Best Childrens Keepsake?

[BO HANSON]

Just curios what your thoughts are.... especially after reading the "avoiding the Build a Bear" thread..... We'll be on Carnival Liberty if it makes any difference.

 

....But what in your opinion would be the "best" keepsake for younger, 5 ish child? What might a younger person really treasure or remember as special??

...no wrong answers, just looking for some fun ideas!!!:):)

[cruising grandma]

Just curios what your thoughts are.... especially after reading the "avoiding the Build a Bear" thread..... We'll be on Carnival Liberty if it makes any difference.

 

....But what in your opinion would be the "best" keepsake for younger, 5 ish child? What might a younger person really treasure or remember as special??

...no wrong answers, just looking for some fun ideas!!!:):)

 

Would think it would have to be a Funship Freddie stuffed toy. I think FF goes to the children's club activities.They also sell t shirts that the child can color. Or in most Caribbean ports, you'll find Del Sol stores, which have changing colors in the sun funwear.

[YOWmom]

OK - I know this is not a lasting keepsake, but out DD (5) just loved the Carnival "Barbie" that comes with a captain's uniform, a formal gown, and one other outfit that I can't remember. She spied it in the gift shop early in the cruise and we bought it for her on the 2nd last day (and managed to avoid the whole "build a bear" thing, since she decided the barbie was really the one thing she wanted). I think it cost about $18 (so cheaper than the bear), and when I was on RCI in March, I noticed that they have basically the same doll in their gift shop. For our 11 month old, we got one of the mini towel animals (which I think were about $7 or $8). In the ports, there is also lots of cute shell jewelery and we found some neat handcrafted items in San Juan, including a ceramic whistle shaped like a bird, and a little drum/noisemaker. And for something free (!!) she also really enjoyed picking up shells on all the different beaches we went to, and by the end of the cruise, had quite the little collection.

 

Also, one postscript to this...

They also sell t shirts that the child can color.

 

They do sell the T-shirts, but if you go to the T-shirt colouring activity at Camp Carnival (it'll be listed in the Camp Carnival schedule), they get one for free. Also, if they go to Camp on the last night, they give them a little good-bye package - DD got a string/cloth backpack that you could colour, with some little things inside (a Funship Freddy pencil, notepad, etc), and I think the older kids got an actual backpack with similar stuff in it.

[crusinmama06]

Well since you saw that we have every bear ;) what you didn't see is that we also have every ship. I actually think that's a cooler keepsake. This would have to depend on you having a Christmas tree (unless you want to shell out the money for a ship model -- a little more expensive)

 

But my kids get a ship ornament from every sailing and each Christmas they get to put their ships on the tree. They actually get more use out of the mini ships than out of their bears. :D

 

Each port we try to find a small ornament as well. So each port and each ship gets its own keepsake. Its kind of nice to remember the things we've done together over the years just by looking at our tree. :)

[jam82]

My son takes the cloth backpack everywhere. He loves it.

[youngestof9]

I buy christmas ornaments from every place we've vacationed. I have some cruise ships, some regular round ball ornaments and then unique ones. I love decorating my tree every year with them because my girls get to reminisce about every vacation when we decorate. So I buy them for them when I'm not with them, and we pick them out together when we're on vacation together. LOVE IT!

[Asil65]

Love the ornament idea. I had not thought about that. Thanks!

[Julienatul]

We have the bear and the funship freddie. DD age 4 loves both. She is almost 5 so I think next cruise we will get the Barbie!!

[BO HANSON]

We have the bear and the funship freddie. DD age 4 loves both. She is almost 5 so I think next cruise we will get the Barbie!!

Great ideas!!! I have 2 daughters, and the barbie thing might be right up their alley!! I like the idea of the Christmas ornaments too. ....didn't think about that one.

 

...........for all I know the girls might just love the build a bear too..! But I love hearing the ideas from people who have created fun family traditions.

 

keep 'em coming!!

[YOWmom]

I collect Christmas ornaments too but they're for me, not for the kids!! ;)

[onthelake]

My son always wanted the model of the ship sold in the gift shop. Sometimes you can get them signed by the captain. It is a nice piece even as they get older.

[luc122]

one trip, my daughter and I got matching flip flop necklaces from each port.

it's a necklace with a small flip-flop looking charm on it. We picked different colors from each port. neither one of us can tell you which charm goes with which port, but we know it was from our Glory cruise when she was 8.

[bplazo]

We also did the Christmas ornaments. It was fun picking out a different one from each port. I like the idea of a charm bracelet and getting a different charm.

[jtm22372]

we collect seashells from each port we visit

[imsulin]

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we did individual photo albums for each of our kids for all of our trips. Photos were labelled (hand-written or typed and taped) with trip details. Nothing digital back then! The stuffed animals, T-shirts, and cheap souvenirs have long since disappeared (other than the few I managed to save). Kids still have the photo albums.

