I started preserving memories of my travels when I was a kid – taping Disney World tickets and Nantucket postcards into a traditional scrapbook, whose pages are now crumbly and yellowed. Then, in the 1990s when I vacationed a lot with my then-boyfriend, now-husband, I moved on to the Creative Memories brand of albums, where I decorated acid-free (archival-quality) pages in big books with not only my hard-copy photos, but colorful “frames,” stickers and borders. Lately, I’ve made photo-book gifts with digital images of special trips I’ve taken with extended family, and I’ve also experimented with Creative Memories’ digital software.

The bottom line: I love to scrapbook, and I wish I had more time to do it! Especially since my children love to pull out my custom-made photo albums and browse through them, exclaiming as they turn pages, “Remember the vacation when Ben got stung by a jellyfish?” and “That roller coaster went so fast!”

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Trip souvenirs are part of vacation glory. The kitschy gift shops aren’t hard to find on vacation. The kids usually love exploring the whacky, and often cheaply made, toys imprinted with the destination’s name as the parents read the latest marketing slogan on cheesy t-shirts and shot glasses. Bringing home that little, or giant, trinket will always be a reminder of that special time away from home, but you may wonder how to avoid silly souvenirs and instead bring home authentic vacation reminders. Here are some souvenir ideas to consider for your next trip: