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It’s always great bringing home souvenirs from your travels! we always love having things from places we visit so when we look at them, we can think back and remember our trips. When it comes to souvenir shopping, it can sometimes be difficult to pick out what and what not to buy. There’s nothing worse than coming home and realizing you bought something junky simply because you wanted to buy something, or that you didn’t buy the thing you really wanted. Like we mentioned in our post about packing, it’s always a good idea to leave space in your luggage for souvenir shopping!

Quality Souvenir Shopping Tips

Are you someone who collects something?

If you collect something like coffee mugs, pins, or those decorative spoons, your souvenir shopping might be easy. Most shops have tourist collectibles! I like collecting figurines of buildings and monuments of cities. They make great decor and they don’t take up a lot of space in your luggage. If you want to start collecting something, collect something that you actually like. Don’t collect for the sake of it or for easy souvenir shopping.

Buying art is a great souvenir.

If you like to decorate this is a great option for you! We love buying art from places we travel. I love walking into my apartment and seeing beautiful paintings from the places I traveled. If you don’t want to buy paintings, a lot of gift shops have prints that you can buy.

Think about things that you use around your home.

Having salt and pepper shakers from Italy is more fun than yours from Target right? Buying useful things for around your home while traveling is a great option.

Here’s a list of some examples of things to look for while we souvenir shop.

• tea towels
• coffee mugs
• spoon rests
• salt and pepper shakers
• measuring cups
• soap dispensers/dishes

Christmas Ornaments

Christmas Ornaments are an often overlooked option for souvenirs. Even though they’re only displayed and used during one time of the year, it’s fun to have ornaments from your adventures on your tree. It can personalize your tree.

Jewelry

We love having jewelry from different places I visit. Jewelry a nice, long-lasting souvenir that will make you think of your travels when you wear it. Even if we spend a little more, we don’t mind because it’s something we will wear it regularly!

Handcrafts and locally made pieces.

Do some research and see what is a traditionally prized handicraft where you are traveling to. For example, Florence is known for its leather. It’s great to buy something that has an interesting story associated with it.

Ultimately, if you love it, buy it. 

Unlike when you’re home, you most likely won’t be able to go back to a shop to buy the thing you really loved. So follow your gut! You don’t want to not buy something and then regret it down the road. We personally regret not buying some hand-painted pottery pieces for our kitchen in Italy. Seriously, if you love it buy it!