From “I LOVE (insert destination)” t-shirts, to miniatures of famous
attractions, everyone loves a memento of their family holiday! However, lots of these trinkets end up forgotten in the back of a cupboard a few months later! We think that getting crafty is the number one way to personalise your holiday souvenirs and make sure you and the little ones remember all the fun you had together!
Classic scrapbooking
This is the 101 way to make sure that all the little memories of your holiday are remembered, plus it’s super fun! All you have to do is record special moments of your holiday along the way by taking a memento! This could be taking a photo, picking up something nearby (like a leaf or a flower petal), keeping colourful wrappers and receipts from restaurants, or stashing away a coin or a leaflet from a day trip! Scrapbooking is all about getting creative with the kids! So, once you’ve got your collection of holiday mementos, get down on the floor, get the glue, scissors and pens out, then start sticking them all into a big holiday scrapbook!
Make a world corner
If you’re a family looking for an authentic souvenir, making a world corner is the one for you! Firstly, you’ll need to get some small glass bottles or vials online, and pack a few for your trip. When you’re at a special place on holiday with the little ones, fill them up with an authentic souvenir by taking a bit of sand, some pebbles or a handful of shells! When you get home, it’s time to get crafty and make a ‘world corner’ with the little ones! You can set aside a shelf or a table for the bottles and label each one with the name of the place, the date and a little memento phrase like ‘made a splash at the beach’ or ‘beautiful walk, saw a deer’! You’ll be sure to cherish your own collection, knowing that all the places you’ve been are actually in your house!
Camera kids
Family photos are a holiday classic, and a great way to make them a bit more unique is to let your little one loose with a disposable camera! They will love being the holiday photographer and taking snaps of all the things they find special – you just might need to tell them not to run through the whole roll of film in the first hour! Giving your little one a disposable camera for each holiday, is a great way of watching them grow up and seeing their creativity grow! This is a wonderful way of giving your kids some good, honest fun and creating holiday mementos you can look back on, even when they’re too old for a disposable camera!
Create a holiday backpack
You might not be staying in hostels or interrailing with the little ones, but still nothing says travelling quite like a backpack! Creating your own personalised family backpack is a great way of creating a practical and totally unique holiday souvenir! All you need is take your backpack with you on holiday, then select badges, patches and ribbons with your little explorer to stick on it! There’s no limit to what you can put on a backpack, just select things that are special to the family! This craft isn’t limited to backpacks – it works equally well for soft-cover suitcases and can even be used on hard-cover suitcases, as long as you get souvenir stickers instead! You’ll have a bit of every place you’ve been on your back, and they’ll be easy to spot at the airport!
Make your kitchen international
One of the most enjoyable things about a family holiday is the food, which is why you’ll often come back a little bit heavier than before your trip! A great way to create genuine family souvenirs is to get a culinary memento on your family holidays, and researching a dish to use them in. This might be olive oil from Greece, pasties from Cornwall, scotch eggs from Yorkshire, cider from Somerset, or cheese from France – the choice is yours! When you get home, it’s simply a case of getting your little chef on a stool and start re-creating a holiday dish to bring back the memories! This is great way to use genuine produce from your holiday destination, incorporate it into your homelife and teach something to your kiddies!
Getting crafty with your family holiday souvenirs is the sure way to remember all the great times you had on your travels! It’s a great way to have some fun with the kids during and after the holiday, plus they create mementos which are truly unique to your family!