Souvenirs: Do you buy clothes with the place you're visiting written on them?

[Irene Lynn]

The kids and I don't tend to wear clothes with locations or company names on them.  On trips I tend to pick up a local pottery item, if I can find it.  If we need to pick up a clothing item on trips, we try to stop at the nearest outlet mall, then we usually get some new underwear, too.  LOL  No one sees that, nor would they think it was bragging!  My husband gets shirts from bike rides and free shirts from IT conference/training events.  They way shirts are today, I don't assume the person is wearing a shirt from a place they visited, so it doesn't seem like bragging to me.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I had to look up the definition of bragging (“excessively proud and boastful talk about one's achievements or possessions.’). Nope. Still don’t see how the name on a t-shirt fits as bragging unless underneath the name it says something like “nyah, nyah. We got to go here and you didn’t “ or something to that effect.   As someone else pointed out you can get shirts like this at thrift stores. It can be a shirt that provides a fun memory. Or it could just be something to wear. Some of my favorite place shirts happen to have a color or design that I like. 

[mumto2]

Ds lives in T-shirt’s and has a big collection.  We always buy him a couple of fun ones while traveling.  Honestly they are the only clothing he enjoys receiving so we really enjoy buying them and seeing him wear them.  They make us happy.   I have never thought of them as bragging.

[GailV]

I wear my place-name tshirts to sleep in.  So I guess I'd be bragging to my dh??? Except he's been on all the trips where I bought the shirts, so I'm failing at that.

[mellifera33]

7 hours ago, thessa516 said:

I get a sweatshirt. It's my thing. Some people collect spoons, I collect sweatshirts. When we go on vacation, the kids look out for sweatshirts they think I'd like. Then I wear them all winter long because I'm always cold.  I think it's weird that someone considers wearing a shirt with the name of a location on it as bragging. But I also admit that I love looking at people's vacation photos when they share them with me. I don't have much of a brag-meter. In most cases, I'm genuinely happy for them.

 

I love seeing friends’ vacation photos too. And this will date me, but when I was a kid I loved to see vacation slides. My parents spent many evenings gritting their teeth while relatives took the big picture off the living room wall and projected their vacation pics onto it for us to admire. ?

[El...]

Nope, not clothes. We buy magnets, and sometimes guests look at the fridge, but mostly we just enjoy them. 

[ElizabethB]

Sometimes.  

Pikes Peak sells a lot of sweatshirts!!

We were warned to tell our parents when I went to school there about the change in temperature with the elevation and to bring a jacket if we visited Pike's Peak in Colorado.  My mom said, "But it's 70 degrees down here, and how long are we going to stay at the top anyway?" My Mom got a Pikes Peak sweatshirt, and I noticed that they had a lot larger sweatshirt/t-shirt ratio than the norm for a gift shop.  It was a bit windy the day we visited, making it even colder than the temperature change alone.  My mom has a lot of travel t-shirts and that one sweatshirt!

[TechWife]

If I am at the beach and find a beach t-shirt that I like, I will buy one. We always buy refrigerator magnets when we visit a new town or city, we probably have close to 100 of those. We are at the bottom of the refrigerator door - a few more and we'll have to start on the freezer door.

[Liz CA]

Not typically, however, I have found myself in places without adequate wardrobe for the climate and have bought sweatshirts. 

[CAJinBE]

I frequently do because I like the memories it brings back when I wear it, but lately I'm finding I don't like crew necks. My other favorite items are coffee mugs (but now my cupboard is full), coasters, trivets, local items like pottery or books. I usually become fascinated with some aspect of the local history and don't have time to study it while I'm there so I buy a book about it. I feel like this also supports the museum or cultural center. Recently I started with keychains because I can hang them on hooks and they don't take up much space. They make me smile when I see them. I prefer useful items but eventually you have too much of everything. 

[Closeacademy]

I don't like to wear anything with writing on it. Now the rest of the family likes stuff like that so we do buy it for them. For me I usually get something small and useful as a memory of the place we visited.I really like bags with the name of the place on it.

