that's something to keep in mind for the future.