New ideas for gifts for new and old cruise friends?

[AlohaLivin]

We love cruising! And the longer we cruise, the more the reason for cruising becomes in part the many great and long-lasting friendships that we have made onboard during the last 10+ years. Even if we do not get to sail with those friends as often as we like, we will get to retire one day perhaps one day and will have more time and more cruises!. ‍‍‍‍‍‍ No matter how often we see them, they will always be friends.

So, we like to bring small gifts for people who we have met on past cruisers or through roll calls prior posts to a cruise. In the past I have used my Cricut to make cruise-themed luggage tags and also nautical earrings on circuit-cut earring cards (also with cruise themes). For cabin crawls that we have led, we have wrapped bags of peach taffy (a Georgia themed gift) that people usually seem to enjoy. But I need some new ideas (especially since for now I don’t have much time to spend with my Cricut )! 

Here are some that I have considered:

• New types of cruise themed luggage tags (ones I could have printed)
• ‘Light” cards with cute cruise sayings (again, printed)
• Cruise coffee cups filled with candy wouldn’t be bad, but those would get pretty heavy and I’m usually close to the weight limit on luggage as it is!
   

Can anyone come up with some novel options? Who knows you could be getting one some day!

[Ampurp85]

How about reusable straws or cup caddies?.

[KLA]

Towel clips?

[CruisingNewb]

Buy some lanyards for seapasses.  Decorate them using acrylic paints or whatever puffy, shiny, sparkly things you can use to decorate.

Some magnetic clips have areas to decorate.  These would be nice to hang cruise compasses, etc.

[Kathleen]

3 hours ago, KLA said:

Towel clips?

This would be different and you could even personalize them with a small sticker with dates, itinerary or names. What a fun tradition you have started.

[Linda R]

I brought small jars of Huckleberry Jam from Montana.  I tied purple ribbons on the bottles with made in Montana sticker.  Gave them to new friends and staff.   They did add some weight and space in luggage, but I replaced it with things I purchased.  It seemed to be a big hit, as most places do not have Huckleberries.  I also did this when I went to London and was familiar to the hotel staff.  

[WAYNO]

How 'bout a big door-magnet with their name and a cruise theme.

 

We were given one with our names, and there's room to sharpie-in each cruise.  It resides on our refrigerator door between cruises.

[AlohaLivin]

These are all great ideas, thank you! It has been difficult coming up with something that would be useful / fun for a wide variety of people (interests, genders, etc) and that would travel well! We love doing this, we too love this tradition @Kathleen- we so enjoy meeting new friends and love expressing that with the small gifts. The personalizing can be difficult for the new friends as until we get onboard we don’t know who we may run across (it is amazing how many conversations and friendships can pop up in the CK or DL!). There are at least a couple of people here at RCB that are due a gift

We have been looking at the tags below, I figured they are something almost everyone could use and they are good quality.  

I have been in the “search” stage of this for a while so appreciate the thoughts from all of you

 

 

[urgentgorgoroth]

I've got a few suggestions that don't require as much crafting: 1. Customized cruise-themed luggage tags: Instead of DIY, you can have these printed with personalized designs. 2. "Light" cards with cute cruise sayings: These printed cards can have funny cruise-related quotes or puns that will bring a smile to your friends' faces. 3. Cruise-themed photo blanket:  You can select photos from your trips and have them printed on a cozy blanket.