[Wheres Toto]

I like keychains but already have a bunch that I use daily so I can find my keys in the bottom of my bag.  We don't really have a good way/place to display them.  Anyone else remember the 80's when it was cool to have a long string of fun keychains, even if you didn't have any keys?

I like magnets too but our refrigerator doors aren't magnetic so we don't have anyplace to put those either.

If someone doesn't like to wear t-shirts with logos or saying on them in general, I wouldn't expect them to like them as souvenirs.  T-shirts and hoodies are probably 80% of my daily wardrobe these days.  In addition to my souvenir shirts, I wear a lot of 4-H tshirts and a bunch from dd's college days - her dance team, her sorority parent events, etc.

[SamanthaCarter]

I tend to think of the beach stickers that people display on thier cars as a symbol of conspicuous consumption. Not shirts though, since they could be hand me down  or goodwill/yard sale purchases. 

We like to buy souvenir Christmas tree ornaments from museum/park gift shops. 

[elegantlion]

I will sometimes buy a shirt. I used to a lot, but never considered it bragging. It reminded me of the trip. Since I've been a college student, I've acquired a lot of logo/branded shirts. For travel, I've switched to buying something different as a souvenir. 

I work in a museum. Our number one souvenir is tshirts, second would probably be magnets or postcards. 

[elegantlion]

Just now, SamanthaCarter said:

I tend to think of the beach stickers that people display on thier cars as a symbol of conspicuous consumption. Not shirts though, since they could be hand me down  or goodwill/yard sale purchases. 

 

 

Ha, yes! One of my favorite hooded sweatshirts is an Oxford University one that I bought at a garage sale for a couple of dollars. I feel smarter when I wear it ?, and it's really comfortable. 

[Annie G]

2 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

I tend to think of the beach stickers that people display on thier cars as a symbol of conspicuous consumption. Not shirts though, since they could be hand me down  or goodwill/yard sale purchases. 

We like to buy souvenir Christmas tree ornaments from museum/park gift shops. 

As an introvert trying to become more comfortable talking to people, I love seeing bumper stickers with locations. It gives me a chance to talk to people. Recently I was taking my shopping cart to the corral and I noticed a guy with an Outer Banks sticker. I told him I’ve never been but my parents loved going there.  He enthusiastically told me how great it was and it ended up just being a nice encounter.  I’ve used car stickers as conversation starters many times.  

 

[J-rap]

20 hours ago, Margaret in CO said:

We don't really travel, because of ranching... The kids had some Annapolis/Navy t-shirts, but mostly given as presents from the Midshipman. Dd did buy an Oxford sweatshirt when she went there at 12. The PILES of t-shirts around here are from CO Youth State Patrol Academy, Naval Summer Seminar, West Point Summer Leaders, CG AIM, AFA summer seminar, along with jackets, water bottles, shorts, blankets, etc. The kids fight over the shorts (Navy's are better as they have pockets), no one liked the AFA girls' shirts (they fit weird), the Navy water bottles are WAY better than CGA's, but the CGA jacket was the best! Middle dd used to like to show up to morning PT (Army) in Navy shorts, AFA shirt (her brother's), and Army sweats. Just to be obnoxious. Navy girl still runs in USNA shorts--those things just won't die. We also have piles of swimming and running t-shirts from various meets. I finally made a quilt out of swim t-shirts for my youngest. Ds is getting a collection of AF shirts, and youngest has a pile of Norwich ones. She wears them to her county job at the rodeo grounds, knowing that there will be another pile next year. 

Oh yes, all of those free T-shirts that they hand out at kids' activities and sports teams around here...  At first my kids thought it was kind of neat but eventually it became almost overwhelming!  We eventually turned most of them into rags, and I still pull out pieces of those shirts today when I dip into our rag bag.  ? 

[J-rap]

19 hours ago, thessa516 said:

I get a sweatshirt. It's my thing. Some people collect spoons, I collect sweatshirts. When we go on vacation, the kids look out for sweatshirts they think I'd like. Then I wear them all winter long because I'm always cold.  I think it's weird that someone considers wearing a shirt with the name of a location on it as bragging. But I also admit that I love looking at people's vacation photos when they share them with me. I don't have much of a brag-meter. In most cases, I'm genuinely happy for them.

