A Fun Guide to Decorating With Travel Souvenirs and Photos

Decorating With Travel Souvenirs and Photos

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One of my favorite things to ask people is what they typically pick up for souvenirs when traveling. I used to collect the Starbucks coffee mugs from cities but after my first trip to Japan when I bought five to bring home from various cities I visited, I decided that I might want to slow down on the breakable items.

A few of my other favorite travel souvenirs I’ve picked up on my travels are my yukata, paper fans, chopsticks, dishes, incense, jams, tea, clothing items, candies, and snacks. But I also enjoy picking up postcards, saving ticket stubs, brochures, and of course taking photos.

So now that you went on an amazing trip, took hundreds of gorgeous photos, and picked up a few travel souvenirs along the way what do you do with them now? Decorating with travel souvenirs in your home doesn’t have to be difficult or even cost very much! Here are some of the ways we have displayed our travel souvenirs and memorabilia from our trips.

Shadow Box

I’ve always been a fan of shadow boxes because you have the ability to create such a unique collage of items and travel souvenirs. Plus you can change out the items as you collect more. Some of our favorite items to put in shadow boxes are ticket stubs, stickers, keychains, photos, or really any other items you want.

What you’ll need to create a shadow box:

• A shadow box frame (any size) $15-25
• Ticket stubs, stickers, trinkets, stamps, postcards, photos, or any other items you want to include FREE or minimal cost
• Straight Pins (any colors) $4
• Picture Hanging Nail Kit $8
• Hammer $10

Total cost: Around $25-30 if you already have nails and a hammer.

Polaroid Photography

I love my Fujifilm Instax because it captures a unique perspective. Rather than placing all of my polaroids in a book, I have turned them into fridge art! All you have to do is take your camera with you when traveling, snap some mementos and tape them to your fridge (or wherever else you want) with washi tape! This one is a little more expensive than other ideas for decorating with travel souvenirs but after the initial cost of the camera, it’s not too much.

What you’ll need for polaroid photography:

• Fujifilm Instax or another Polaroid camera $50+
• Fujifilm Instant Film $15 for 20 sheets
• Ultra-Thin Sharpie (if you want to caption your photos) $4.50 set of 5
• Washi Tape $3.50 for 5 styles

Total cost: Around $80, however after the initial cost of the camera it’s relatively inexpensive to decorate with polaroids!

Gallery Wall

Creating a gallery wall is an easy way to fill up wall space with photos with travel souvenirs and events in life! You can do this in a number of ways including framing printed photos, fabrics, postcards, and posters. You can mix and match frames if you’d like or you can use the same style of frame to create a more cohesive look.

What you’ll need to create a gallery wall:

• Picture frames
• Prints, photos, postcards, etc. Price varies depending on the cost of your photo prints. We prefer Mpix because they’re inexpensive and have beautiful quality prints. 
• Nail(s), hammer

Total cost: $35-40+

China or Curio Cabinet

A lot of our travel memorabilia came to us as family heritage pieces. Timeless and priceless artifacts such as our sake set, geisha doll, and vase that Logan’s grandmother gave us from Japan will always be a few of our favorites. We store these items and a few others we’ve collected while traveling, safely in a China cabinet that my parents purchased as newlyweds.

What you’ll need for a China cabinet:

• A china cabinet or curio cabinet with glass doors for viewing.
  Our suggestion? Search garage sales, flea markets, and antique shops for one that you can restore yourself!
• Artifacts to put inside – we used a lot of family heirlooms for this including vases, nesting dolls, trinkets, sake set, and tea set but you can put any items you want inside.

Total cost: $150+ depending on the cost of the cabinet. 

Framed Postcards

One cheap souvenir to purchase while traveling is postcards. Usually, they are under $2 and have quality photos, artwork, or designs. Another perk? They’re also extremely lightweight so you don’t have to worry about lugging around something heavy when traveling (like when Logan carried 5 mugs for me all over Japan LOL).

What you’ll need to frame postcards:

• 8 X 10 picture frame or larger
• Postcards: $6-8 (if each postcard is $1)

Total cost: Around $20 or less

Postcard Bunting

If you save ticket stubs, photos, postcards, and other small paper goods, creating a fireplace bunting is one of the easiest DIY projects for decorating with travel souvenirs! Another huge perk is you can change out the items as much as you’d like.

What you’ll need to create a postcard bunting:

• Photos, postcards, or other small paper items.
• Twine $5
• Mini or regular clothespins $2.50
• Tape (or nails and hammer if tying the twine around nail)

Total cost: Around $10-15

Old Maps

We have two large old maps and three smaller ones and they are my favorite pieces inside our home. They have so much history and character plus fill up our walls nicely.

My parents found our maps for us at a flea market and I’ve seen them at other flea markets since then! You can also search for them on eBay, Etsy, or one of my favorite local stores, Dandy Roll but for a quality one, they can be costly.

What You’ll Need:

• Old maps
• Nail(s) and hammer

Total cost: Around $5-$200

What are some ways that you decorate your home with the travel souvenirs you brought back from trips? What are some of our favorite travel souvenirs you purchase or save while traveling?