When you’re on vacation it’s not uncommon to think about buying a few souvenirs to take home. And while tee shirts are always a good option, sometimes you want something else, something a bit special, that you can start to turn into a collection.

The good news is that there’s plenty of items you can buy to start building your own fun collection from all the places you’ve been to that are easy to carry and will display really well in your home. 

In this post, we’re going to highlight some travel souvenir collection ideas. Maybe a few of these will strike your fancy during your next trip.

Postcards

Pretty much anywhere you go in the world, you’ll be able to find a postcard. Plus, postcards are very affordable and take up little space in your carry on. So rather than mailing these, collect them. You can group together cool postcards from various places, frame them, and create a gallery wall that highlights all the places you’ve been.

Patches

Another popular travel souvenir collection item is a patch. Just like postcards, patches usually only cost a few dollars, are easy to pack, and are really colorful. You can choose all sorts of ways to display your patch collection. Some people sew them onto their travel bags, while others use shadowbox frames and hang them on walls. You can also display them on a simple corkboard too.

Coasters

beer display wall

If you’ve got a home bar or a man cave, then you have the perfect spot to display your beer coaster collection. Coasters are really fun and unique items to collect. When you travel and hit up different breweries or bars, you’ll notice that many of them will have their own special designs and even shapes to stand out. So they make for an interesting collection. Plus, coasters are free!

Pennies

In most major cities around the world, you’ve probably noticed one of those machines that squash a penny down and stamps it with local design. Well, there’s a reason you see so many of these, people love to collect the pennies. The key with these souvenirs is you want to make sure you keep them in a safe place, it’s easy to lose your penny in a pile of change.

Magnets

We all have refrigerators at home, so why not turn these standard appliances into works of modern art? You can do that with your magnet collection. A magnet is another item that’s usually inexpensive, easy to carry, and durable. Your kitchen will become a hot topic of conversation with all your magnets.

Shells

decorative jars on a table with seashells inside

If you tend to travel to more warm weather beach destinations, then shells make for the perfect souvenir. Plus, they are great to display. You can buy a bunch of jars of different shapes and sizes and fill them with your shell collections. They’ll make for beautiful tablescapes and art on shelves.

Well, these are just a few travel souvenir collection ideas to get you started. You even might already have a head start on creating your own collection without realizing it!