Fun Souvenir

Okay, this is not an original idea in the least, but I just did this after our last vacation and now I am always going to go this route, so thought I would share.

DH always wanted to go to Mount Rushmore, so we took a three week road trip from SC up to SD (and ND) and all the way back down to TX, then across the south (I wanted to finish up hitting all fifty states). ANYWAY, I took a great photo of him in front of Rushmore and ended up having a photo mug made for him as a surprise.

HE LOVES THAT MUG!

I decided that even though I don't need any more coffee mugs, I am going to take one great photo from each future trip and make us coffee mugs. What a great way to remember those trips each night as sit and sip our coffee?!

That is an original idea -- if you have room for all those mugs. (Pun intended :)

My husband and I play cards most evenings so we buy playing cards with maps or sites on them as our souvenirs. They bring back happy memories.

Okay, this is not an original idea in the least, but I just did this after our last vacation and now I am always going to go this route, so thought I would share.

 

DH always wanted to go to Mount Rushmore, so we took a three week road trip from SC up to SD (and ND) and all the way back down to TX, then across the south (I wanted to finish up hitting all fifty states). ANYWAY, I took a great photo of him in front of Rushmore and ended up having a photo mug made for him as a surprise.

 

HE LOVES THAT MUG!

 

I decided that even though I don't need any more coffee mugs, I am going to take one great photo from each future trip and make us coffee mugs. What a great way to remember those trips each night as sit and sip our coffee?!

I'm the Christmas ornament person - every new port or trip earns an ornament, but not necessarily a traditional ornament. From Alcatraz I have a cell key - from Greece and Egypt, an evil eye - from Panama, a carved necklace shortened to fit. Whatever makes your eyes sparkle as you remember the fun!

I am the postcards from every port. I don't mail them, I write the date we went there, and put them in a photo album.

We had a photo put on to a travel mug that we now take with us on cruises.

We do fridge magnets. They are inexpensive, take up little space, and are an omnipresent reminder of our travels.

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I've been buying hats as souvenirs.

Each hat gets one airing, at dinner that night.

Then it goes in a drawer, never to see the light of day again.

I think mebbe photos on mugs are a better idea :D

JB :o

But I also buy little pictures, & postcards to frame.

Inexpensive, no risk of damage, no problem of overweight luggage. OK if you've got plenty of wall/shelf space

My mother buys tea towels everywhere she goes.

I go for jigsaw puzzles; right now I'm struggling with a 2,000 piece one of Neuschwanstein Castle from our Danube river cruise.

I'm another one who likes the fridge magnets - small and they're useful. I'm an avid photographer so I make photobooks for each of our trips - lots of websites available but I use SmileBooks. We've been taking longer cruises so sometimes it takes more than one book - 3 for our Australia/NZ cruise and it looks like our upcoming Great Britain/TA is going to take 4 books.

I'm another one who likes the fridge magnets - small and they're useful. I'm an avid photographer so I make photobooks for each of our trips - lots of websites available but I use SmileBooks. We've been taking longer cruises so sometimes it takes more than one book - 3 for our Australia/NZ cruise and it looks like our upcoming Great Britain/TA is going to take 4 books.

Im a fridge magnet person also. I often stand in front of the fridge and look at where I've been. I get a bit upset when friend's kids see fit, without asking, to take them off the fridge. If they get broke I can't replace them and they did break one. When I was growing up we wouldn't have thought of touching something at someone else's house without asking, now it seems they don't teach that. Well none that I know which includes family.

I blew up a picture I took in Cozumel on our last cruise and framed it. It's hanging in our bedroom so we can dream of going back.

I'm a Christmas ornament person too - although I sometimes need to be creative when I can't find an actual ornament. I now have over 100 and with 2 cruises booked so far this year, just plan on adding to the collection. They are a great reminder of places we have been.

Marianne

We also collect playing cards.

The last few cruises we started buying tea towels. Drying the dishes reminds us of our great vacations.

One of my favorite ideas was one that I read on another thread. They buy a bottle of liquor from their ship, and when they get home they set it on their counter. On the night before they leave for their next cruise, they open the bottle and drink a toast to their next adventure. I guess this isn't really a souvenir, but I thought it was neat.

How about putting the photo on a mouse pad?

We really enjoy a wide variety of music from different parts of the world, so have recently begun collecting CD's of local music. Reggae, steel drum, Hawaiian slack key guitar, mariachi, Greek melodies, Celtic folk songs...just about anything. We've also bought the music CD's of some performers on the ships. When we get home we listen to them periodically and also upload favorite songs from each CD into our iTunes library. From there, they go into our iPod that we can enjoy anywhere.

These are all cute ideas. For us, however, we are at the point where we don't need another magnet, mug, deck of cards, tea towels, well, you get the picture.

So, rather than buying a lot of souvenirs, we have decided to really think about that one item which will last and be treasured as a remembrance of the trip. For instance, 18k gold hoops from Florence, olive oil from Orvieto, lap robe from Scotland.....

I buy earrings for myself, and shot glasses for my house in Mexico. I also always pick up a t-shirt from the dive shop we use.

We also do Christmas ornaments. Some are originals. Came home with a unique stone from one trip. Hubby drilled a hole in it for hanger and we wrote date and place on it. Have also blown up a few pictures we've taken that hang in our home.

I bring back t-shirts and elephant figurines.

Years ago, DH bought me a charm bracelet. Every time we go on vacation, I get a charm representing the vacation. After a short time, we just go a cruise ship charm as a placeholder for all our cruises, but it still weighs a ton!

I wear it often and enjoy telling people what each charm represents.