Memories You Can Wear
15 Fun Family Vacation Shirt Ideas
Time to get the whole family together and hit the road! Whether you're RVing, setting sail on the high seas as part of a cruise, catching a flight, or heading off on a road trip, you want lifelong memories. And that means just one thing: amazing custom family vacation shirts.
You want the coolest, smartest, and funniest shirts for your family. The kind that even your grouchy teenage son will (secretly!) love. At TeamShirts, we've taken care of it. We've pulled together the best family vacation shirt ideas for you to check out, and we've created a way for you to order the best designs in just minutes. That way, you'll have more time to figure out what to pack.
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Why Create Your Own Family Vacation Shirts?
We think no family vacation is complete without at least one set of custom family vacation shirts. Hear us out. Cool family vacation shirts:
- They let you express your style. No family is more awesome than yours, and you have amazing memories and inside family jokes to prove it. With a custom family t-shirt, everyone you meet on your family vacation will know it, too.
- They make for amazing photos. You may be taking family pictures in front of the rainforests or with koalas in Australia. No matter where you are, your t-shirts add personality and color to every frame.
- They give you a way to remember your amazing vacay moments forever. Forget about overpriced souvenirs that break. Honestly, how many fridge magnets do you actually use? Custom vacation t-shirts last for years and years. Every time you wear them and see them, you're taken right back to the time you spent on the beach or the time you spent exploring tiny towns in Europe. Let's see a fridge magnet do that!
- They're a safety feature. Need to keep track of kids in a busy airport? Just choose brightly colored custom family t-shirts, and you can spot them instantly in a crowd. And bright, custom shirts make head counts a breeze so you can make sure everyone stays together. You know that moment in Home Alone when Catherine O'Hara's character wakes up from a nap in the airplane and screams, "Kevin?" Yep, you can help avoid that with the right family shirt.
- They're convenient. You walk into a restaurant in family vacation t-shirts, and the host instantly knows you're together. Hopping on a ride at Disneyland? No need to explain you want to be seated together. Your shirts do all the talking.
- They're affordable. At least they are when you order with TeamShirts! We work to bring you the best prices and even offer discounts so you can sip more margaritas, stock up on sunscreen, and take more tours. If you've seen the prices on shirts in big tourist shops, you know it makes more sense to go custom with your vacation shirts!
- They include everyone. Family vacations should be about, well, family. But on many vacations, everyone wants to do something a little different. Mom wants to go golfing. The kids want to check out the water slides. Family t-shirts are just one of the things you can all share together, kind of like the life-long memories you're building.
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Ideas for Fun Family Vacation Shirts
Let's be real for a minute: not all family vacation t-shirts are the same. Sure, you can buy prefab versions with someone else's logo or design, but to really make outfits as stylish as your fam, you'll want to go custom. Custom shirts give you an endless number of choices, so you get something that captures you and your vacation perfectly. Here are our top family vacation shirt ideas for you to try on.
#1 Choose a Theme and Color
If you're heading on a cruise, for example, you can choose blue shirts and a design of waves or a boat. Heading to New Zealand? A green shirt and a Hobbit theme would be fun. Or maybe your vacation this year is a home rental on a farm. Create a plaid shirt with some farm animals on it. Classic palm trees are also a favorite if you're heading anywhere warm.
Everyone in your family have a different favorite color? You can play with that by creating t-shirts with the same pattern in different colors. Have each person choose their favorite color and then have the same design, so you're all still part of the same family team.
TeamShirts has an online designer with thousands of designs, so you can browse different themes and ideas. It's a simple way to get inspired and find your perfect theme.
#2 Give Everyone an Animal or Character
Mama bear, Papa bear, and baby bear(s) on your family shirts are a funny way to commemorate your camping trip. Or, choose cartoon characters or superhero characters. If there's a budding artist in the family, have them design a caricature of each family member.
#3 Make Yourselves a Family Team
You can wear golf shirts or sports shirts with each family member's name and a number on the back, just like your favorite athlete. If you're a sporty family and always on the go, this kind of shirt can be the perfect fit — literally. And TeamShirts makes it easy with our Names and Numbers feature, which lets you add people's names and numbers to each shirt. Pair names and numbers with a family logo, family crest, a slogan, or a team name for a fun team look.
#4 Commemorate Your Vacation
Put your family's names, your vacation destination, and the year on your shirts. Whenever you look at your family vacation photos, you'll always know exactly what vacation you were on. If you want to use your shirts as mementos, especially, putting vacation details on your shirts lets you build a whole wardrobe of vacation shirts, year after year. You can even frame your collection afterward to remember all the adventures you've had!
#5 Map It!
