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Don’t collect souvenirs. Make them as part of these DIY crafting classes around the world.
Article Summary:
- Many people leave trips with the same cookie-cutter souvenirs that eventually turn into clutter
- I think a much better way to preserve your memory of a place is to participate in a unique local experience on your trip
- There are many great experiences you can have all around the world to create a one-of-a-kind souvenir or develop newfound skills to take home with you
If you’re anything like me, you return from your trips with a bag full of stuff to remember your travels – the culture, the vibe, and the overall experience. Why? To tangibly preserve the soon-to-be nostalgic moment for yourself or to share it with loved ones back home and bring something back for those who didn’t experience it with you.
But oftentimes these souvenirs transform into knick-knacks that could have easily been purchased on Amazon. Is it clutter? Maybe now it is…
Sometimes I’ve traveled the world, trying to buy nothing and just experience the place… but I’m always secretly searching for the best souvenirs.
What I’ve found is there’s no better way to preserve a memory of a place than to create something special while you’re there. After all, if you DIY your souvenirs, they’ll have a piece of the place and a piece of you in them too.
In addition to being more personal, you can also plan this type of souvenir out ahead of time instead of grabbing a last-minute item from an overpriced airport store. Book an experience, class, or workshop. Find interactive opportunities to add to your itinerary.
Not sure where to start? I’ll share some of my favorite ideas and experiences to help you plan your unique travel souvenirs ahead of time.
Make Handmade Metal Jewelry at an Artist’s Home Studio
Instead of buying a piece of jewelry at the store, why not go to an artist’s house and learn from them directly?
I loved learning how to fire metal and chisel it into a fine piece of jewelry at both a designer’s shop in Bali as well as an artist’s home studio in the Tuscan countryside. While making these souvenirs, the hosts offered home-cooked snacks, which enhanced the cultural sentiment.
There are hundreds of similar classes around the world. Just search for nearby goldsmithing, metalsmithing, and silversmithing wherever you are to learn a range of techniques.
Classes to try:
Collect Local Beads for Wearable Memories
Most towns across the globe have at least one local bead shop, if not a few. Add one to your itinerary to find unique charms and stones local to the area.
Make your own bracelets, necklaces, and earrings at an in-store class. Or you can bring your own string and bead jewelry during your trip. I love finding a nice park to spend an afternoon beading while taking in the sounds and sights like a local.
I did this in New Mexico when my friend and I found matching beads at a shop in Santa Fe and designed sentimental bracelets we could take back as wearable souvenirs.
Now, every time I look down at my wrist, I’m transported back to eating tamales and listening to live music in the middle of Sante Fe’s city square, the “bead-ing” heart of the town.
Regional Arts and Crafts
There are so many types of painting and crafting workshops around the globe. I think a cool way to take advantage of these is to choose your activity based on an area’s specialty.
Have you ever considered building charcuterie boards in a town known for woodworking? What about trying a pottery or mosaic-making workshop in Spain?
Try out sip and paint nights in a wine region or learn how to paint in a certain technique or style a city or country is known for. For example, you could hop on the plein air painting trend in Europe. It’s something I’ve done as well at the Carlsbad Flower Fields.
“Reverse souvenirs” are also becoming popular. In Encinitas, California, my hometown, you can paint a rock and place it at Dave’s Rock Garden, leaving a piece of yourself behind.
Class to try:
Make Beauty and Skincare Products with Local Ingredients
Your skin is the largest organ in the body, and what you put on it matters. Making beauty or skincare products with nearby ingredients means they’ll have fewer chemicals and you’ll be supporting local commerce. It’s a win-win.
One of my favorite workshops was a perfume blending class in France. You can also find a variety of serum-based classes. Nothing compares to those with an onsite or nearby lavender farm. It’s no surprise lavender is used in a lot of skincare due to its incredible skin benefits.
Two highlights for me were when I took an aromatherapy blending class at the Ojai Valley Inn and when I stayed at Los Poblanos Inn in Albuquerque. I took a lavender workshop at the latter, which has an onsite distillery for its essential oil to be cultivated into soap, lotion, and fragrance.
Classes to try:
Cook With Your “Pseudo Grandma” and Learn Her Specialty Dishes
Make time to book a cooking class while traveling because a shared recipe is something you can keep learning and refining back home. Want to make it even better? Choose a class at someone’s house for an elevated approach to your typical cooking school.
Cook pasta over live Opera in Tuscany. Make seafood paella in Madrid. Learn to make chicken Mole in Mexico. Or learn to make Cajun and Creole food in New Orleans. The options are endless.
Classes to try:
Massage Techniques to Last a Lifetime
Learn authentic massage techniques to bring back and share with your partner, roommates, friends, family, or clients. And there’s no better way to learn than going straight to the source.
Learn Reflexology in China, Shiatsu in Japan, or classic techniques in Thailand and Sweden. San Diego is also a wellness capital for healing and spiritual classes including reiki and crystal bowl sound baths.
Class to try:
Floral Arranging as a Modern Life Hack
You might be thinking, floral arranging? That won’t last. However, if you ever keep flowers in your home or buy them as gifts, it’s useful to learn tips to help your flowers last and style them. Do you know the key to keeping fresh-cut roses looking their best? Cut the stems at a diagonal while holding them underwater.
Find out more tricks of the trade in classes taught by professional florists, especially in destinations with a lot of them like New York City or London. Alternatively, you could learn the traditional Japanese art of floral arranging, ikebana.
Classes to try:
Farm Volunteering
Gardening can be a great way to travel
Agritourism and slow travel destinations are great ways to explore volunteering on a farm and learning a bit about homesteading. One I personally love is a volunteer program at Coastal Roots Farm in Encinitas where we often get rewarded with free produce to take home after a shift.
Experience to try:
Found Objects Preserved in Resin Molds
I officiated my friend’s wedding at the top of Mammoth Mountain, California, and wanted to keep something special, so I found pine cones and kept her flower bouquet. I took them home to make resin bookends for her anniversary.
I now pack mini paperweight-sized resin molds and mixture kits in my suitcase whenever I’m traveling so I can make more sentimental trinkets with meaningful, found objects.
The styles of molds you can get are endless—keychains, phone cases, coasters, you name it! There’s no better way to freeze a moment in time. This is also a great souvenir option for budget travelers, and you can bring sentimental items with you and mix them with found objects on your trip as I did.
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No matter the destination, next time you’re planning a trip, bring some of these ideas with you to help you find those unique travel souvenirs. Think outside the box and go beyond the standard trinkets.
Leave a comment to let me know if you have any ideas for travel souvenirs!
Next, read my article about novelty travel and how it’s transformed my trips.
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