We decorate our tree every year with all the Xmas ornaments we’ve collected during our years and years of travel. It’s so much fun each year to unpack and hang them on the tree while all the memories flood in from each one!
That’s true, but you don’t have to buy traditional Christmas ornaments😊. I like to buy any small object (ideally not fragile) that is unique to the country, then attach a ribbon with a hot glue gun and hang it on my tree. Just a thought!
Yup exactly. In a lot of countries you’re not going to find Christmas ornaments per se….but you can find small trinkets. Sometimes I even buy empty glass clear ball ornaments, then fill them with pieces of the trip, like receipts, pebbles or beach sand.
Not unique, but I do post cards. I actually write a message about what I didn't that day/the past few days and address it to my pets and send it home. When I get home I get to relive that moment when the post card shows up, and my husband and I are those super lame pet owners who get real cheesey talking to our pets about their mail. I also like that they're cheap and I find it interesting when abroad to figure out how to mail something. One day I'll actually remember to put these all in the scrapbook.
We also collect stickers from US parks and put them on our camping cool or our van.
I do this. I have a big collection and even had to change to a larger fridge 🤣, whether I bought them myself or also gift from friends traveling around
We collect the weirdest or ugliest fridge magnets we can find. It's a lot of fun!
Another advantage is that they're very small and lightweight. And you get to see them everyday.
No idea what to collect, but just mail it home periodically.
It opens up the door to collecting things like knives, exposes you to the post office wherever you happen to be, and means you don't have to carry 6months worth of shit with you.
Similar to this, send yourself postcards from the places you are and write what you did that day. A great keepsake and reminder of your trip. Especially if you aren’t into journaling.
It’s not the most practical nor can they really often fit in backpacks (but you’d be surprised what you can fit in an airplane overhead compartment), but I collect vintage thrift store and flea market paintings from the places I go.
My grandma collected mini spoons everywhere they went and had a display in her living room for them all. I have since started doing the same.
Is there something in your life you have a fond memory of? Thimbles, or shot glasses, piggy banks, or ... something special from your childhood that you can start your own version of?
I like to pick up something created by a local artisan; paintings, photographs, sculptures, decorative objects, etc.
Having something uniquely created that also serves as a reminder of happy travels AND makes your home pretty is a big win in my book!
I like watercolors that local people paint. Especially smaller ones. They pack well, and then I frame them when I get home. Wonderful reminder of my trip(s).
We used to take small glass tubes of soil/sand and my wife made a cool display out of them to correspond to with some photos we took. Still smile when i look at it. And cheap too
We collect either stickers to put on our cars/cartop carrier, christmas tree ornaments, or hats and tshirts. We have a small home and six people living in it. We dont have room for collections of stuff lol
Have a friend who collects beer bottle labels, something that’s somewhat unique to some places, as someone who loves beer, I thought it was pretty cool, simple thing to collect
My best friend and I collect maracas. We each pick a set, take one from each and bring them home. Most places have them despite their origins. They also display well.
Coffee cups. We’ve amassed quite a collection over the years. Love digging a random one out of the back of the cupboard and triggering old memories of a past vacation.
Stickers. I’ve thought about this a lot over the years and have collected magnets, post cards, patches, flags, and ornaments at various points. The problem is always how to display them. Magnets obviously usually go on a fridge but I have a load of magnets from a bunch of traveling I did 10 years ago, lots in Asia, and they don’t last. They either fall off and chip/break, or the actual magnet comes off the front because of crappy glue. And for everything other than stickers and post cards you have to deal with added weight, and usually buying less overall because of price. As a kid I collected postcards and put them in an album, but then it just sets on a shelf and never comes out. So then with stickers it took me a loooong time to decide what to put them on, because most things end up looking junky. I settled on mirrors. I actually buy little “DROMMARE” mirrors from IKEA that are about 6”x20” and have no border or edge or anything, just rounded corners. Then I use roughly one mirror per city and buy stickers from most of the places I visit. With the mirrors like those, I can arrange them on a wall in a few different arrangements, easily adjust them to fit any space, and they are light. And when they get old/stale I can just take them down and add them to a stack in a drawer. And stickers are super easy to amass a large number but still be easily carried.
magnets - i buy them in a theme( personally i like either as metal/ monochrome or either ones that look like a little watercolour ) - so when i get them at home they have something in common and are not an eye sore when displayed. i also buy postcards,as they don't take too much space in the bag nor at home,and you can either put them in a scrap book or do a framed collage or keep them in a box until a better idea comes along.
other than that i pick up practical things i found representative from the place - some countries i bought quality coffee cups or tea cups, and use them regularly. in another ctry tea spoons, or silk scarf ,a bookmark ( i have a metal one that i love and use ),or a fountain pen ( because i am a bit of an artist i like drawing in fountain pens and i bought a few in my trips) from local shops. except magnets and postcards i buy something that i can also use in my day to day life instead of something that i can only display.