That's how I feel about it too.  I actually love looking at other people's vacation pics and hearing their vacation stories (well, as long as it doesn't drag on forever!), because I'm really happy for them and love to travel myself. 

[J-rap]

19 hours ago, Rachel said:

I don’t usually buy t-shirts for myself from places I have been, but I do on occasion. I do usually buy them for my kids if they weren’t there and sometimes if they were. Our go to souvenir is a postcard, they are inexpensive and I can buy one for each kid at every gift shop without going broke. 

 

I like collecting nice postcards too.  I'll tuck it somewhere (like on my dresser) where I look at it every day and it makes me smile.

[J-rap]

12 hours ago, mellifera33 said:

 

I love seeing friends’ vacation photos too. And this will date me, but when I was a kid I loved to see vacation slides. My parents spent many evenings gritting their teeth while relatives took the big picture off the living room wall and projected their vacation pics onto it for us to admire. ?

Oh gosh, slides!  My father had a little portable screen he'd set up.  I remember all of those evenings watching slides from family vacations.  (Never with other people though -- just our family.)  Those are sweet memories for me.

[J-rap]

1 hour ago, Annie G said:

As an introvert trying to become more comfortable talking to people, I love seeing bumper stickers with locations. It gives me a chance to talk to people. Recently I was taking my shopping cart to the corral and I noticed a guy with an Outer Banks sticker. I told him I’ve never been but my parents loved going there.  He enthusiastically told me how great it was and it ended up just being a nice encounter.  I’ve used car stickers as conversation starters many times.  

 

That's very sweet!

[BarbecueMom]

Oh, I forgot DH did buy a t-shirt after going up Pikes Peak on a work trip.  He’s afraid of heights and was very proud of himself for making it up there and not passing out in his boss’s car.

It’s this one.  After he accidentally ran into extended family while wearing it (at Chik-Fil-A on a Wednesday night, he was raised Baptist he should know better, lol), I started using it as a sleeping/painting shirt.

[Dmmetler]

My favorite souvenir is a charm for my Pandora bracelet. Usually I can find one that relates to the trip, even if that particular location doesn’t have a specific one made for it.

 

 I also gave that style of bracelet to DD’s “big sis” last year, and she gives a charm to her sis for each cheer comp/event. There are a lot of nice Pandora-type charms on eBay :). 

[SKL]

I said yes earlier, but I should note that I wear t-shirts 99.5% of the time, so a t-shirt is a very useful item for me.  ?  I will only buy one if it looks nice and is my style.  (So there are many places I've been from which I have no souvenir other than some digital photos.)  At least 90% of my [daily wear] t-shirts are from travel locations.  The rest are hand-me-downs, gifts, or event t-shirts.  I haven't bought a shirt outside of travel for years, possibly decades.

[Lady Florida.]

I used to but haven't done so for years. I reached a point where I'd rather spend my money on the experience. plus I had photos for memories. However, back when I did buy tee shirts as souvenirs it was just like any other souvenir - to remember my trip. When I wore the shirt, it would bring back memories. When I saw other people wearing shirts (or hats, or whatever) from a destination I figured they were doing the same thing - remembering a pleasant vacation. I never wore mine to brag nor did I think that of others when I saw them. I can't imagine thinking (judging) like that. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

The runners in the family have a lot of race shirts.  They are given out when you get your racing bibs.  The really good ones are the tech shirts for the bigger races.  The cotton ones aren't so good for running in. 

The shirts celebrate a legitimate achievement.  It seems like some people think that celebrating anything equals "bragging" but I don't think that way. 

[marbel]

I think almost anything someone can do, buy, or show others can be interpreted as bragging if people want to see it that way.  Just wearing a tee shirt isn't bragging about the trip. Maybe wearing it and calling attention to it to get people to comment on it would be.  Or wearing a triathlon shirt - I have family members who participate in lots of those types of events, and wear the shirts, but they just wear the shirts. They don't think it's a big deal or anything to brag about. They are just athletic and enjoy doing the races. 

