Top Tips to Keep Holiday Memories Alive

I am terrible at always planning new holidays to avoid the blues – in fact I have two holidays booked for this year and am already thinking of a third! My son has decided that for his 21st birthday he would like to go somewhere special on holiday. With it being such a special birthday it is important that it is one to remember. It is all the little details that make a memorable holiday and that includes what you bring home to keep the memories alive afterward. I think that this needs to be more than just a fridge magnet in this instance! So thanks to James Villa here are some Top Tips to Keep Holiday Memories Alive:

Ideas to Bring Holiday Home with James Villas

There are so many great ideas for creating memories for your holiday to keep going – whether it is just photos or fridge magnets to something more exciting. James Villas know all about how to Bring Holiday Home and so when they invited me to a craft afternoon to do exactly that I literally jumped at the chance! James Villas are well-known for making holidays special, helping to plan all the little details and making things as hassle-free for you as possible. They have a range of fantastic villas in a variety of great locations to suit a range of tastes, requirements and budgets. They can help you plan what to do, where to eat, car hire as well as where to stay. In their free magazine there’s even more advice – I am particularly looking into the different nearby waterparks.

James Villas are really embracing how to Bring Holiday Home and have some ideas of how to keep the memories alive by creating something special:

• Design a Smash Book: (which you can design things before you go too) adding in tickets, luggage tags, flight information, tourist maps and brochures, menus, food packaging, dried flowers etc, sand and sea shells – the list is endless. Plus it will make a great resource if you plan to revisit!
• Learning some new Cuisine: Why not try to make the local food when you get back home – whether it is lunch on the go, a substantial snack or a full on meal. Why not try Gyros from Greece, Panzerotti from Puglia, Paella from Spain, Ginginha from Silver Coast or Fritule from Istria (for more details please see the James Villa Holidays free magazine).
• Holiday Souvenirs: Souvenirs to reflect the area – such as Handmade rugs in Marrakech, Avarcas in Mallorca & Menorca, Lace from Cyprus – to name but a few.
• Crafting: Of course what I went to discover was about the crafting aspect of bringing a holiday home. Do you or your children pick up things from the beach – shells, drift wood etc – why not turn them into a beautiful keepsake? Or what about swatches of local fabric? Alternatively you could learn a new skill from your holiday – leaving you with not just a wonderful memento but also a new know-how.

Bring Holiday Home Majorcan Style With James Villa Holidays

James Villas did an excellent job of making us feeling like we were at a one of their Mallorca Villa holidays with Spanish music playing, cocktails a plenty (non-alcoholic too for those who wanted them), amazing food and remarkable company.

We also were really lucky to have some experts on hand to teach us Majorcan craft skills; first iKat Loom Weaving by Daughters of Weave – who taught us this Cloth of Tongues technique where patterns are formed by tightly weaving together fabrics. You can make all manner of fantastic items with this technique including clothes! We made a lovely wall hanging – utilising things we could have picked up on our Villa Holiday – mine being a paper straw! It was such a relaxing activity which could be as serious and organised or as relaxed and free-flowing as you desired.

Next the very wonderful Ota from Luchi and Ota taught us how to make our own Espadrilles. This was such an amazing activity and how wonderful to design your own summer footwear however you want! Ota encouraged us to really express ourselves and demonstrating ways we could customise our Espadrilles to really make them our own! It was a pleasure to spend the day with the James Villa team because not only did they make it a memorable and fun day but they also got stuck right in with us – and I could not write a post without mentioning Gary’s great efforts making his Espadrilles!

Thanks for the great company:

Mummy Endeavours, Deep in Mummy Matters, Mari’s World, RedTedArt, Being Mrs C, Incredibusy, Rock n Roller Baby and Parent Shaped.