Anonymous wrote:I can't believe you guys buy all this crap. This is why people have storage units. How many magnets and coffee mugs can you POSSIBLY need? And what the hell are you DOING with all this sand and beach stuff you're collecting? Looking at it? Dusting it?

Do you have zero confidence in your memories?

Yep! Not all of us are minimalists.

We buy things that the place is known for. Example: mahogany masks from West Africa, baskets from Rwanda, lava rock plant from Maui or leather goods from Argentina. Or cute everyday objects that we found in local markets, like a ceramic garlic grater from Spain, a hand painted kid's growth chart made by a local artist in Nova Scotia, etc.

Love the postcard idea.

We usually get Christmas ornaments, but when I can find something I like, I have also gotten charms for my cool charm bracelet (that will one day get passed down to DD)!

I like to pick up things I'll use/display when traveling. So we have a handmade ceramic spoon rest in the kitchen made by a local artist in San Juan, a tin piece of art hanging on our front door from New Zealand, a funky painted end table we picked up in the outer banks, a globe with markers for the places we've visited from London, a brightly colored butter dish we brought back from Amsterdam, an antique green vase we found in a little shop in Ann Arbor, etc.

christmas ornaments, refrigerator magnets.

I can't believe you guys buy all this crap. This is why people have storage units. How many magnets and coffee mugs can you POSSIBLY need? And what the hell are you DOING with all this sand and beach stuff you're collecting? Looking at it? Dusting it?

Do you have zero confidence in your memories?

Anonymous wrote:Artwork. Small watercolors/oils of the places visited. Something that hangs. We have quite a collection on one wall.

Us too! I used to buy other junks but ended up throwing it away because it takes space. But small prints or paintings are still hanging on the wall. I also framed some linen towel from Ireland and Portugal, batik from Sri Lanka.

Don't know if they make them anymore, but I had a friend who collected thimbles. She kept them in a bowl on her coffee table so her visitors could pick them up and look at them. It was kind of fun.

Years ago, I had an older friend who collected sugar packets from restaurants where she travelled. Kind of gross, but interesting. (Same theory as matchbooks--they had the restaurant name on them.)
Cheap, too.

I used to collect tacky souvenir tiles--I have quite a collection, but they are tacky. So, don't do that.

The postcard suggestion is good. Buy a postcard from the place, and be sure and write what you did--not just the sites, but what restaurant you ate at and where you stayed. Years later, this will mean a lot. You can always find books about the museums, etc, but it is the little vignettes that you want to write on your postcard. Put them in a photo book that is clear on both sides (the kind that flip) so you can see the front and back of the postcard. Great memories. Wish I had done this (I had a friend who travelled extensively and always wrote her mom. Her mom saved all the postcards and friend has a terrific journal of her travels.)

we don't go out of our way to buy souvenirs. If something really strikes me I will buy it, but I don't buy something just for the sake of having a souvenir. I do like Christmas ornaments and that was something my parents always did.

Ornaments. It's fun to remember vacations each year as we unpack the boxes.

We usually get a Christmas ornament, and then if I see something nice that is representative of that place then I will pick that up as well. Once in a while I'll get a piece of inexpensive jewelry or piece of clothing, just to add to my collection and to remind me of the trip when I wear it

We get stretch pennies for the kids. We started when they were little as it was fun to turn the machine and a cheap souvenir (51 cents). We bought a book to keep them in for about $5. They are a bit older now, but we still get stretch pennies on all of our vacations that we see a machine.

In addition to something of quality --for lack of a better term -- I always bring back reusable grocery bags. I like using my Waitrose bag at Costco or a Super U bag at Trader Joes.

Ornaments for me. T-shirts (sometimes) and squished pennies for the kids. I found display books for them on Amazon so they can keep their pennies in one place and I don't find them all over the house.

I used to bring back mugs but then I had too many of those.

Now I usually bring back fridge magnets