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If you’ve been to a theme park, aquarium, children’s museum or other family based attraction in the past few years chances are you’ve seen a pressed penny machine. While these machines may seem somewhat annoying at first for the budget conscious traveler these are really a lifesaver.

Let’s look at the facts at 51 cents per item these are almost guaranteed to be the least expensive souvenir you’ll be able to find. Even the newer quarter machines costing $1.25 are still cheap compared to everything else in the gift shop.

The best way to get your children interested in pressed coins is to start a collection. Let them get one everywhere they go, some people even start themed collections. For example you could collect only the main design of the attraction (hint these machines are usually near the main entrance). Others collect only characters or animal designs, a few even go so far as to only collect coins with years on them. After you get 5-6 you’ll probably need someplace to store them. You can buy a specially made collecting book, but an old small photo album will do in a pinch, just tape the slot closed so the coin doesn’t fall out.

Here’s a few more tips, pennies made after 1982 are mostly zinc and will dull or change color with age. So try to use pennies from 1982 or before that were made mostly from copper. To clean old pennies scrub them first with a toothbrush and some ketchup. Rinse off the ketchup and polish them with a mixture of baking soda and water with your fingers. Keep the cleaned pennies in an airtight Ziploc bag in your purse or camera bag so you always have some on hand.

Tags: travel+tips, lifehacks, budget, souvenirs