Whether strung loosely for resale or on a tribal necklace, beads are fantastic souvenir items to collect on your world travels. What’s more, the travel souvenirs you can make with beads provide a fair amount of creative diversity.

If either you or a friend design jewelry, you’ll come home with unique raw material to design with. If crafts and kiddy projects fit more into your lifestyle, purchasing inexpensive yet high quality beads will work for that too. Need some ideas?

TEN TRAVEL SOUVENIRS YOU CAN MAKE WITH BEADS:

Prayer or worry beads.

Whether your go with worry beads, branch off into Islamic or Baha’i prayer strands or string some rosaries, this is an excellent idea that turns a simple travel souvenir into something the recipient will enjoy for years to come.

Zipper pulls.

Small, simple and fun to make, zipper pulls are something that children and grownups alike will enjoy. Add zipper pulls to your jacket, day packs, briefcases or business luggage. Here are some additional instructions.

Safety pin friendship tokens.

Believe it or not, those sneaker lace safety pin projects are still a hit after all these years. If you are needing something your children can make affordably to hand out to all their friends at school, this is a dirt cheap way to pull of something with some serious wow factor on the tween scene.

Beaded key chains.

Children who want to make grown up presents for the parents enjoy working on key chain projects. This is a great way to let them work independently on something with a low financial investment in art supplies.

Eyeglass neck chains.

Whether the person you want to give these to wears prescription glasses or sunglasses, beaded neck chains to keep them close make a useful and thoughtful gift. Having a set with interesting beadwork one can’t buy on any street corner back home makes them all the more meaningful.

Hair sticks.

Many women with shoulder length hair or longer enjoy using bead-adorned hair sticks as fashion accessories. The possibilities for creating these are endless, as there are many different looks from formal to tribal that can be accomplished.

Beaded napkin rings.

Love to entertain? Use a variety of unstrung travel beads to create your own unique beaded napkin rings. These also make a lovely hostess gift for someone who might traditionally be difficult to shop for.

Dangling bookmarks.

For book fans and avid readers, bookmarks are one of those gifts that it’s OK to have several of. Get the kids into the game and design a batch to tuck in with holiday gift packages.

Beaded stick pins for hats and lapels.

These are low on supply cost and high on wow factor, particularly with some of the more ornate beads you can find around the world. Having a nice beaded pin for your lapel or scarf, or even a nice hat pin can jazz up your wardrobe without breaking your budget.

Beaded hair combs.

Basic beaded hair combs make for a great mother-daughter craft activity. They can be adorned with a variety of bead work, resulting in numerous looks and styles.

Jewelry folks likely have an entire list of additional projects such as earrings, adornments for tatted pieces, necklace designs and more. Do you have a favorite beading project that would lend itself to a travel souvenir you can make with beads? Share the love in the comment section below.

Photo Credit: Lolly Knit – artist for bead picture.