How to pick souvenirs your friends will actually want

When in doubt: Buy edibles

Make sure to find out who loves and loathes kitschy souvenirs.
(Image credit: CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images)

For something so innocuous, souvenirs are a minefield.

First, there is the cheap airport and tourist shop kitsch: the knick-knacks and t-shirts featuring local monuments and global clichés. Then, there are the crafts and fashions that infiltrate your brain over the course of a trip, slowly convincing you that you need to bring them back; it's only when you're home that you discover there's no way you or anyone else you know will want them.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Kate Thorman

Kate Thorman is a freelance writer and editor based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in such publications as AFAR, Bon Appétit, and Fodor's. Her other projects include screenwriting and Part Time Vegan.