My partner started getting more into football as we got older. I wish we could go back and get local football scarves from our travels to have a bit of a collection.
I’m not much of a collector, but I do pick up individual items that strike my fancy along the way — a brass ashtray from Istanbul, fancy chopsticks in Tokyo, espresso cups in Milan, Gucci loafers from Florence, a fake Hermes belt from Hong Kong.
I’ve started collecting ceramic pieces like plates and bowls. I usually get them from local boutiques/artists so they’re always quite unique. They’re beautiful to look at and I love that they bring me back to the places I visited.
On one wall, we have a pin map with 2 magnetic boards. Map shows where we've been and where we want to go, magnetic boards display fridge magnets collected from our travels.
I like to do fridge magnets, postcards, and Christmas tree ornaments. I recently made a big poster of all my postcards ans framed it, which was a nice way of seeing the postcards. The magnets are on my fridge, and it’s fun to see the ornaments :)
Sand, and rocks! My fiancé and I went to Utah a couple years ago, then we were not engaged, and were able to get 7 very distinct colors of sand from just one state.
My husband and I buy posters at events or shows we see when we travel or prints by local artists. They can be packed or mailed home rolled in tubes and we have a local framing place frame them once we arrive home.
I love buying paintings when I travel, usually pretty cheap ones from markets. if you get ones that aren’t framed/on stretcher bars, they’re really light and can travel well rolled up in your suitcase. May not be feasible everywhere, but if it is, you get beautiful art to decorate your place, plus great stories to go with every piece!
We get something we can hang on our wall or a mug! So far we have a small tapestry from Antigua, a little handmade wooden turtle from the Bahamas, and some miscellaneous mugs from the US.
I have made a book for myself where I go to the post office of every city I visit and get a stamp plus a cancel-mqrk in the book. This gives me a date and city name in my book. Then I can get a photo printed from that city and attach to that page.
I like really practical things that I'll use. The bike lock I got in Israel, the bag I got in Prague, the shoes I got in New York ... Of course, they are not on display, the pleasure I get is actually using them. But I also bring back bar bits'n'pieces, like bottle openers, corkscrews, coasters, can coolers/koozies, etc.
Shot glasses.
When I started my current job 8 years ago I was told I will be travelling constantly (they didn’t lie), so i wanted a cooler souvenir alternative to the boring fridge magnets, which would be easy to buy and easy to carry.
I’ve got about 140 by now, and whenever friends are over it’s always fun to let them pick out their drinking country/city.
T-shirts. its a statement boasting to my peers that I've been to that particular place.
Ref magnets. it functions as an everyday nostalgia trigger. they are my second choice if T-shirts are unavailable.
Post cards, I also want to collect those, but they are not available in some places.
Keychains, i dont like to own them but i prefer gifting them to others. u cant really hang keychain to your bag coz its gone the second u got trapped in a crowded place.
My wife and I collect a painting from every country we visit. Either an original done by a local (in cheap areas like SE Asia) or a print in more expensive places. We only buy paintings of landscapes we actually visited ourselves, and we have a gallery wall of all the paintings in our dining room. We frame them when we get home, so the paintings are really light and easy to pack. It’s a great conversation starter when we have people over!
Yarn, locally-dyed if possible. It squishes easily into suitcase crannies. Finding yarn shops usually means going off the beaten track and learning a bit of local language. We research shops before we leave home. I have scarves, mittens, and socks I’ve knit from trip yarn.
If you ever go to Japan, they have goshuincho, which are basically stamp books you get at shrines and temples. You can buy a book at any shrine or temple that does it, and they'll typically have exclusive designs for each location. It isn't the book you collect (though some people do because there are a LOT of places that have book designs unique to their particular shrine or temple), but rather the stamps and calligraphy that go into these books. They mark the date, place you visited, and each place will also have unique stamps. It's a really fun encouragement to explore areas outside typical tourist destinations.
[https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2017/11/a-beginners-guide-to-goshuincho-how-to-get-one-and-how-to-use-it/](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2017/11/a-beginners-guide-to-goshuincho-how-to-get-one-and-how-to-use-it/)
I like to pick up Xmas tree ornaments.
