Convert travel souvenirs into Christmas ornaments to decorate your holiday tree with memories.
A common part of travel includes scouring gift shops for souvenirs that later serve as a reminder of your journey. Many souvenir shops also sell Christmas ornaments for the purpose of decorating your holiday tree with memorabilia. While ready-made Christmas ornament souvenirs are easy to find and purchase, consider instead turning ordinary travel souvenirs into Christmas ornaments. This project will preserve your trinkets and create unique homemade ornaments for your tree, or to give as gifts. Does this Spark an idea?
Types of Souvenirs
Small, lightweight travel souvenirs are the easiest to turn into Christmas ornaments. Items like refrigerator magnets, maps, postcards, wood carvings, figurines, small plastic snow globes, key chains, and shot glasses are easily converted into ornaments. A little creativity, some hot glue, eye hooks, ornament hooks and ribbon can turn these ordinary trinkets into ornaments that will hang nicely from your tree during the holiday season.
Refrigerator Magnets
Refrigerator magnets are some of the most common souvenirs purchased by travelers. These souvenirs easily attach to everyday appliances, serving as a daily reminder of the memories from your trip. Put a spin on these souvenirs and turn them into lovely Christmas tree ornaments by simply drilling a hole through the top of the magnet and stringing twine or ribbon through the hole so the ornament will dangle from your tree. Dress the magnet up for the holiday season by attaching fake holly, small pine cones or gift bows with hot glue.
Postcards and Maps
Cut out and laminate or shellac sections of postcards and maps to make ornaments that represent your journeys. Punch a hole in the top of the paper so you can hang the ornament. Use postcards and maps to line the inside or outside of classic ball ornaments, or create a hanging frame ornament that holds your postcard. Even if you aren't a traveler, this idea will help you create custom ornament gifts for people in your family who have taken a recent trip, or who travel in their spare time.
Wood Carvings and Trinkets
Small wood carvings and trinkets such as figurines and snow globes are easily converted into hanging Christmas ornaments with hot glue, eye hooks and ribbon. When converting these types of souvenirs, choose trinkets that are small and lightweight. If the ornament is too heavy, the tree will not support the weight. If you happen to find a heavier wooden souvenir that you would like to convert, attach a clip to the bottom of the trinket, allowing the ornament to clip directly onto a tree branch where it's thicker.
Key Chains and Shot Glasses
Remove key rings from key chains and attach an ornament hook to the chain to make key chain souvenirs into Christmas ornaments. A souvenir shot glass can also be turned into a Christmas ornament by using hot glue to attach a length of colorful ribbon to the inside of the glass, then tying the ribbon onto the tree.
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