I need to confess something, and I have a feeling I’m not alone here.
Every time I come home from a Disney trip, I bring back stuff. Not the big souvenirs you pay for, but all the little things that somehow feel just as meaningful. Ticket stubs. Lanyards. Old room key cards. Paper park maps. Cruise cards. Show flyers. Stickers. Random bits of paper, like bell services pick-up stubs, that absolutely did not need to come home with me… but always do anyway.
And I cannot throw any of it away.
Much to my husband’s ongoing disbelief, if it came home in my bag, it stays. Always. I’ve even watched family members casually toss out the super-old solid-color MagicBands from back when they were free, and I still haven’t emotionally recovered. I could never.
The photos I’m sharing barely scratch the surface. Truly. They are just the tiniest snapshot from the last few years, with a few oldies but goodies for good measure. They don’t include what’s still tucked into drawers, boxes, or bins, and definitely not the things still packed away from our cross-country move. Yes, I have paid to move this growing collection across the country twice now. It feels ridiculous and completely on brand for me at the same time. Yes, I even saved the Minnie Mouse luggage tag from a Disney cruise, even though it’s mangled, because it’s got my girl on it. I couldn’t possibly throw it out.
Lately, I’ve been staring at the under-the-stairs closet where most of this lives and thinking, okay… now what? I love making shadow boxes, but wall space is not unlimited. I enjoy scrapbooking, but I don’t always want these memories hidden inside giant 12×12 albums that only come out once a year. I like seeing my Disney things. They make me happy.
That’s when I fell into my newest creative rabbit hole: junk journaling. If you’ve never heard of it, take a peek at this Instagram reel. The poster isn’t sharing Disney stuff, but you’ll get the general idea.
I just discovered it, and suddenly all these bits and pieces make sense again. It feels like the perfect middle ground. Creative, personal, tactile, and way less precious than traditional scrapbooking. A place where ticket stubs and random paper souvenirs can actually live instead of being boxed up forever and ever.
So now I’m curious.
What do you do with all your Disney trip stuff? Do you keep it all? Display it? Scrapbook it? Hoard it like a tiny dragon guarding emotional paper treasure? And has anyone tried junk journaling, or am I about to dive headfirst into yet another crafty obsession on my own?
I need to know.
P.S. Right after I published this article, I discovered another Instagram account that does what they call a “Chunk Journal” where they layer all the things. I’m obsessed!!