Why not create a treasure map of your vacation? Your family shirts can include a map of the highlights of your trip. For example, if you're headed on a cruise, include a map of all the major ports of call. Just headed to one destination? Not a problem. Show a car or plane (depending on how you're getting there) and trace your trip across the state, across town, or around the globe.
You can also include photos of postcards from each destination on the back. When you create a map on your shirt, you create a conversation starter and a reminder of where you've been. And as you're on your vacation, you can talk about and anticipate your next destination!
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#6 Put Milestones on Your Shirts
Is your vacation also happening on a special birthday for someone in your family? You can print their birthdate on your shirt. Or maybe Dad's retirement happened just before your big family vacation. You can print "Dad's retired — and now he can spring for this vacation!" or something like that.
Milestones can be a fun family shirt idea if you're traveling for the holidays. For example, if you always travel at the end of the year, you can put a picture of a holiday tree on your vacation t-shirt and include a funny phrase like "15th family holiday vacation together — send more eggnog" on it.
#7 Tell Your Vacation Story in T-Shirts
Do you go on trips as a family often? If yes, you can create an entire history with your shirts. For example, you can create a cartoon strip with your family as cartoon characters. You can then create shirts with a different "segment" each time you go on vacation. Show your adventures in Paris, in the Grand Canyon, in London, and everywhere else you go! Over the years, your characters will grow, get married, and get new haircuts — just like your family!
Have a big non-vacation event coming up? You can create a comic book of your comic strips printed out for your family.
And cartoons or comics aren't the only option here. You can print family photos on your shirts so you can see how you all mature (or not!) and change over time. Plus, with family photo shirts, you make sure your sister never lives down that haircut!
#8 Create a Family Vacation Motto or Hashtag for Your Shirts
A slogan or phrase that really captures what your family is about? That deserves its own shirt! There are a few places you can look for your perfect phrase:
- Look at your family jokes. What family saying always causes you to giggle and snort water out of your nose (hey, we all do it)? What is the joke that someone always repeats, and everyone groans (but secretly loves it)?
- Think about your vacation philosophy. Do you believe "last one in the pool loses?" or "the family that vacations together stays together — and gets the best pictures?" If there's something you live by when it comes to your vacations, put it on a shirt and make it last forever.
- Consider what you're always saying. Is there a saying that mom or the youngest is always saying that everyone repeats? Chances are, it's an in-joke that might be perfect for a vacation shirt!
- Review what you want to post online. If your family stays connected on social media, include a hashtag on your vacation t-shirts. When a hashtag like #famvacay2024 shows up in pictures and in your posts, it's even easier to keep track of your best memories.
#9 Dad Jokes Aren't Just For Dads!
We think dad jokes belong on custom shirts that the whole family gets to enjoy! Check out these puns for some inspiration when you design your next shirt:
- Where does a family of paint go on holiday? Color-ado.
- What happens when seagulls go to the bay for their holidays? They become bagels!
- Where does Santa Claus head on vacation? Santa Cruz!
- Where do dolphins go on trips? Fin-land
Go ahead and wear your punniest vacation jokes loud and proud. This idea is especially fun on kids' shirts. Another great option here is to put the question on the front and the punchline on the back of your shirt to keep the people you meet guessing (and checking out your shirt to get the pun)!
#10 Vote on It!
Some yearbooks have a "most likely to…" feature, and you can use the same idea to create cool t-shirts. Just cast ballots to find out who is most likely to…get a sunburn on vacation, fall asleep early, get grumpy, take the wrong exit, get seasick. Choose whatever categories you like, and then let each family member wear their new title with pride.
Another option here is to hand out vacation awards for your family. Who is most likely to help someone pack? Remember to book tickets? Bring water? Create a design of a prize ribbon and then vote on everyone's award. You can have the front of your t-shirt say something simple like "The Wilson's Family Vacation 2025" and have the back show everyone's award, so each person in your family gets their own custom shirt.
A third idea here is to assign everyone a nickname for the vacation. Who's grumpy? Who's sleepy? Decide with a vote, and then wear your new name with pride!
#11 Set an Intention
Do you ever get so caught up in all the details — packing, finding your hotel, getting to your destination — that you forget what you're supposed to be doing as a family in the first place? With the right t-shirt, you'll never forget. Decide what you want out of your family vacation, and then have it printed on your shirt. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Celebrating family together
- Having fun together
- Laughing more
- Building memories as a family
Add a design and the year of your trip, and you have a t-shirt that not only helps you remember your adventures but also keeps you on track with what really matters!
