Smart Souvenir Tips

I'm a sucker for a souvenir shop, I admit that. Whether you're on vacation visiting foreign lands or simply visiting a local attraction, a stop at a souvenir shop is a must for many people. Just walking through and looking at everything the shop has to offer (and the price tags attached) might be enough to satisfy the buying urge. It might also make you realize that your own pictures you've taken during your visit are the best souvenirs you could invest in. Still sometimes that urge to shop can't be quelled and souvenirs must be bought. But wait! Before you purchase that Grand Canyon toilet seat cover, let's talk.

What was the most memorable part of your trip or visit? What did you enjoy the very most? What are you going to want to remember forever? If it's the bathrooms you found most memorable then by all means, go with the toilet seat covers! Picking a souvenir that's relevant to your place of travel, to you personally and to the memories you'd like to preserve seems like an obvious idea, I know. But if you're like me you might get a little excited and overwhelmed while cruising the isles of souvenir land, not to mention being tired from the long day behind you. This sometimes leads you to the desperate grabbing-of-anything-near-the-register kind of shopping that will no doubt result in wasted money and undesirable trinkets instead of taking the time to shop for something you'll enjoy and which you deserve after a long day seeing whatever it was you were there to see.

Here's a few tips for shopping for that perfect souvenir.

Souvenirs that can be added to or be made into some sort of collection to be displayed or used is a great way to get to see, talk about and remember your trips regularly. Also souvenirs that are related to who you are back in the real world makes the item so much more personal. For instance, are you a chef? Get spoons to display on a rack or kitchen signs in different styles and languages. A coffee-aholic? how about coffee mugs? Sportsman? Caps or hats of local sights or styles.Business folk? Pens, nicely displayed in a cup on their desks to be used and talked about by customers or clients. Teacher? Maps of the area you visited. Casual Dresser Expert? The ever loved t-shirt! Personalizing your goodies makes souvenir shopping easier and more fun.

Shot glasses are something that's easily found and can even be used. I've seen people's shot glass collection and they make a very cute and fun display. Maybe you've traveled around Ireland or the East Coast and you've hit all the local hot spots, clubs, pubs and bars. Shot glasses are a perfect way to remember those places. Similarly, coasters are also something to collect. You can typically buy coasters but there's also a more personal way to remember your adventures. Most places supply the more sturdy, corky/cardboardish coasters, some even have the name of the establishment on them already. I suggest grabbing ones that aren't used but gently used ones are also a charming touch. Later you can use a Sharpie to personalize the coaster. Include where you got it and the date you were there. You can even add a quick memory such as "best fries in town!" or "Molly had too much to drink" or even that hot chicks phone number who actually talked to you.

While on vacation be sure to hold onto small things that you wouldn't normally consider. Making a photo album/scrapbook from your receipts, ticket stubs, museum/theme park/tour guides, doodles on napkins, maps etc. is so much fun. You don't have to attend a scrapbooking class to put together a memory book of your own. Use these small items as well as your photos and postcards then grab some markers and decorate the pages drawings pictures from places you went, jotting down things that happened and words people said. One of our families most prized souvenirs is our memory book from a summer we went to Sweden. I made it years before scrapbooking became popular and it's still fun to look at. There's pages dedicated to each family member, to moods we went through and to foods we ate as well as sights we saw and places we stayed.

Helping kids pick out appropriate souvenirs can be challenging. Of course they want the fun shiny gift that will most likely not represent anything from where you've been. The remote control spinning sucker for instance, cause nothing says "The Louvre" like spinning sugar on a stick! Don't ask your child what they remembered most because what they remembered most will be something like, "When I got lost at the zoo" or "When mommy had a break down in the cactus gardens." While that might be funny later (six years later it's still not funny!!), try asking instead what they enjoyed the most and pick something accordingly.

Snow globes are great for kids and just a really fun way to display where you've been. Using that trusty Sharpie you can write the date you were there on the bottom. Small figurines representing your travels can be displayed in the child's room or in a tiny nick-knack display case. Magnets of all shapes and designs can be stuck to and played with on the fridge. Key chains are easy to shop for and fairly inexpensive. You can clip them to backpacks or maybe hang them on a string on the wall in the kids room. Pencils are another good idea. They're useful and it's easy for your kids to share memories of their trip with their friends if using them at school.

My number one Smart Souvenir Tip is a simple one. Postcards. No matter where you visit, if you get nothing else, get a postcard. This is something I've done for each of my kids since they were born. Every place I go, be it a vacation or just a day trip to the museum, I get them each a postcard. I let them pick the one they like most, if there's a variety. Once we get home or to the hotel I write their name and date on their card. Then I ask each to tell me about the day and what they most enjoyed. I try to write down their exact words as memories on the back of the postcard. This can sometimes be sweet, sometimes hilarious and sometimes embarrassing (the meltdown in cactus gardens) but it will always be entertaining and personal. If there's room I try to attach a ticket stub or tiny memento such as a sea shell they found. If they're too young to verbalize what they liked then write what you want them to remember from that day. That might work when they get older too so there's a chance that wandering the zoo alone..for a half hour.. won't be the first thing they think of from that nice summer day back in 2003. You can either just keep them in your suitcase or mail them to yourself so you can have the local stamps and postage as part of your memory. You can keep these postcards in a shoe box or in some sort of album. A Personalized Postcard Collection is like reading through pages of a travel journal and makes for a fun, personal and relevant souvenir.

So remember these tips next time you're souvenir shopping.
Make it relevant to where you've bee, who you are and what you've experienced.
Personalize your memories, adding hand written thought and always the date you were there.
Finally, leave yourself plenty of time to shop. Make shopping for souvenirs part of your trip instead of just leaving it for the last second. Don't expecting to find what you want 10 minutes before they close or at the airport on your way out of the country. Desperate Buyer Mode only leads to a handful of junk that cost too much and that don't mean anything in months, let alone years, to come.

These are a few of my ideas. I'd love to hear some of your souvenir buying ideas too!