I love traveling and seeing new places.  I also love saving money so that I can pay for those experiences.

Now, before you start feeling sorry for all of the souvenir shops that we avoid, rest assured we did not avoid them all.  We dropped about $100.00 on two hats, and a toboggan in just one store.  When you see something you truly like and know that you’ll probably never find another one of, BUY it.  It’s the little things in life that make my family happy.

Of course, my best source for souvenirs is thrift stores.  Especially the thrift stores in a tourist town.  I found all of the shirts you’ll see down below in ONE store.  I think there were at least twelve thrift stores in one of the many beach towns we stopped in, but even I don’t want to spend my entire vacation thrift shopping.  There are waves to stare at.  Safely from the sand.

As always, if you can’t wait to find one of these beauties at your own thrift store, click on the photo to be taken to that item.  Let’s see what we found!

Denton was very pleased when I came home with this one.  $2.49

Venice Beach.  It was a lovely beach.  Very different, but still a cool place to visit.  $1.25

I bought this one just so we would have a fun reminder of one of the most expensive meals we ate in California, in the pouring rain.  $1.25

The rest of the shirts don’t have anything to do with any of the places that we visited.  But, that doesn’t matter to anyone in my family.  We buy things that we like, that will still evoke a memory of that time and place.  And it will be a lovely thing.

One of Liv’s picks.  She loves anything to do with Canada and this will double as a dress for her, lol.   $2.49Denton was very happy with this find.  $4.49

I love this burnout material.  It is so soft and comfy.  Have you seen Stranger Things yet?  You should as soon as possible.  $2.49

I bought this shirt for me.  When I whipped it out and showed it to my family and said “Isn’t that funny”, they all looked at me blank-faced.  I said read it, and they all said, it says Karma.  No, no, no.  In tiny gold lettering, it also says, “Dear Karma, I Have a List of People You Missed.”  It feels like a cloud.  $3.49

I had no idea what this brand was, but Liv yanked it off the rack immediately.  Not because of the brand, but because she loves their logo.  Yes, I do live under a rock.  Apparently, Obey is a great brand.  $4.49

I think that’s it.  If I unearth anything else we picked up souvenir-wise I’ll add it to the list.  I also wanted to point out that you don’t have to wait until you get to your destination to pick up great deals either.

On one of the trips that we took the kids to Disney, I stocked up for six months before we left on t-shirts, stuffed animals and other souvenir goodies and then, once we were there brought out the new-to-them treasure’s.  Stuff is stuff, but the memories you make together will last throughout a lifetime.

Think of it this way.  I paid less than $25.00 for everything you see here.  ONE of the hats we bought at Pismo Beach cost more than all of this.  It’s an awesome hat, and I know that everything we bought there will be loved and worn for a long time.  But every dollar you save is another dollar towards a flight, an uber, a week-long subway ticket, etc.  It all adds up.

What’s your favorite souvenir from a vacation?  One of mine is a three-sided leather and brass barometer that I paid $3.00 for in Williamsburg, VA.  We were taking a break from the exhausting fun we were having at Busch Gardens and stumbled onto this awesome little thrift store.  The barometer was made in West Germany.  I love it and I keep it on my desk as a reminder of all the fun we had that week.

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