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Since my family travels a lot (or at least we used to before the pandemic hit), I try not to buy a lot of souvenirs on our trips. I’d rather spend money on doing things at our location rather than bringing home more stuff.
But, there is one souvenir I always buy on our trips: a Christmas ornament. Why? Ornaments are inexpensive, and they don’t take up much room in our luggage. Plus, my family loves reminiscing about our trips as we hang these ornaments on our Christmas tree every year.
This year, those ornaments are more important than ever before. We miss traveling in a big way, as I’m sure many of you do as well. Looking at these memories hanging from our tree leaves me feeling optimistic about future family travel in 2021.
Some of our favorite travel ornaments in no particular order:
Hawaiian Surfboard: We bought this at a small store in Hilton Hawaiian Village. We stayed there on points during our first trip to Oahu in 2015. The shop personalized the ornament with our name in just a few minutes while we waited.
Alaska Bear: We purchased this ornament from a small shop in Ketchikan, Alaska on our Disney cruise. See my full trip report here.
Speaking of Disney Cruise Line, we’ve collected a few ornaments from DCL over the years:
But one of my favorite DCL ornaments was one we received in our Fish Extender Exchange:
Kiwi Bird: From our trip to New Zealand last year, we brought home an ornament of the national Kiwi bird.
Pura Vida from Costa Rica: Although it seems like the trip was years ago, our last big pre-pandemic trip was in early March to Costa Rica.
Do you collect Christmas ornaments from your travels? Or do you have another type of souvenir you like to bring back home?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Gosh I feel bad for not starting this years ago with ornaments :(. I used to buy shot glasses for my mom but that she decided they took up too much room and just gave them away. She had so many!:(. She likes postcards too.
Love your Hawaii ornament I did buy one at Aulani!
@Boonie Glad you got one from Aulani. I think we missed buying one from there.
Ha! We do the same thing! It’s fun hanging them on the tree and feeling the rush of memories from those trips.
@Projectx Yes! I hope we can start collecting more ornaments soon.
+1 for Christmas ornaments for family trips. It’s a lot easier than my pre-kids standard of Hard Rock Cafe hurricane glasses (and HRCs are not everywhere).
@Erik I used to collect HRC t-shirts. 🙂
I used to collect Hurricane glasses but take up so much luggage space and kitchen space! In my 20’s on a trip to Vegas I came home with a suitcase full of them! LOTS of drinking back than!
Can’t find them everywhere but when I can I buy golf balls. Very easy to store and they don’t break. I buy ornaments for my friend who doesn’t travel but I may start buying them for myself as well.
@Ms. M Golf balls, great idea!
Never bought ornaments, but I’d certainly consider any if they are super durable. My rule #1 is to avoid buying anything breakable. I’ve made an exception for a mug or two.
Magnets and postcards are what I buy, because they are cheap and are an easy constant reminder of the trips we’ve taken.
Magnets and postcards are great ideas! My husband likes to buy mugs if they are interesting/funky, and I’m amazed that we get them home in one piece.