#12 Get Cheeky
If your family doesn't include kids — maybe you're a dynamic duo, or your youngest just turned 21 — you can get a little more adult with what you put on your shirt. Your vacation t-shirts could include references to drinking, for example. Your design could include a bottle and words like "It's wine o'clock on this family vacation." Or, if you're going on a cruise you can say "We're getting nautical on our family vacation" or "Oh, ship, we're on our 2024 family trip."
Some families might even like to play with the idea that they're not perfect slogans like "dysfunctional, together, and proud of it: our family on vacation" or "our dysfunctional family vacation functions just fine for us."
#13 Play on Your Name
What's one thing your family all have in common (besides your great taste in t-shirts)? If you're like many families, it could be your name. Putting your name on your vacay shirts can be a fun move. Just something like "The Smith's Family Vacation 2024" is simple and works. Or you could get a little creative: "The Smiths: Vacationing and Losing Plane Tickets Together since 2001."
If you have an unusual name or a name, you can create a pun around it; the more, the better. Something like "We're the Jones'. No one can keep up with us on vacation, either" is one way to create a memorable vacation shirt.
#14 Create Lists
You create endless lists during your planning stage: Lists of things to pack. Lists of possible hotels. Lists of stuff to do. Why not turn your list-making superpower into a cool vacation shirt? Here are a few ideas you can print on any shirt:
- Make a list of everyone at your vacation party (mom, dad, brother, sister). Mom's shirt would have "mom" bolded, Dad's shirt would have "dad" bolded, and so on.
- Make a list of vacation don'ts (As a family, we're not: sitting back, getting lost this year, forgetting our sunscreen)
- Make a list of each person's vacation favorites so everyone's list is a little different
- Make a list of where you're heading on your trip
#15 Tell the World What You're Doing
Are you embracing "van life" or "beach life"? Put it on a shirt, along with your family name and the date! Are you in a specific mode? Like "cruise mode" or "wine tour mode"? Those words, plus a graphic of a boat or wine glass, show everyone you meet what kind of vacation you're having. It can be a fun way to meet other families on vacation and strike up a conversation.
TeamShirts Can Help You Create Custom Shirts for Your Dream Vacation!
So now you know that custom shirts are a must-have in your luggage, and you even have some amazing ideas for your own designs. TeamShirts has the next steps covered. We're a home for all teams — including family teams heading on a trip.
We've worked really hard over the years to make creating custom shirts an absolute breeze, so you can create and order your shirt in just minutes. Even if you've never created a personalized shirt before.
It only takes three steps to create a vacation t-shirt you can't wait to show off in your vacation photos:
- Choose your shirt. With TeamShirts, you can select from a range of kids' shirts, adult sizes, t-shirts, hoodies, long-sleeve shirts, and even other clothes (including hats, socks, pants, and more!). All of it comes in a rainbow of colors and sizes. Best of all, our shirts are all high quality from top brands.
- Create your design. TeamShirts has a completely free online designer you can use. Upload your own graphics or photos, or choose from thousands of free graphics and text fonts for your shirt. With some shirts, you can even add graphics to the back, front, and sleeves of the shirt, giving you more space to play with. With some hoodies, you can also add designs to the hood, so you can really let your imagination have free reign.
- Vote and order. Once you have one or more family shirt ideas created, TeamShirts has a Vote feature so everyone in your family can cast a ballot on the designs they love best. Then, just add your future vacation shirt to your cart and proceed to our secure checkout.
And it doesn't end there. We not only make it easy to get wait-until-you-see-them family vacation shirts, but we save you money, so you have more cash to splurge on your trip. You get volume discounts of up to 65%. You even get discounts even if you're a small family, and we always offer free standard shipping and free samples. Need your shirts to arrive before your plane takes off? We've got your back. You can always choose express shipping on your order, and we can offer a guaranteed delivery date so you can be sure you'll have your stylish shirts packed and ready.
All TeamShirts shirts are printed at our facility in Nevada. It allows us to make sure every shirt is printed with care and meets our high standards. Having our own printing facility also gives us lots of flexibility. Whether you're a couple on your first family vacation (in which case: congratulations!) or your family vacation is also a family reunion with everyone from your fifth cousin twice removed to grandma (also congratulations!), we can print one shirt, two shirts, or thousands. Whatever you need!
There are no minimums when you order, and we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you're not happy with your shirts, you can return them for free within 30 days. Don't you wish your vacation came with a 100% satisfaction, peace of mind guarantee like that?
And when you buy 5 or more items, you get free design help from our team of professional designers. They can help you adjust and simplify your graphics file, answer your burning questions about design, help digitize your design idea, and more!
We've already shipped over 6 million printed items, which means we have the chops to handle your most intricate, funniest, and coolest family vacation shirts. So start designing today and get ready to pack up for the best trip ever!
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