Vacation Suveniours

We do let them get something but sort of play it by ear, like we will tell them, not more than $20 or whatever and then depending on what they bring over we decide if we will buy it or not. Usually don't get stuffed animals unless its from Disneyland or something that has a billion pieces that can get lost.

For me it depends on the trip. If it's somewhere we go often, we rarely go into a gift shop. If it's a special trip, then we get something. My kids have SO many stuffed animals. I did too as a kid. I weeded out a bunch but still have a Minnie Mouse my Grandpa got me (even though I've been to Disney several times since). He was killed in a work related accident when I was 3 & 1/2, so I'm super glad I have it. I also have a stuffed bear my uncle got me from Germany for my 1st b-day. I have other ones from family members that are special for certain reasons.
Good luck!

We never did vacations as a kid and haven't done many with dd (shes 17 now). But the few we did, were very tight budget and hubby was of the frame of mind that it had to be small things (especially on plane travel), and something to remember the trip for a long time. T shirts kids outgrow in a year..stuffed animals you can mostly get anywhere. We have a great magnet collection and it is fun to remember places with those.

When hubby and I travel without dd (we mountain snowmobile so drive across country)...I get postcards every single time we stop. Every potty and gas stops. I look for the very silly ones. I bring stamps and our return address labels to address them. I write what # order they are...a few words (like when she was little it might say "daddy was hungry...burger time"..or "the truck was hungry..fuel stop!") then every so many stops I would look for a mail box or the small town post office. She loved getting all the cards and it gave her something to look forward to while we were gone for 7-10 days (she was here at home with my adult niece caring for here...a fave person in her life!)

When we traveled together...she sent postcards home to our pal who stayed and cared for our pets! DD has a HUGE buttletin board in her room with funny pictures, programs from shows, ticket stubs, little doo-dads, and several of the postcards from when she was little. Its nice to see some of them there from 10-12 years ago!

When she was little my brother and another family friend traveled internationally ALOT. They always bought her a small coin purse with some sort of logo from the place (like a bejeweled one that says PARIS), then put local money in it...a few coins and a bill or 2, then mailed it or delivered it after they returned. She has a great little collection and it was fun for a little girl for show and tell at school, etc!

Growing up, I never went into gift shops either. My mother would say, "Yuck! We don't want to go in THERE!" Not until I was a grownup myself did I realize how smart my mama was.

When my children were young, I did let them go into gift shops, but mostly just to look - because their mama likes to look. Sometimes they got to pick out one (just one) inexpensive thing. But with four children, one inexpensive thing apiece would add up.

Some attractions have absolutely wonderful shops, with items hard to resist. Those people know what they're doing! With my grandchildren, I try a variety of tactics. Sometimes it's the old one-inexpensive-item deal. Sometimes it's "If you like that so much, can you wait for it until Christmas?" Sometimes it's "Sorry, guys, we're just window shopping today."

Oh, and if we do stop at a gift shop, we stop at just ONE - not every one of the thirty-seven or whatever shops all over the grounds! That's another rule (whew!)

We do. We usually all get t-shirts every year. And if there is a really unique toy store, my son gets some stuff--in past years: a pirate coin game, those pins for Crocs, a stuffed sea creature, etc.....we budget for the souvenirs because we know we're going to buy some stuff!

well whenever we go anywhere like a zoo or childrens place we let our 2 yr old pick something out we went to the pittsburgh zoo a month ago and she picked out a rhino that she loved and we also got her a snow leapord stuffed animal and a tee shirt it all was 45

We get a parch or Lapel Pin for each of our children, and if it is an educational place a book for the family that tells about the area. The patches and pins go on a banner that hangs in there rooms so they can remember where they have been. It keeps the price down and there is no argueing because they know what they can get.

Hi VM-

When I was a kid (teens and up) and was able to travel in europe (folks were stationed in England) I refinished an old typesetters drawer and made a shadow box. In it I put some small treasure from the country/cities I visited...

Maybe something like that would be a cost effective...LONG lasting memory box for your kiddos? I still have mine hanging in the kitchen...and every time I dust it thoroughly...(not TOO often...lol) it evokes all kinds of wonderful memories of my travels...

Best luck!
Michele/cat

We could not afford much, but our six children usually picked up souvenir pennants which they hung around the edges of their room ceilings to remind them of their travels. Another idea is to buy cloth patches that can be sewn on a special backpack....years ago when I traveled to Europe I had a denim jacket that I sewed patches on from everywhere I went....it was quite a conversation piece! Another option for girls is to buy a charm and begin a bracelet.....I did that in Europe too, and still have it....photo books might be more meaningful to them....I would stay away from junk
that will be in the trash before long....always overpriced, too.....sometimes
get the photo magnets and keep them on the refrigerator from year to year, especially from the zoo or amusement parks that we may visit every year or two.....also, we have rocks in our garden from various travels...should have labeled them at the time but did not, but still enjoy them.....cheaper than plastic doodads too. About stuffed animals....we only get ones that are unique to the area we are visiting.....for example, I got a sea otter when I visited the aquarium out in Monterey CA... Hope this gives you some
ideas!

My parents weren't big on theme park souvenires when we were kids- the park was the "treat". When we got home, my mom would buy an album and we each got to make our own mini scrapbook (ticket stubs, brochures, pictures, etc).

Occassionally, we got a $5 limit to go buy something in the gift shop to go into the scrapbook (stickers, bookmark, etc).

We do the same with my son now, but it's amazing how now that they are grandparents they LOVE hitting the gift shop!

