TRAVEL SOUVENIRS

If you’re planning on making travel a regular part of your life, you might want to think about what souvenirs you’d like to collect along the way. Souvenir shops can sometimes be an overwhelming bombardment of cheap knickknacks, so it helps to have a plan in mind before you go. Souvenir collections are such a personal decision, and you should pick something that will bring you joy and will help you remember your adventures. What will you see often and enjoy? What will remind you most about your travels? Would post cards just end up in a dusty album on the book shelf or would you frame them for the walls? Here are some tips for collecting travel souvenirs:

1. I personally like to collect souvenirs that I can organize, group together, and enjoy often. For example, for each city we visit we purchase three magnets; one for our collection and one for each of our parents. My mom has organized her magnets together on this cute framed chalk/magnet board.

2. I also like to collect small, wooden figurines in our travels. This is kind of a specific and curated type of collection and I don’t find something in every city we visit, but I still love how they look together and having them displayed in my home reminds me daily about those trips and how I acquired the pieces. 

3. At the start of our European travels, I slightly obsessed about what souvenirs I could collect for my kids that would continue to be meaningful for them as they grow older. I wanted to pick something that I knew I could find in most cities, would be inexpensive (since I am buying for three kids), and timeless. I decided on collecting patches and figurines from each country we visit. I plan to frame the patches and the figurines will be displayed together on a shelf. 

4. One of my most favorite collections has been the portfolios that I’ve kept for each of the kids as well as for myself. This is an easy and inexpensive collection that anyone can curate. From each destination we’ve visited, I have kept brochures, restaurant business cards, museum maps, and tourist attraction tickets. Yes, it's borderline hoarding collecting all the paper, but honestly, there's no school like the old school. 😎 It took me awhile to figure out how to organize all of these papers, but I finally found the perfect solution with Becky Higgins’ Project Life Envelope Pages. My hope is that when my kids get older and start their own travels, perhaps they will look back at the travel portfolios I collected for them and revisit a restaurant they dined at as a kid. And most importantly, maybe they’ll appreciate how cool their parents are that they took them to so many amazing places! 😉

5. When shopping for souvenirs, don’t just settle for visiting the popular tourist shops hawking the same cheap wares. Think outside the box and visit museum gift shops, book stores, home decor stores, and toy shops. There are usually many treasures to be found and looking for them is half of what makes them so memorable. 

6. I like to collect items that are unique to a specific area and something that the country is known for producing. As part of my planning process, I will often google what products I should look for in the city I’ll be visiting. For example, when I was planning our family trip to Marrakesh, I fell in love with the colorful Berber bread baskets traditionally made by women in the Atlas Mountains, so I knew that I wanted to find those in the souk first. The rug we brought back was not initially part of our plan, but it ended up being one of our favorite pieces. Collect something that brings you joy and reminds you often of your adventures. 

7. And if luxury goods is what brings you joy, remember that Europe is the best place to make those purchases. First of all, the Euro base price for most items is cheaper but then non-EU residents also receive the VAT tax refund which could be anywhere from 9-18%. So if you, for example, are interested in purchasing a handbag from Louis Vuitton, you could expect to pay around 30-40% less than if you were to purchase the same bag in the United States. 

If you’re interested in the different European pricing, check out the brands website and change the location to the European city you’ll be traveling to. It’s easy to compare the pricing and plan your purchases before you travel. Make sure to bring your passport to the shop, as the vendor will have to complete tax free paperwork for your purchase. Click here to learn more about how to shop tax free in Europe. 

*Check out my favorite souvenirs here!