I think bragging comes across in the attitude of the person, kwim?   Like, I know it when I see it.  I am thinking of two different people in my life, both of whom travel a lot. One seems braggy about it, the other doesn't. Both use facebook to share photos and some travel commentary, but there is a difference in attitude and it comes across. I can't explain it but I bet I'm not the only one who experiences this.  

[Amber in SJ]

When oldest DD moved from sunny CA to Utah for school we scoured the thrift stores for sweatshirts with names of places in CA.  She really identified as a CA girl and wanted everyone to know :)  We only chose places she had been.

Dh gets a t-shirt from the local Harley Davidson store whenever we travel.

The one & only time we went to Disney, I stocked up on Disney related souvenirs/ shirts at the thrift store or the clearance shelf at our Disney Store.  All the kids got shirts, those spinning flashlights, a few beginner pins and a toy.  I doled them out once we got there.

For many years my kids did the turkey trot at Thanksgiving with my mom. She would push them in strollers or walk with the slowest, and she got a sweatshirt every year.  She also visited us every year and bought an otter sweatshirt at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and she got a sweatshirt every year from the high school where she worked.  It is also the high school from which Dh & I both graduated.  When she passed away I took my favorites and wear them 3 seasons of the year when I walk the dog in the early morning.  It would never occur to me that it was bragging because you don't actually have to go to get a shirt/ sweat shirt.

My Dd & Ds both get pins or patches from the parks to go on their backpacks.  Ds also gets stickers that go on his scout binder.

The souvenir I usually choose is a pack of playing cards with the name of the place on the backs.  The cards get used for War, Go Fish, Crazy 8s, Spoons, Scum or Nertz or any other family card game and the kids each have their favorite deck that they think is lucky.  

Amber in SJ   

[Amber in SJ]

I will say that t-shirts figure greatly into the high tech culture here in Silicon Valley.  Companies give out t-shirts.  When Dh goes to conventions, t-shirts are a common swag item.  It does become a part of your geek cred to have a shirts from the bigger tech companies or from the latest start up.  It is totally bragging.  "Ha!  I worked at 2Wire at the height of modem tech."  It makes me laugh

Amber in SJ

[happi duck]

14 hours ago, BarbecueMom said:

Oh, I forgot DH did buy a t-shirt after going up Pikes Peak on a work trip.  He’s afraid of heights and was very proud of himself for making it up there and not passing out in his boss’s car.

It’s this one.  After he accidentally ran into extended family while wearing it (at Chik-Fil-A on a Wednesday night, he was raised Baptist he should know better, lol), I started using it as a sleeping/painting shirt.

I don't understand the shirt on its own, the Pike's peak connection or why he had to stop wearing it.  I am definitely missing something!

[Katy]

3 hours ago, happi duck said:

I don't understand the shirt on its own, the Pike's peak connection or why he had to stop wearing it.  I am definitely missing something!

 

The shirt makes a sexual reference that would not be appropriate in Baptist culture.

[Ottakee]

Guess we need to brag here.   My kids all bought shirts that say Canada on them at the mall.....the WALMART in the mall (first time I had ever seen a mini Walmart as a mall anchor) yesterday.

[Acorn]

2 hours ago, Katy said:

 

The shirt makes a sexual reference that would not be appropriate in Baptist culture.

OK, I am never quick understanding references, but it has to be a different shirt. The link is “I tried it at home” and the man is on fire. I cannot connect that to Pikes Peak. I wouldn’t  buy it but I could see people in my house wearing it. They often scoff at “don’t try this at home” warnings.

 

please pm me if needed.

[catz]

50 minutes ago, Acorn said:

OK, I am never quick understanding references, but it has to be a different shirt. The link is “I tried it at home” and the man is on fire. I cannot connect that to Pikes Peak. I wouldn’t  buy it but I could see people in my house wearing it. They often scoff at “don’t try this at home” warnings.