We have always told the kids they need to think about the item before we get it. they have "X" money to spend on their souvenirs and if they spend it all the first day they may find something they like better later. most tourist places have those shops where you can get the 5 t shirts for $10 those are the shirts we get. we have stopped getting stuff just cause the name Florida or new york etc is on it. get things people will like. they are not with you so who cares if it carries the state name lol

We give them reasonable limits. On our cruise, SD really liked a hoodie that was expensive. DH thought about it and since SD did not beg for it and hadn't really asked for anything else, he got it for her. She still wears it. When we go to places, I like to pick up little things. We try to rein in the kids (DD wants everything). This last trip he got her a toy owl with the event logo and the time before that some hamster thing in a carrier. He's such a softie. I try to look for things they'll use or enjoy. I know DD has a veritable zoo of stuffed animals and she loves them and they are easy to take on trips or to church and QUIET so I'm not opposed to them. For me, the point is to remember the trip, so I'm more likely to buy something that pertains to the trip than something I can get anywhere.

You can also encourage inexpensive collections. My family likes magnets, postcards and keychains. I try to mail my mom a postcard from each trip for her collection.

I have this thing about at least getting a shirt. All the shirts have always been worn until shredded and then thrown out. When we go to Disney or something everything is always budgeted. Money is saved so everyone can get at least a shirt. We always try to make sure everyone has a little spending money to get what they want on top of the shirt.

When we go on VACATION the kids get one thing each, and they get to pick what store they go to and what they buy. There is a $ limit too. If we go to the zoo or something, nothing. I take TONS of pictures so they have those and I'm going to make them a summer book this year - maybe a year book for Christmas :).

I don't do this, but know a few families that do. They bring home a Christmas ornament or item they can convert into an ornament to hang on a their tree for the holiday. When you decorate the tree you can remember when and where you bought them. We have purchased a couple and put the year on them somewhere, otherwise I wouldn't remember.....good luck. Definitely have to place a limit on what they can spend. We sometimes purchase t-shirts, they wear them for a while and then we donate them.

We do key chains, magnets, postcards or books
Dont waste money on the junk things or the stuffed animals unless your child really is a stuffed animal fanatic
My child thought it was special if I let her get a small piece of candy there ---but she does not normally eat much candy

For me it depends on where we are, but if we do go in, I try to get items specific to where we are. So nothing that I can get at home, usually no toys or stuffed animals. I try and go for t-shirts or something collectable with a logo from where we are for my daughter, and for me usually a shot glass for display or a pen for my desk.

When we go on vacation, we always get two things--a gawdy picture frame with the name of the place we visited and a Christmas ornament that represents the place. I let the kids pick these out. They make the choices, we add the frame to an end table displaying all our gawdy frames and we spend some time at Christmas remembering our special vacation times.

i do sometimes but usually my son isn't interested so thats a good thing. if he wants something and its reasonably price, then yes, i will let him have it and he doesn't get anything else.
i think as a special treat once in awhile its good. i don't think he should be allowed to have whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Nothing big. Postcards or something that will fit in my boy's memory box. Last summer we went to Portland OR with my husband when he had to go for work. We bought a postcard and a very small stuffed bald eagle at the zoo and a small whistle carved out of twig from the arboretum. All the rest were things like ticket stubs from the OMSI, movie ticket stub from Toy Story 3 (first movie he saw in a theater), train ticket stub (big deal to ride the train!), a city map, some brochures of other places we went and a LOT of pictures of all our adventures. I try to avoid gift shops, but postcards or something we'll actually use like a book or a t-shirt that's not outrageously expensive are ok. I just don't have room for a bunch of stuff in the house!

Yup, we love gift shops. But my kids have a limited amount of money which keeps them from buying too much. We do more browsing than buying. My kids have gotten stuffed animals, but I encourage them to choose something small to fit in their suitcase if we have to fly home. We love the gift shops in museums because my kids can buy something like a book, game or puzzle that will entertain them on the rest of the trip. My kids each have a memorabilia box, one of those plastic totes that fit under the bed. They can put their vacations souvenirs in the box when they have outgrown the toy but want to keep it to remember the trip.

When we do trips, we always take lots of pictures (really easy now w/digital), and would buy some items like magnets and keychains as they were easy to slip into small places (or shoes). Sometimes we'd buy t-shirts or such, but they'd have to be really good if they were more than $5. Have bought small pottery vases and such from Native Americans.

@8kidsdad - LOL on the cup full of ice! Some folks think it odd that I order drink w/o ice - but some have caught on and have learned how much more actual drink you get! (most can always get ice in the office or such!)

I look, but don't buy at the attraction gift shop. When we went to Disney World, we looked in Disney World gift shops, but we went to Walmat and looked there. They had a "suveniour" section. We bought t-shirts, drink cups, etc for every attraction we visited for 50% to 75% off what they wanted at the attraction gift shops. When we went to Kenya, Africa, we went to a department store in Nyrobi and bought t-shirts for $3-$5 when they were $20 to $35 at the attractions we visited. A two piece chicken dinner was $15 in the hotel restaurant. A whole chicken, fries, and a soda was $2.50 from a hole in the wall chicken store used by the natives.

It all depends on how much money you want to spend and where you want to spend it. I'd rather have an extra day or two on vacation than have trinkets at the attraction gift shop.

BYW, we also don't eat out at the attraction restaurants. Hamburgers and drinks and fries can run $8 at Disney World. Hamburgers (99 cent menu's), chips (from grocery stores) and sodas (from grocery stores) can cost less than $2 per meal. When I was teaching wise spending to the boy scouts, I went to a fast food restaurant and filled one of their 40 oz cups with ice. Then I filled it up with soda from 12 ounce cans of soda. Do you know how many 12 ounce cans of soda it takes to fill a fast food restaurant's 40 ounce cup full of ice? (Answer below)

Smart spending doesn't take a vacation. It helps the pocket book everywhere you go.

Good luck to you and yours.

How many cans of soda does it take to fill a 40 ounce cup full of ice?
Only one!