Visiting a new place normally comes with the desire to purchase something to help you remember. However, just because you want to collect souvenirs, doesn't mean you need to break the bank.
Gift shops give you the opportunity to collect almost anything. Key chains, shot glasses, coffee cups, etc... but at $5 - $20 a pop, these are better suited for one time items, then a collection. Can you imagine walking around with 60 key chains on one ring? You'd never find the keys!!!
Spend a little to get a lot
The National Park system offers a great way to collect memories... a Passport book. While they have a few different versions to choose from, ranging in price from $10 - $55, all the books work the same. They give you information on the parks, and a place to collect stickers and stamps.
As you visit each site, you will have a chance to get a cancellation stamp. The stamps are free. The stamp itself will give you the name of that park and the specific location, along with the date. Some of the parks even have additional stamps, like the junior ranger stamp available at the Rocky Mountain National Park.
You can also purchase Passport Stamps for each park at the parks or online. These are stickers that have a photo of the park and a brief description. These vary in price depending on the size of the package you by.
We purchased the small book, so to conserve space, we've skipped the stickers. That said, you can now purchase extra pages for all the books, so we may consider the stickers in the future.
Go For Broke
The National Park System also has a Junior Ranger program. If you stop in the visitors center
before heading into the park, you can pick up a free activity book. This has lots of fun things the kids can do while in the park. If you bring it back to the visitors center once completed (at least partially), they will give the kids a Pin or a Patch. These can be attached to a backpack, jacket, etc...
Collect Beyond the National Parks
Not all your vacations are going to be at National Parks. While your souvenirs don't need to be the same across all your travels, they can be.
Post cards are a super cheap option you can get anywhere. Every gift shop will have several to chose from and they can be easily stored in a mini binder. When visiting a National Park site, you can even stamp the back with the free cancellation stamps, turning it into a 2 for 1.
If you want totally free, you can always collect rocks. We use a sharpie to write the date on the rock and keep them in a little rock garden in a flower bed in our yard.
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