 

please pm me if needed.

I tried to isolate the shirt I'm seeing on it's own.  

I'm still not seeing how it's a sexual reference that would be inappropriate, but it's definitely a Pike's Peak shirt.  ?

[marbel]

Yeah, I see the same one FuzzyCatz posted.  Love to know what reference I'm missing, or if it's a different shirt.  This has become oddly important to me this morning LOL.  

[Rachel]

2 minutes ago, marbel said:

Yeah, I see the same one FuzzyCatz posted.  Love to know what reference I'm missing, or if it's a different shirt.  This has become oddly important to me this morning LOL.  

Me too! But when I scroll down I see other CO shirts. I don’t see the Pikes Peak one FuzzyCat posted. Just the one with the stick figure on fire. I’m a bit naive but I don’t get the sexual reference at all. 

[Rachel]

1 hour ago, Ottakee said:

Guess we need to brag here.   My kids all bought shirts that say Canada on them at the mall.....the WALMART in the mall (first time I had ever seen a mini Walmart as a mall anchor) yesterday.

Good looking family!  I don’t think I realized you had 4 children. 

[BarbecueMom]

7 hours ago, happi duck said:

I don't understand the shirt on its own, the Pike's peak connection or why he had to stop wearing it.  I am definitely missing something!

LOL, the link must have changed last night when the listing expired.

Here's the shirt again.

[Rachel]

2 minutes ago, BarbecueMom said:

LOL, the link must have changed last night when the listing expired.

Here's the shirt again.

That makes so much more sense! I do get that reference. ?

[catz]

LOL - I get it now!  ?

[marbel]

10 minutes ago, Rachel said:

That makes so much more sense! I do get that reference. ?

 

Yep. Thanks for clearing it up. I can get on with my day now.  :-)

[Annie G]

Thanks for that link- I was spending way too much time squinting at the original shirt trying to see a hidden message!

[Ottakee]

35 minutes ago, Rachel said:

Good looking family!  I don’t think I realized you had 4 children. 

The tall blonde guy is dd's boyfriend who is along for the trip.   He is around so much it is almost like me having 4.

[mom@shiloh]

I don't buy a location t-shirt because I don't tend to wear things like that, but I don't think it's bragging either.  Actually, it's a great conversation starter.  ?

 

[Lady Florida.]

I was completely missing how that shirt was considered sexual and inappropriate until I scrolled down and looked at the others. Then I finished reading the thread and saw that I was right (the I Like It On Top one). Back when I was still a Catholic my Catholic relatives would have laughed at the shirt. 

[KungFuPanda]

True souvenir story:  When I moved to MD it took me a while to understand why people would put souvenir stickers for the LA airport on their vehicles. A WHILE. I’m not proud. 

[KungFuPanda]

On 6/13/2018 at 12:01 AM, Arctic Mama said:

I can’t say I’ve ever had any souvenir shirts, but I don’t know why.  I’m totally cool with the concept, and I think my kids have had a few given to them.  But I guess I tend to be a keychain person.

I’m a mug person :-)

[Caroline]

3 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

.... why would they have an LAX bumper sticker?  Now I’m the confused one!

LAX is lacrosse.

[KungFuPanda]

3 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

.... why would they have an LAX bumper sticker?  Now I’m the confused one!

My thoughts EXACTLY. It took me a while . . . 

I want you to feel my pain because I’m evil like that. It was a thing I was curious about while driving but never thought about once I got out of the car or asked anyone about it. You’ll get there . . .?

[Amber in SJ]

I have a friend who, as a grown woman, went to Hawaii with her husband for a second honeymoon and bought her 9yo dd a t-shirt that had (in her words,) "a cute bunny" on it and the word Hawaii.  Yes, she brought home a small, low-cut top with the Playboy Bunny on it for her daughter without recognizing the trademark at all.  Her dh recognized it, but thought it was funny not to tell her.  Her dd wore it to school.  Pretty risque for the 4th grade. 

Amber in SJ