Create Your New York Trip Memory Board
Missing New York after your trip? Learn how to create a personalized memory board with your travel souvenirs. Bring a piece of the Big Apple back home with this creative DIY project.
How to Create a New York Memory Board
- I get homesick for New York all the time. I came back from a trip a few months ago, and I already miss the city. When that happens, I pull out my memory box and photos and dive back into my travels. It helps.
- When I returned from my first New York trip in 2012, I had the idea to gather my subway tickets, City Pass, receipts, photos, and napkins from the trip and display them all behind glass in a frame. This personal, one-of-a-kind memory board hung in my office and bedroom for a while, until it fell and broke.
- I also made a frame with the Manhattan map I picked up at the hotel reception desk. Here’s what it looks like:
Another idea: I glued all my favorite photos onto a thick cardboard calendar. One photo in particular stands out—Rockefeller Center lit up in blue on April 2, 2012, for Autism Awareness Day. That day means a lot to me because my brother is autistic.
I thought this display would be temporary, but it’s been up since 2012 and still hangs in the same spot. I’ll frame it under glass when I redecorate! 🙂
I also found a large glass frame to hold printed photos. This one hung above my bed for years. Every morning, looking at my 2012 photos gave me a smile—those pictures are precious to me because it was my first time visiting the city of my dreams.
For this article, I created a new New York memory board to inspire you to make one too, if you haven’t already. I included my used City Pass booklet from October 2015, one from my teenager, an entry ticket to the Harlem Globetrotters show at the legendary Madison Square Garden in December 2015, my ticket for the Circle Line cruise I mention in this article, an entry ticket to Top of the Rock and a receipt from its shop, receipts from Shake Shack and Walgreens, and my return flight boarding pass.
I still need to find my entry tickets to One World Observatory and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Empire State Building ticket, and get a larger frame.
You can also use a memory frame as a desk pad or under a coffee table—the possibilities are endless. The main thing is to have fun with it.
So go ahead and create your own, then share your masterpieces on the New York Forum!