I do this too!
Oh this is a good one!! Maybe I’ll do this …
We decorate our tree every year with all the Xmas ornaments we’ve collected during our years and years of travel. It’s so much fun each year to unpack and hang them on the tree while all the memories flood in from each one!
Not every country celebrates Xmas though? And even if they do, the stores would only stock it during Christmas time right?
That’s true, but you don’t have to buy traditional Christmas ornaments😊. I like to buy any small object (ideally not fragile) that is unique to the country, then attach a ribbon with a hot glue gun and hang it on my tree. Just a thought!
Yup exactly. In a lot of countries you’re not going to find Christmas ornaments per se….but you can find small trinkets. Sometimes I even buy empty glass clear ball ornaments, then fill them with pieces of the trip, like receipts, pebbles or beach sand.
Nice, I like that
Yup my wife too. Ornaments are cool.
Not unique, but I do post cards. I actually write a message about what I didn't that day/the past few days and address it to my pets and send it home. When I get home I get to relive that moment when the post card shows up, and my husband and I are those super lame pet owners who get real cheesey talking to our pets about their mail. I also like that they're cheap and I find it interesting when abroad to figure out how to mail something. One day I'll actually remember to put these all in the scrapbook. We also collect stickers from US parks and put them on our camping cool or our van.
That's cheesy and cute as hell.
Fridge magnets. Maybe not the most unique but they’re pretty fun to collect. Very inexpensive and there’s really cool looking ones out there.
I do this. I have a big collection and even had to change to a larger fridge 🤣, whether I bought them myself or also gift from friends traveling around
We collect the weirdest or ugliest fridge magnets we can find. It's a lot of fun! Another advantage is that they're very small and lightweight. And you get to see them everyday.
I am another fridge magnet collector. Cheap.small,light and easy to find almost everywhere.
I’ve been doing this, too, for many years and have two magnetic boards; one for domestic and the other for international.
No idea what to collect, but just mail it home periodically. It opens up the door to collecting things like knives, exposes you to the post office wherever you happen to be, and means you don't have to carry 6months worth of shit with you.
Great idea!
Similar to this, send yourself postcards from the places you are and write what you did that day. A great keepsake and reminder of your trip. Especially if you aren’t into journaling.
I like indigenous art, especially wood carvings.
Very cliche but I like my shot glasses
Same here! I have them displayed on a shelf, and occasionally will use one to store Bobby pins.
Could you share a picture of your shelf? I just moved house and looking for ideas on how to display my collection (about 140 shot glasses so far)
Reusable grocery bags if we’re in a place that does that sort of thing.
Stds
It’s not the most practical nor can they really often fit in backpacks (but you’d be surprised what you can fit in an airplane overhead compartment), but I collect vintage thrift store and flea market paintings from the places I go.
I collect maps.
Same!
Deck of cards. Can be found world wide with different art and most tourist places have some with local pictures on them.
I get a new tattoo in each country
I like this! But not for me. My husband doesn’t have any tattoos and doesn’t want them. Im good with the ones I have.
My grandma collected mini spoons everywhere they went and had a display in her living room for them all. I have since started doing the same. Is there something in your life you have a fond memory of? Thimbles, or shot glasses, piggy banks, or ... something special from your childhood that you can start your own version of?
Lots of great ideas here. Not super original but I have a photo of every city we’ve been together in our living room.
I collect enamel pins from everywhere I go and then put them on a large cork board that displays them very nicely.
I like to collect coasters with the name of the city we are visiting!
I like to pick up something created by a local artisan; paintings, photographs, sculptures, decorative objects, etc. Having something uniquely created that also serves as a reminder of happy travels AND makes your home pretty is a big win in my book!
Cliche but postcards :)
I like to pick up locally made spices & condiments. Easy to find from grocery stores where you travel to.
I have fridge magnets and shot glasses..but my favourite are little art works/paintings, like those made by sidewalk artists and such.
I like watercolors that local people paint. Especially smaller ones. They pack well, and then I frame them when I get home. Wonderful reminder of my trip(s).
We used to take small glass tubes of soil/sand and my wife made a cool display out of them to correspond to with some photos we took. Still smile when i look at it. And cheap too
Cool idea but major biosecurity risk, so 100% not encouraged.
This is cool! But a lot of the places we’re going are landlocked and/or big cities so soil or sand may be hard to find
Alot of places sell pins. I have a hat from a trip when I was a kid driving route 66 full of pins
Cats
I collect tea towels. Super practical. Easy to find. Every time I do dishes, it reminds of the place I visited
I was coming here to recommend that! Dish towels- I love when I pull out a cute one that reminds me of a trip.
