Do you need souvenir ideas for your next trip?
A souvenir is always something fun to bring back home, both for yourself as a memory, but also for your loved ones to show your love and appreciation. I promise that you won’t regret collecting some cool souvenirs while you’re on the road – something I wish I did more for myself, and not only friends and family, during my travels.
Down below you can read about my favorite souvenir ideas, enjoy!
Table of Contents
Beauty products
From French lavender soap and Korean skincare to mud masks from the Dead Sea and Balinese oils – bring back home a nice local beauty product and surprise your loved one. It’s both a unique and useful gift that’s always appreciated.
They can’t join you at the spa abroad, but with a little local beauty product, they can paper themselves back home instead!
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Music
When traveling around the world you’re going to stumble upon different kinds of music. With everything from the sound of Spanish maracas and the ancient Swedish herding call to Peruvian flute bands and Scottish bagpipe.
Around the world there is much beautiful and fun music, so make sure to buy a CD or vinyl if you like it. If you want to support the community and bring back home a memory, I can recommend you to buy from the local street performers who are often selling their own music!
Another fun souvenir idea when it comes to music is buying a local instrument if you want to practice it yourself.
Photo: Shutterstock
Cooking ingredients – One of my favorite souvenir ideas!
Local ingredients are one of my favorites to buy while traveling. From the olive oil in Italy and Himalayan salt to Greek olives and spices from Morocco – there are so many delicious things you can buy while traveling the world!
This is a great souvenir idea both for yourself and to your loved ones back home.
Photo: Shutterstock
Local art
A local painting is always a nice and appreciated gift to buy for someone. Whether it’s a cool street painting from Cuba or a harmonic painting from Asia, your friends and family are going to love you for it – if they’re not super picky about their art of course!
There are so many cool/beautiful paintings you can buy while traveling, and it’s not only a good souvenir but also a good way to support the local community.
Photo: Shutterstock
Local clothing and accessories
Buy yourself and your loved ones something they can wear from the country you’re visiting. There are so many fun things you can buy such as the Icelandic sweater, traditional clothing from India and even wooden clogs from either Holland or Sweden (the ones we have in Sweden is actually comfortable).
There’s always something fun and local you can buy that your friends and family can use!
Photo: Shutterstock
Patches
If you’re a backpacker, or simply just traveling with a light luggage, then I can recommend you to buy flag patches while traveling. A flag patch is not expensive and does not take up much space in your backpack/suitcase. A great tip is to sew it on your backpack or soft suitcase. Not only is it pretty and reminds you of all the countries you’ve visited, but it also makes your bag more visible when arriving at the baggage carousel!
This is definitely one of the best souvenir ideas if you’re a backpacker!
Photo: Shutterstock
Holiday ornaments
This might not be one of my most creative souvenir ideas, but it’s a kind of souvenir that many people like to buy while traveling. Holiday ornament can be found in many cities around the world, especially those who have Christmas markets. New York and all the Christmas markets in Europe are popular places to find these cute souvenirs.
Imagine if you collect one of these every time you visit a country that sells local holiday ornaments, then you’re going to be so happy looking at that Christmas tree reminding you of all of the trips you’ve made.
Photo: Shutterstock
Handicrafts
One of my favorite souvenir ideas is to buy a handicraft. A handicraft is a local artistic object that’s completely made by hand or by using simple tools. In almost every country you’ll find beautiful handicrafts that are nice to use as decor in your home. It can be everything from handmade ceramics and the Swedish Dala Horse (like the picture below) to woven baskets and handmade carpets from the Middle East.
There’s a wide range of local handicrafts to buy while traveling, both to yourself and your loved ones back home!
Photo: Shutterstock
Practical items
It’s always fun to look after practical items that the locals use in their everyday life. It can be everything from kitchen utilities and clothing to electronics and much more.
For example, I bought a pair of handmade sushi chopsticks to a pair of sushi-lovers back home, and they loved my gift – because it’s local and practical!
Photo: Shutterstock
Jewelry
Jewelry is a safe card when it comes to souvenir ideas for women. There are so many cute pieces of jewelry made of different materials and designs, that don’t have to cost a fortune. The best is when you find something that’s hard to buy anywhere else, which makes the gift even more special.
I bought a necklace with a “Hotal Glass” pendant to my mom when visiting Okinawa in Japan (the place where it’s made), and it was a huge success! I got so jealous of it that I bought one for myself during my second trip to Okinawa.
Photo: Shutterstock
Bonus Souvenir Idea:
Sweets & Snacks – One of the yummiest souvenir ideas!
I cannot be the only one who likes to buy local sweets and snacks while traveling. It’s so much fun to try it since you never know if you’re going to like it or not. Just look at the fried bugs and the Durian fruit flavor candy you find in Asia, I don’t like it but the locals and some tourists do.
I always think it’s a fun idea to bring back home a bunch of local snacks and let your friends and family try it. Either they’re going to like it, or you can just have a good laugh while they try something less yummy.
Photo: Shutterstock
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I hope you liked this article with my top 10 souvenir ideas, and that you got some inspiration out of it. If you have any other great souvenir ideas, leave a comment below and I’ll add it. Happy day and safe travels!
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