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How to make creative and beautiful travel gifts

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Maybe you you have a friend/relative who asks you “Send me a postcard while you are away!”
Maybe you are the kind of traveller who can’t help bringing some little object to the beloved ones from the places you visit.
Maybe… you do both things (writing postcards and buying stuff) on the very last day of your trip. So you go to one of those typical-but-made-in-china shops that make you feel a mass tourist despite the very amazing and unconventional things you’ve seen in your trip.

If you’ve ever experienced something like this, this light post can help you find some easy solutions and let you send/buy great classy and very personal though unconventional travel gifts.

I’m telling you how to do it and where to go… and the gifts you can make while resting on the bed.
Ready?

#1 – Use Apps to make gifts with your photos… while sitting on the sofa

come fare belle foto per instagram

Let’s start with the easiest thing to do.
So you are tired after a whole day walking in the streets of some of the amazing cities you’ve visited.
Maybe you are waiting for your travel mate to finish making up or having a shower and you don’t want to sleep or watch tv or read my blog?

There are actually some free apps that allow you to create great travel gifts from your pictures, and you can then send them directly to your beloved ones (or to your place).

You can create magnets by the pics that you have just taken with your smartphone or create postcards out of them.
My favorite one is Lalalab, that I often use also to create polaroid photo boxes to give as gifts in general.

If you download it and make your first order, use the code PG65GP1L and you’ll get a 5 euros discount on any order (and I’ll have it too :-P) .

There are also other apps to create this kind of fast and very personalized gifts with your travel pics (like Photosì).

#2 – local handicraft shops

Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov

Now, let’s suppose your travel mate is over with the make up and all this stuff. It’s time to have another walk around your destination.
So, instead of looking for the most trafficked streets and the big malls, look for some handicraft shop on the internet where you can admire some little, precious and unique handmade object.

From Savelli Religious Vatican Gifts Shop  in Rome, where I found some art and classy object that my aunt really loved, to my beloved shops in the side streets of Sofia, I could write a book about the magic of these places, where I highly recommend you to talk to the shop keeper and artisans. They’ll be able to tell you so much about their stories and the life of the shop, so you’ll have a story to tell other than a gift to give.

#3 – Give moments and inspiration more than objects 

Once, a beloved person went to London knowing that the thing that I most missed of London was Autumn.
So I received an artwork made of leaves, sand and colors. It was a great and very personal gift.
If you are not so good at art and manual works, you can still use your creativity and write some verses or a song inspired by the lake in front of your accommodation.

#4 – Look for food street markets

Nice Spice Market

I know you might think that giving food (mainly fresh) as a gift may not be a good idea. But you should consider how many colorful and versatile kinds of food you can find in a street market!
Spices, dried fruits (both also very healthy) can be easily bought in small plastic bags (this also applies to tea stores).
Once back home, you can share them in smaller glass containers. You’ll be bringing a very local, creative and colorful gift that people will finally use, unlike all the other stuff you might have bought before.

 

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