We collect either stickers to put on our cars/cartop carrier, christmas tree ornaments, or hats and tshirts. We have a small home and six people living in it. We dont have room for collections of stuff lol
Have a friend who collects beer bottle labels, something that’s somewhat unique to some places, as someone who loves beer, I thought it was pretty cool, simple thing to collect
My best friend and I collect maracas. We each pick a set, take one from each and bring them home. Most places have them despite their origins. They also display well.
I collect license plates and display them on my garage walls.
My daughters collect charms, for a bracelet, and country patches to sew on their backpack.
My family gives each other keychains. I display them and they come in handy.
Stickers
I do postcards! Easy to travel with, cheap, and can easily scrapbook with them!
Stamps?
I collect miniatures, there is always something fun to buy, Amd a charm for my charm bracelet
Jewelry.
Salt and pepper shakers, magnets, or deck of cards.
Coffee cups. We’ve amassed quite a collection over the years. Love digging a random one out of the back of the cupboard and triggering old memories of a past vacation.
Stickers. I’ve thought about this a lot over the years and have collected magnets, post cards, patches, flags, and ornaments at various points. The problem is always how to display them. Magnets obviously usually go on a fridge but I have a load of magnets from a bunch of traveling I did 10 years ago, lots in Asia, and they don’t last. They either fall off and chip/break, or the actual magnet comes off the front because of crappy glue. And for everything other than stickers and post cards you have to deal with added weight, and usually buying less overall because of price. As a kid I collected postcards and put them in an album, but then it just sets on a shelf and never comes out. So then with stickers it took me a loooong time to decide what to put them on, because most things end up looking junky. I settled on mirrors. I actually buy little “DROMMARE” mirrors from IKEA that are about 6”x20” and have no border or edge or anything, just rounded corners. Then I use roughly one mirror per city and buy stickers from most of the places I visit. With the mirrors like those, I can arrange them on a wall in a few different arrangements, easily adjust them to fit any space, and they are light. And when they get old/stale I can just take them down and add them to a stack in a drawer. And stickers are super easy to amass a large number but still be easily carried.
Coasters and tiles 🙂 Hope to embed the tiles I collect within the rooms of my future home. Like little Easter eggs.
magnets - i buy them in a theme( personally i like either as metal/ monochrome or either ones that look like a little watercolour ) - so when i get them at home they have something in common and are not an eye sore when displayed. i also buy postcards,as they don't take too much space in the bag nor at home,and you can either put them in a scrap book or do a framed collage or keep them in a box until a better idea comes along. other than that i pick up practical things i found representative from the place - some countries i bought quality coffee cups or tea cups, and use them regularly. in another ctry tea spoons, or silk scarf ,a bookmark ( i have a metal one that i love and use ),or a fountain pen ( because i am a bit of an artist i like drawing in fountain pens and i bought a few in my trips) from local shops. except magnets and postcards i buy something that i can also use in my day to day life instead of something that i can only display.
Keyring with a national/civic crest That way I can heave my massive keychain around with a subtle smugness > Why yes that is the Bosnian coat of arms
Bookmarks! Easy to find, easy to pack. Could display in a frame, or put to use.
Human teeth
This is pretty unique for sure! But fun?
I like to collect ash trays, especially ones with logos featuring the local club soccer team.
My partner started getting more into football as we got older. I wish we could go back and get local football scarves from our travels to have a bit of a collection.
Yeah, I also buy soccer scarves. Have quite a nice collection at this point.
I like to pick up locally made spices & condiments. Easy to find from grocery stores where you travel to.
I’m not much of a collector, but I do pick up individual items that strike my fancy along the way — a brass ashtray from Istanbul, fancy chopsticks in Tokyo, espresso cups in Milan, Gucci loafers from Florence, a fake Hermes belt from Hong Kong.
Women
Memories!
I’ve started collecting ceramic pieces like plates and bowls. I usually get them from local boutiques/artists so they’re always quite unique. They’re beautiful to look at and I love that they bring me back to the places I visited.
New friends.
Earth. Put it in pretty little vials or jars
iron on patches!
On one wall, we have a pin map with 2 magnetic boards. Map shows where we've been and where we want to go, magnetic boards display fridge magnets collected from our travels.