[nvrdunn]

We took our son on his first cruise at 4.5 years of age. We already gave our son his spending money (that he earned or we kept some birthday money from his birthday for him). He was able to go where ever he wanted and get something he wanted. Generally (I would like to think that we have influenced him right) he ends up getting a t-shirt (from somewhere like Del Sol). It lasts longer and he remembers it more. He has never been a stuffed animal lover, so that might help. Plus we always have a backpack stuffed with activities from the plane he can get into. HTH.

[crusinmama06]

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we did individual photo albums for each of our kids for all of our trips. Photos were labelled (hand-written or typed and taped) with trip details. Nothing digital back then! The stuffed animals, T-shirts, and cheap souvenirs have long since disappeared (other than the few I managed to save). Kids still have the photo albums.

 

Oooh I do the ship photo albums too! I forgot about those. Now that you mention it, I may have to buy a 2nd house just to store the keepsakes from the ships! :eek:

 

I think I may have a shopping problem :o Isn't there a TLC show about this?

[Warm Breezes]

My son always wanted the model of the ship sold in the gift shop. Sometimes you can get them signed by the captain. It is a nice piece even as they get older.

 

My son has been collecting the ship models since we started cruising. He has a shelf in his room with 6 ship models with his Sign & Sail Cards next to them. Number 7 will be added in a couple of months.

[Onessa]

On all of our trips we always try to pick up a local book -- whether it is a story book or the copy of Twilight in Spanish, it is a nice reminder of a trip. We primarily look for illustrated versions of a local legend or story. Some are in languages we don't understand but the illustrations are lovely -- we have a loose translation of a picture book we bought in a Turkish market in the merchant's writing, we have had friends help with a few others (DH's parish priest teaches Greek thank goodness)

 

DD has a small cabinet on her wall with "treasures" -- so often she will find something for that as well. These range from pewter or plaster versions of history buildings, to pebbles collected on a beach, to a "really cool" bottle cap from a foreign country.

 

She's had her own camera (in various forms) over the years (since she was about 4YO and it actually had film in it) so she has lots of photos she has taken herself (those seem to be the only ones you'll ever find me in!:eek:)

[highbridge5]

I ordered a stuffed Funship Freddy for each of my 3 kids from Bon Voyage so that they were waiting in the room when we got on the ship.

 

I thought it was a great idea.

 

My kids did not seem to be all that excited then and could not care less now. So much for that great idea.

 

The things that my kids really liked were-

 

- the carnival lanyards that they put their S&S cards on for the entire trip

- the inflatable carnival ship(s) they got at the onboard shop. It is a couple feet long and big enough that only it and one kid fit in the bathtub.

 

Both of these items were less than $6 each.

 

hb5

[NEcruisers????]

DD has a small photo album of each of her trips, and we also get her a tshirt from each place. Many of the tshirts have long since been outgrown, so I had several of them made into a quilt. We have just about enough for another quilt. The quilts are fun to look at and reminise...

[cantw8togo]

DH picked up a laminated place mat for our now 6 year old DS on our family trip to Alaska last year. While it is by no means a heirloom keepsake, the place mat is used every day and is a continual reminder of our adventure.

 

I too usually pick up a Christmas ornament when on vacation, although I have to be careful to not go overboard because I already have enough ornaments for two trees!

[imsulin]

Oooh I do the ship photo albums too! I forgot about those. Now that you mention it, I may have to buy a 2nd house just to store the keepsakes from the ships! :eek:

 

I think I may have a shopping problem :o Isn't there a TLC show about this?

 

Ha ha!! Well, didn't buy a second house, but I have rented a storage unit for years (those retirement condos aren't exactly spacious)!! I think this storage unit would probably qualify for an episode on "Hoarders"! Every time we all get together, I make the kids take some of this stuff home with them, and have been known to secretly hide certain items (the jackalope from Wyoming, Baby Skates with no hair, the Tinkerbelle costume from DL, non-working light sabres, and half-naked Barbies and GI Joes, etc.) in pieces of their luggage when they weren't looking. They love the pictures, though! Especially the fashion-backward clothes and hair styles!

 

Maybe it's time to invest in a storage shed for your back yard?? :) :)

[imsulin]

DD has a small photo album of each of her trips, and we also get her a tshirt from each place. Many of the tshirts have long since been outgrown, so I had several of them made into a quilt. We have just about enough for another quilt. The quilts are fun to look at and reminise...

 

Wow! What a great idea about making a T-shirt quilt! Wish I would have thought of that all those years ago. Wonderful idea.

[Lady_Jag]

I make a photo book online, with all our cruise photos and special memories. Artscow frequently sends me offers for cheap or free personalized photo albums.

 

The books are a good quality with stitched (not glued) binding, there are plenty of custom layouts to choose from, and my 4-year-old just LOVES them, since she's usually the "star" of the story!

 

Here's my recent one from our Inspiration cruise last month. It was free, and shipping was $6.99:

http://www.artscow.com/share/Cruise-April-2010-cruise-travel-carnival-ship-spring-break-fun-inspiration-j4stg068akmm

 

I also make albums for my little girl's birthday, to make a "Year In Review" type scrapbook for her, and to "publish" my own bedtime story, starring my little one and her favorite toy.

:)