Thanks for all the ideas, please keep them coming!
He will definitely receive a few quilts over his lifetime (well, as long as I can keep making them!). I do have some specific memories to use, but need more ideas for all the other blocks! Travel has a lot of memories for us, these countries were visited between ages 9 and 17, so it will definitely resonate with him (for example, one thing I will include is the phrase "Take, take!"-- we got to meet and stay with family in Southern France, and had to communicate with some language barrier. To get us to eat more, they would pick up a plate of food and say "take, take!". We now say that often.) For our last trip, it was five weeks of pretty spontaneous travel, so he got to select a lot of the sites and cities we visited. So, along with theater, it's a pretty major interest.
As for using photos (love this idea), does anyone have a good tip for something that will wear/wash well? And, what to avoid if you have had a bad experience? I don't always trust ideas on blogs and pinterest, I prefer when I "know" someone with the experience. I'll also search on the rest of the board.
Also, thank you for specific brands to check out, it will help my searches!