Vacations are fun, and souvenirs help us to remember the good times we had when we were away. But do you really have to buy a keychain or a t-shirt? Isn’t there something, anything else that you can do to help you remember the time that you visited that-awesome-place-you-went-on-vacation?

Yes! Here are three inexpensive and unconventional souvenir ideas that will help you to remember your fun vacation.

Use check-in on Facebook to help record your travels

Instead of buying something to help you remember all of the fun, random places you stop on your vacation check-in to the places on Facebook. (If you’re planning to vacation in Canada, read about Canadian travel hacking here). Then, once you get home, you can look back at where all you were, and enjoy the memories. And all that without paying a dime!

Record your experiences by drawing or writing about the things you see

Instead of taking a picture or video of the places you visit and the people you encounter, write or draw them. This is a way for you to really see the places you visit. With a camera, every second you spend focusing the lense is a second less that you actually spend looking at the thing. But if you’re writing or drawing, you have to really see the item.

Your picture or description will help to bring the experience to a new level. After the vacation is all said and done, you will be able to look at your drawing or writing and remember what it was like to create it, and fully remember what it was like to be there. And all of this without eating up memory on your camera!

Make an audio recording of yourself while you are on vacation

A great way to create an interesting souvenir is to record yourself talking while you are on vacation. You might be alone, or you might be in a group – either way can be fun. You can talk about what you are experiencing, seeing, and doing. If you are in a group, you can make it fun and interview each other about what it’s like to be there. When you get home, you can put the recording(s) online in the form of a podcast, or if you also took pictures, you could edit it in a movie and post it online for your friends to see and for you to enjoy for years to come. And all this while putting your personal fingerprint on your souvenir.

So the next time you go on vacation and come across a souvenir shop, remember that you don’t need a mug, t-shirt, or keychain to help you remember your vacation — you can create your own souvenirs in an inexpensive, create way.