Coasters Make Great Travel Souvenirs

Coasters are colorful little reminders of trips and favorite places. They also can remind you of a favorite sports team, a favorite hobby, or give you a message.

You can find beverage coasters made of all types of materials. I enjoy the little tile coasters, but you may prefer ones made of cloth or wood. A friend just recently showed me a set of coasters made of little quilt blocks.

Whatever you preference, there are coasters available on the market.

In this lens I will explore some of the types of coasters available on the market today.  Pick a coaster to fit the recipiants personality.  Coasters make great small gifts and stocking stuffers.

photos by Mary Beth Granger

drink coasters to remember trips

I love to collect coasters. I first started collecting coasters about 15 years ago on a trip to the west coast of the United States. I was on a business trip to San Diego and was looking for a small token of the trip to take back home. I can remember clearly the little shop on the harbor in San Diego that sold a variety of tile products including coasters. I chose a nice little scene with San Diego printed on tile. At this point I was not thinking of a collection but just a token of this trip.

A few months later on a trip to San Francisco with my husband, I came across the same type of tile coaster and purchased one with the San Franciso cable cars. Now my collection had begun, on all of our trips since then I search out a coaster to remind us of our travels.

Sometimes looking for single coasters can be quite a challenge and on a few occasions I have had to purchase a set to get the coaster that I wanted.

In researching for this lens, I have discovered that people collect coasters for a variety of reasons. There are coasters for favorite sports teams, coasters for with scenes of nature, coasters with art designs and a wide variety of beer and bar coasters.

When traveling, it is nice to purchase a small reminder of the places you have visited. One of the problems is always what to buy, and how to carry it home.

Coasters can be a great souvenir from a place you have visited. They are small and can be easily slipped in your handbag or suitcase and they can be a colorful reminder of your travels.

I have a nice basket sitting beside our coffee table that contains all of the coasters from our travels. It is a great way to keep the coasters organized and yet handy for use. I put a few out on our tables and rotate them occasionally. They are always great conversation starters.

coasters from around the world

Once I started collecting coasters, the challenge was started. Everywhere we go I look for coasters.

My husband and I love to take cruises that stop in many ports. Sometimes we take tours at the ports and may only have a short time for shopping. These stops always include looking for a new coaster to remember that city. It has become quite a challenge, and a lot of fun, to find just the right coaster.

Sometimes we are not successful in locating a coaster and on those occasions I now use a photograph that I have taken of the location and create a coaster from the photo when I return home.

The photo here depicts just a few of my many coasters. Starting in the back row, they are from the following cities or countries: San Diego,California, Jupiter, Florida, Hawaii, Sorrento, italy, Cyprus, Wales, and Delft, Holland.

Here are some neat coasters with a STL Cardinals logo. They have a place to add your favorite photos.

Art coasters are favorites of many people. I have some beautiful Monet designs in my collection.

These coaster are designs of the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

This set of four glass photo frames found on Amazon is one of the ones that I thought would make a nice gift set.