Snow globes enter most people's lives innocently as a souvenir or a gift. The next one arrives to make a set. When you don't know how many snow globes you own, you are officially a collector.

Reporting from Vienna — The snow globe museum in Vienna reveals the history of one of the world’s most beloved souvenirs. A childhood toy, a delightful gift, a keepsake. Snow globes seem ...

Reporting from Vienna — The snow globe museum in Vienna reveals the history of one of the world’s most beloved souvenirs. A childhood toy, a delightful gift, a keepsake. Snow globes seem ...

Though Perzy—who patented his globe in 1900—didn’t invent the snow globe, he and his brother are responsible for catapulting the souvenir into the position of tchotchke primacy it holds today.

And in the late 1940s, she says, snow globes began being manufactured as travel souvenirs. “Snow is sort of magical and I think that’s the attraction of snow globes,” Courtney says.

The snow globe is a classic travel souvenir in gift shops from coast to coast. But visitors to the Pacific Northwest might find the classic travel mementos a. little silly.

Pity the lowly snow globe with white flakes raining down on a snowman or Santa Claus tucked inside its dome. Try packing this favorite travel souvenir in your carry-on luggage and taking it ...