I'm curious! What are your favorite souvenirs from your trips? Do you enjoy or use them at all or do they end up in a box somewhere or sitting on the shelf collecting dust.

What makes good travel souvenirs???

For me the best souvenirs are always our pictures but I do try to pick up a Christmas ornament from each area. I look for something evocative of the region I'm visiting.
Our travels are mostly Spring or Summer so opening each ornament at Christmas time brings back memories and I start anticipating the next trip.

I like beer and wine coasters. Mrs. Fly collects Christmas ornaments from around the world. Got some strange ones from Japan.

I also buy something for my Christmas tree wherever we travel, going back to our honeymoon in 1971.

But I also try to buy goods that are particular to a region...usually items that are useful, but some that are just pretty, i.e., watercolors.

Buy something that you will use for years. The best souvenir I ever bought was on my first trip to Europe in 1982 -a Swiss Army knife. I still use it. I have also bought a cuckoo clock when i was in Germany.

I like to find things that remind me of some part of the trip (as opposed to just buying kitschy crap at a stand). One of my favorite items that I've found is a toast rack. In London, my mom and I stayed at a bed and breakfast that served toast in one of those little racks. They had some racks that actually spelled out T-O-A-S-T in the tines of the rack. I found one at a home store near our B & B and I use it as a napkin holder or a letter sorter...etc. I like it because it reminds me our time in London. I suppose I could actually use it as a toast rack, but I don't typically serve toast that way! Anyone who sees it always asks me what it is, and I like to tell them.

I always buy the little desk calandars, either for the current year or for next year, which is ususally the case if you travel anytime after March. I have a corner of my desk that I stand up the collection and it reminds me everyday where I've been and where I'm going. This year my collection is Paris/Provence/ Switzerland and Italy...these are also easy things for friends to bring home as a small gift for me.

I also like to bring home dish towels from wherever we go. They are easy to pack and when I use them at home they bring back memories of that place. I have found them in pubs and churches and castles. I bring them back for other people as well and they do not take up much space. When I buy them at - for instance - a place like Scone Palace in Scotland, I ask the clerk for extra bags so each gifted dish towel can be given in a bag from the place where it was purchased.

I buy fabric, ceramics, china, etc. Things that I use and see every day. Not something to dust.

Anything I can use in the kitchen or on the dining table.

And from London; a Links of London Sweetie bracelet with silver London-themed charms.

For myself, I buy something each year from Café de Flore...a tea cup, cup and saucer, etc. We often eat breakfast there, so it's a nice reminder. We also brought home a jar of mustard from Boutique Maille, and for the kids, we brought home the prettiest little mustard jars, with an assortment of small jars of mustard. I love that shop! We also bring home tea from Mariages Frères, from the Grand Epicerie at Bon Marché, and Côte d'Or chocolate from any grocery store, including Monoprix. My parents love it, and so do the kids We bought a beautiful little dress for our granddaughter from a little shop on the rue Jacob, at #33, called Petit Faune. In answer to your question, I like souvenirs that can be used, not on a shelf collecting dust.

Lorac, I like the idea of bringing home a Christmas ornament... don't think I've ever seen any, though.

Sandy

We also bring xmas decorations home. Sometimes they are actual ornaments for the tree, others are just cool keychains etc that we turn into ornaments. Makes xmas very special!

My favorite souvenir is chocolates. Yes I use them (very quickly I might add) and no, they do not end up in a box or on a shelf collecting dust. My second favorite is calendars, and once again I do use them, although they tend to last about 11 months and 28 days longer than the chocolates. Other than that, I hardly ever buy any souvenirs.

I rarely buy any souvenirs for myself on my trips. My photos, used tickets, brochures, journal, etc are enough to evoke memories. The few times I did buy something was something I could wear - silk scarves or jewelry. But it either has be a great deal or something very out of the ordinary for me to buy it.

The best type of souvenir that you can bring back from your travels are the memories that will forever be stored in your heart. (Someday when you die, the pictures you've taken will go out in the trash, the touristy souvenirs will be sold for pennies at a garage sale, but your memories will be forever yours no matter where you end up.) Live it up while you're traveling and you'll always remember the great times you had. Eat, drink and be merry!

I collect blue and white pottery/dishes for my blue and white kitchen. So, I've bought plates from Rome, Paris and Prague that are prominently displayed on the kitchen wall. I always make sure to buy a key chain, sticker and shot glass from each city too. Yes, I have no imagination. lol

My daughter collects glass snowglobes, so she has one for every place that we've visited.

For me, it's mainly the pictures I take.
For DH, it's beer coasters-- we frame them ourselves when we get home-- so we have one from each trip on our basement/bar walls-- they end up looking really cool.
And we usually end up with a christmas ornament, though it's usually a keychain!
And for friends/family, it's calendar, tea towels are a great one, and interesting food stuffs!

Scarves, dish towels, olive dish, calendars, mustards. After I get home, I buy a poster size frame and put postcards, used metro tickets, museum passes, store receipts, hotel business cards, train tickets, etc. and hang them in my hall. Every time I pass them, I'm reminded of my trips.

We always try to get a christmas ornament, a small sketch or water color of a famous site in the town or village that are sold by street artists (Brugge, Prague and Rothenburg are great for these) or from a locally recommended shop; chocolates or wine(consumables are always nice), scarves, small and packable things are key. yes, we use or display virtually all of the 'stuff'.

Pictures taken on my trips are all over my house. Some things I have brought home - a 4'x6' hand woven wool rug from Ronda, Spain; cava from Barcelona; a leather jacket and gold ring in Italy; jerk spices from Jamaica - you get the idea. Something native to the country...I don't buy tchotkes (sp?)

A good souvenir to me is one that I can use, will remind me of the trip, and that I could probably only find (or buy at that price or quality) in that country.

Karen