It’s always great to leave our own country to discover another one, and of course we all want to bring back souvenirs for friends, family and for ourselves!
But these commercial souvenirs are often not very personal – sometimes they are not even made in the country and they can be so expensive!
Here is a list of our home-made souvenirs that you could bring back home after your holiday! Special souvenirs that you can create with your children, who will be so proud to give them to their Grandparents or friends!
A decorated pebble:
In Normandy, a lot of beaches are shingly ones. What a great present to put on a desk: a painted pebble from a Normandy beach! Children can paint them with their fingers – fingerprints make beautiful flower petals.
You also can pick up wild flowers in the fields, let them dry, glue them on to the pebble, then spray some varnish to protect them.
But be careful, you don’t have the right to collect pebbles on every beach so check the signs before you do it – you don’t want your holiday souvenir to be the day you got a ticket for collecting forbidden shingle.
An herbarium:
Very easy to create, even for a child! An herbarium is a very nice way to remember where you were, with leaves, and flowers you have collected on holiday!
After you cleaned the dirt or mud off the leaves, just put your finds between 2 paper tissues or toilet paper sheets and then leave them in a book to make them flat. Let them dry over several days. When they are dry you can glue them into a notebook and write the name of the flower or tree and where you found it. You can add pictures you took of the place and write the way you felt when you were there. It’s a great way to teach your children to express their feelings!
And a beautiful flower from a French meadow glued on a nice piece of paper will make a wonderful bookmark to give to friends and family back home!
A family travel diary:
The label of the camembert cheese you ate, the sweetie wrapper, leaves, entrance tickets to a special place you went to visit as a family…. Every little thing can be a big part of a great memory album done with the whole family!
Choose a beautiful notebook or a filing case (easier if you need to add a sheet) and as you visit places don’t forget to write what you see or learn. Your eldest children can write as the youngest can draw or decorate the sheets.
When you go to visit a castle or to the beach for example, don’t forget to take paper and pencils with you and ask your children to draw what they see and add the drawings to your diary.
Every evening, one of the family member can be in charge of the day resumé. Yes, even the youngest! You’ll be amazed to discover that sometimes what your children keep in mind can be so different to your memories!
A shell, a stone or a piece of wood, a drawing, sand, nature gives us so many beautiful things – go on, be creative!
And don’t forget that the simplest gift chosen with love is the most beautiful present for the one you choose to give it to!
