Comments on: Save Money When Buying Souvenirs for Classmates, Friends and Co-Workers

By: Deb

Deb — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:06:49 +0000

Before we went to Disney World with our children I purchased Disney items at a dollar store. A few times that week I gave the kids their souvenirs which were actually brought from home. We didn’t purchase anything in the expensive gift shops.

By: My Experience

My Experience — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:31:25 +0000

I worked as a Purchaser for a major souvenir/gift shop at the Grand Canyon National Park for 15 years.
EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING is straight out of Japan with the exception of the Native American handcrafts.
It was nothing but JUNK! Many of the items arrived damaged because it was so cheaply made.
I noticed when visiting other places such as major amusement parks, zoos, and especially other national parks, that they all order the same merchandise!
SAVE YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY! If you want a souvenir, to take home or to give to another, TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS!

By: JP

JP — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:36:38 +0000

One should not waste your money on souvenirs for things that people usually do not want. When buying souvenirs I always consider what the person might need.

By: Joan.of.the.Arch

Joan.of.the.Arch — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:17:30 +0000

This article strikes me as a bit odd. Do a lot of people really buy souvenirs for so many other people? For your children’s classmates? For co-workers? That seems over the top. Save even more money by not buying a lot of junk for a lot of people, no matter how modest you may think the souvenirs are compared to what you could have bought.

By: snshijuptr

snshijuptr — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:50:23 +0000

The only people I think it appropriate to give souvenirs to are either children left behind at home or people who helped you with the trip (watching the house/pets/children, rides to airport, etc). Everyone else shouldn’t expect something after you take a trip.

By: Jaime

Jaime — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:15:31 +0000

You know, I’ve never really understood the idea of bringing home souvenirs for people who didn’t go to the destination with you. The whole point of a souvenir for me is to remember a great trip, so if you didn’t go on the trip, what’s the point? If you have a child who is going to talk about the trip as part of a “what did you do this summer?” or show and tell, then I can see maybe buying something to show or share with the class. But for adults, not so much.

Now, when I went to Italy, I bought some glass for one of my bestfriends and my mom when I was in Venice and I bought some jewelry for my grandmothers in Florence and Rome. Those were more in the way of shopping requests than souvenirs of my trip. And, I succumbed to the keychains for some friends at work. I was struggling though to find something cheap enough to afford multiples of and that wasn’t totally cheap and embarrassing to hand out. Overall, hated giving those keychains out. They were good keychains as keychains go, but they just weren’t really meaningful – to them or me.