Travel Keepsakes: DIY Stamp Coasters and Unique Souvenir Ideas

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Travel Keepsakes: Unique Souvenirs Instead of Postcards

🌍 A year of backpacking 🎒 Takes almost no bag space ✨ 3 keepsakes

Five round resin coasters holding postage stamps from South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe, plus one round coaster filled with SIM cards

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The idea

My husband and I traveled for a year as our honeymoon, and I wanted a memento from every place we visited. I didn't want postcards or figurines, though. I wanted something a little more unique, and something compact, because we were backpacking for the whole year and every bit of space in my bag counted.

I ended up collecting three things: stamps, SIM cards and paper currency. They are tiny, they weigh nothing, and each one turned into something we actually display at home.

Keepsake 1: A stamp from every country

This one was intentional and the plan from the very beginning. Finding the local post office and buying a stamp in every country we visited became a fun little adventure for the two of us. Some countries were quite a challenge, because they aren't as developed (Mozambique was a good one).

Back home, I turned the stamps into resin coasters. I laid out 3 to 5 stamps per coaster, from countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Greece, Turkey and Israel.

What you need

A stamp from each place you visit, bought at the local post office
Large round silicone molds (3-cavity, 2 pack)
Hexagon coaster silicone molds (3 pack), if you want to try the hexagon shape
VViViD optically clear 2-part epoxy resin (750 g)
VViViD Prisma65 silver metallic pearl pigment, which gives the resin its grey, glittery look

How I made the coasters

I tried both shapes. I started with the hexagon molds and laid the stamps out in each one, overlapping them a little so no space was wasted.

Three hexagon silicone molds each holding three or four postage stamps from Laos, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, before the resin is poured

Then I poured the clear resin mixed with the grey glitter over the stamps.

Three hexagon molds of stamps covered in glittery resin, curing on a table

Once they cured and I popped them out, I had three little hexagon coasters.

Three finished hexagon resin coasters with glittery grey resin and stamps from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines

Close-up of a hexagon resin coaster with Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand stamps set in grey glitter resin

Round or hexagon? I tried both and I preferred the round molds.

All of the resin coasters together: round and hexagon coasters with postage stamps from around the world, and one round coaster filled with SIM cards

Keepsake 2: SIM cards

This one I collected by accident. By the end of our year of travel we had about 17 SIM cards, and it's a funny look back at how many phone stores we had to visit just to be able to use our phones. Yes, this was before eSIMs and Airalo.

They are so small that they take up no space at all, so I kept every one. At home they went into a resin coaster too, made the same way as the stamp ones.

Keepsake 3: Paper currency

This one started by accident too, but I began keeping it on purpose: one paper bill and one coin from each country. At home I turned them into a currency board on a 12″ × 18″ wood panel, with the paper currency Mod Podged on and the coins hot glued on.

What you need

1 paper bill and 1 coin from each country
A 12″ × 18″ wood panel
Mod Podge, for the paper currency
A hot glue gun, for the coins

Wood panel covered in colourful paper bills from around the world, with coins hot glued along the edges, including currency from Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Jordan, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil

Our guests love looking at this one, especially seeing the different values each country has for its lowest denomination. For example, 1000 Chilean pesos is about the same as 1 USD.

Result

Three souvenirs that took almost no space in a backpack for a year and that we now get to enjoy at home instead of leaving them in a drawer. If you're heading on a big trip, my advice is to pick a small, flat keepsake you can collect everywhere you go, and decide what to do with it when you get home.