Say it with souvenirs

The best way to remember a dream vacation is to bring home several keepsakes from each location that you have been to. But the way you display the mementoes is of prime importance. Not many can afford a Buddha or a Tree of Life made out of expensive Jade from the Orient, but you can make collages of your photographs and you can do the same with museum tickets and postcards.

Wall plates
Some people prefer hanging wall plates with scenes from different countries rather than picture frames. These can be in drawing and dining rooms and kitchens too. You can buy these in souvenir shops. Many people visit flea markets in places like Goa, Mumbai, and Spain just to find these. Vintage blue and white plates are a collector’s delight too.

Map coasters
For those who love maps and constantly refer to them while travelling, you can remember your travels each time you look at your coasters. You can buy them or even make them by sticking sections of maps on tiles or plastic or wooden squares.

Vacation in a jar
There is no better way to remember a great vacation by the sea than to display coloured sand, seashells, smoothened stones, or rocks with crystals. Get a beautiful crystal or glass jar and place your objects in it. You can also make up a series of sand jars with pebbles and driftwood too.

Collage displays
You can make collages of your photographs, or if you are the type that likes fine art, you can do the same with museum brochures and entry tickets. You can display airline tickets, boarding tags and postcards too. Postcards make great souvenirs and can be individually framed too. They are inexpensive and colourful. Some people collect key chains, matchboxes and beer bottle tops of different places and frame them all up too. Lace and cross stitch needlepoint can make beautiful wall hangings.

Shell and stone paperweights
This can be a conversation piece even as you weigh down letters and papers on your antique desk or table. Search for the smoothest and roundest stones of different colours on your trips beside the sea or rivers. Look out for uniquely shaped fluted shells and starfish washed up on beaches. Clean and lacquer any sea creatures like sea cucumbers and starfish that you may find after drying them well in the sun or they will start smelling bad after a while.

Magnets on your refrigerator
These help you to remember the different cities and countries that you have visited on a dull or even busy day. Your fridge is the ideal place to display things that will remind you of your travels like the Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty. If you are a foodie, you can have a collection of the different dishes that you have sampled from around the world on your fridge like Fish and Chips from England, Waffles from Belgium and Laksa from Malaysia.

Coins & banknotes
Leftover coins and banknotes of a lower denomination can be displayed under a glass sheet over dark felt on your coffee table. You can pin them on a contrasting piece of coloured thick paper and frame them.

Framed selfies
In today’s age of selfies, many travellers have started taking their own photographs in front of iconic places and then framing them, especially if they are travelling solo. These can be put up instead of photo frames in your home.

Travel books
Books showcasing different places can be effectively placed instead of coffee table books on your coffee or centre table or neatly stacked on bookshelves in your study or den.

Use some or all of these ideas to decorate your home and keep your travel memories fresh till your next vacation.

By: Beyniaz Edulji