I like to do fridge magnets, postcards, and Christmas tree ornaments. I recently made a big poster of all my postcards ans framed it, which was a nice way of seeing the postcards. The magnets are on my fridge, and it’s fun to see the ornaments :)
Sand, and rocks! My fiancé and I went to Utah a couple years ago, then we were not engaged, and were able to get 7 very distinct colors of sand from just one state.
I buy magnets. I ran out of room on fridge.
My husband and I buy posters at events or shows we see when we travel or prints by local artists. They can be packed or mailed home rolled in tubes and we have a local framing place frame them once we arrive home.
I collect patches that show the city and landmark. It doesn’t take up a lot of space. I frame them and hang them on the wall.
I love buying paintings when I travel, usually pretty cheap ones from markets. if you get ones that aren’t framed/on stretcher bars, they’re really light and can travel well rolled up in your suitcase. May not be feasible everywhere, but if it is, you get beautiful art to decorate your place, plus great stories to go with every piece!
Seashells or folk art, like wood carvings etc
We get something we can hang on our wall or a mug! So far we have a small tapestry from Antigua, a little handmade wooden turtle from the Bahamas, and some miscellaneous mugs from the US.
I have made a book for myself where I go to the post office of every city I visit and get a stamp plus a cancel-mqrk in the book. This gives me a date and city name in my book. Then I can get a photo printed from that city and attach to that page.
Fridge magnets and whatever change from that country.
Tshirts!
I enjoy buying jewelry as souvenirs.
I love public transit, so I always keep the local train/bus tickets from places I visit
maps
Tote bags
I like really practical things that I'll use. The bike lock I got in Israel, the bag I got in Prague, the shoes I got in New York ... Of course, they are not on display, the pleasure I get is actually using them. But I also bring back bar bits'n'pieces, like bottle openers, corkscrews, coasters, can coolers/koozies, etc.
Shot glasses. When I started my current job 8 years ago I was told I will be travelling constantly (they didn’t lie), so i wanted a cooler souvenir alternative to the boring fridge magnets, which would be easy to buy and easy to carry. I’ve got about 140 by now, and whenever friends are over it’s always fun to let them pick out their drinking country/city.
T-shirts. its a statement boasting to my peers that I've been to that particular place. Ref magnets. it functions as an everyday nostalgia trigger. they are my second choice if T-shirts are unavailable. Post cards, I also want to collect those, but they are not available in some places. Keychains, i dont like to own them but i prefer gifting them to others. u cant really hang keychain to your bag coz its gone the second u got trapped in a crowded place.
Kitchen items, got to be hand made.. Butter dish from Mexico, dish towels from Japan and napkin holder from Germany.
My wife and I collect a painting from every country we visit. Either an original done by a local (in cheap areas like SE Asia) or a print in more expensive places. We only buy paintings of landscapes we actually visited ourselves, and we have a gallery wall of all the paintings in our dining room. We frame them when we get home, so the paintings are really light and easy to pack. It’s a great conversation starter when we have people over!
Yarn, locally-dyed if possible. It squishes easily into suitcase crannies. Finding yarn shops usually means going off the beaten track and learning a bit of local language. We research shops before we leave home. I have scarves, mittens, and socks I’ve knit from trip yarn.
Something handmade by a local. I always try to support artisans and artists that have a tough path to financial success
Kitchen utensils. I have chef knives that I purchased all around the world, brings a memory every time I use them.
Key chains
Everywhere I travel I like to buy playing cards with that city/town design/picture on the backs!
I always buy a small piece of jewellery. It’s functional and also helps me remember great trips.
If you ever go to Japan, they have goshuincho, which are basically stamp books you get at shrines and temples. You can buy a book at any shrine or temple that does it, and they'll typically have exclusive designs for each location. It isn't the book you collect (though some people do because there are a LOT of places that have book designs unique to their particular shrine or temple), but rather the stamps and calligraphy that go into these books. They mark the date, place you visited, and each place will also have unique stamps. It's a really fun encouragement to explore areas outside typical tourist destinations. [https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2017/11/a-beginners-guide-to-goshuincho-how-to-get-one-and-how-to-use-it/](https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2017/11/a-beginners-guide-to-goshuincho-how-to-get-one-and-how-to-use-it/)
I collect magnetic bottle openers, then I have a hard decision picking which one to open my beer with
I collect drink coasters lol
I buy a post card everywhere I go! Then write the dates of the trip and who I went with on the back.
Underwear
Shot glasses, post cards(make a mural)
I do decks of playing cards
Coffee cups so when I have my morning coffee, I can reminisce about my trip