Updated July 2021

Top 10 Tips for Organizing Your Travel Mementos

Do you collect trinkets when you travel? Maybe you’ve kept your train ticket from London, or collect a spoon from every country you’ve visited. It’s probable that you’ve collected and kept these items for a reason - they hold sentimental value to you.

As both international and domestic travel become an option once again, you will probably want a keepsake from the special time you had. Bringing these items back from your travels doesn’t mean that you will be adding clutter to your home - not if you have them organized the right way!

A carefully organized collection of mementos will help tell the story of your travels and keep special memories close.

 1.  Start an Art Collection

Purchase one piece of art each time you travel. Hanging your artworks together to create a gallery wall will enable your travel experiences to remain present in your everyday life. Not to mention that your guests will love it too! What a perfect conversation starter for new visitors in your home.

2.  Build Travel Shadow Boxes

Create a 3D collage of your memorabilia in a shadow box. Use postcards, maps or tickets to make the background and add fun features like sand, figurines, coins, dried flowers and key rings to the foreground. IKEA RIBBA frames are the perfect depth for shadow boxes. You can also use shadow boxes if you collect a certain small trinket from each country or travel, and add to the box each time you return.

3.  Publish a Photobook

Compile a selection of your trip photos, together with photos of ticket stubs, boarding passes and maps. Use an online program like Shutterfly or Artifact Uprising to publish a hardcover photobook of your adventures. Make your “coffee table books” personal!

4.  Tuck the Mementos Away

If you don’t want your photos and maps displayed, you can tuck them away for safe keeping in photo storage boxes.

5.  Create a Travel Journal

Travel journals are not just for school projects! Capture, store and record little mementos, keepsakes and written reflections to preserve moments of special significance from your adventures. If you have kids, have them each write an entry too, and watch how their writing skills and grammar change over the years. They will likely forget some of the memories as well, and it will be nice when they are older to have them written down as a reminder!

6.  Be Practical

Choose to purchase only practical souvenirs that you will use back home. Platters, glassware, chopsticks and coasters are perfect for entertaining. Wearing jewelry, scarves or perfume purchased while on holiday is a great way to reminisce.

7. Design a Memory Jar

Capture little travel treasures and place tiny shells, feathers, pebbles and sand into pretty glass jars or display domes.  Exhibit your memory jars on the mantel or tabletop, they make great conversation pieces. The jars would also be nice in a bathroom as decoration.

8. Frame Up Paper Mementos

Frame a collage of your paper currency, menus, wrappers and even wine bottle labels. Adhere your paper mementos to a thick piece of cardboard before framing and hanging your memories on the wall. This can also be done in a shadow box that we mentioned above, with added trinkets!

 9. Make Your Own Decorations

Upcycle your collection of maps, brochures, postcards, and pictures with these crafty DIY options to create magnets or coasters from your mementos. This will also give you a constant reminder of your travels, because likely you will be using them in your daily life far more often than if they sat in a drawer. Another option would be to create a memory box that doubles as a “book” on your bookshelf, just like this DIY!

 10. Spice Up Your Life

Purchase spices or special sauces as you travel. The evocative aromas will transport you back to your favorite holiday destinations. Share your travel tales and prepare taste sensations for your friends and family. What an exciting way to bring your travels home with you, and continue to enjoy the cuisine from the places you’ve visited.

Originally published 10/30/2019