What about a selection of high-quality teas? Or textiles? Or a finely crafted book? Something produced in your home region perhaps.
It seems to me that this is the time to bring something that represents you and your background, IOW. which of your personal tastes and preferences are they likely to appreciate?
If all else fails, find an itinerant artist and get a small oil painting of the street SO is living on or a favorite park. Something they can point to with their friends and say “This is where our child is living.”
I would skip any ethnic food unless you are trying to make some point about your different backgrounds. Or maybe if you really love some particular indian food so much you want to share with others this might be an OK time.
Flowers for the Mom. For the dad, some booze (rare Scotch?), wine or beer from London if you know what he likes. Or new iPads. Everybody wants the new iPad.
I’m not really trying to impress them. I’m well aware that they can get anything they want in Switzerland, so this is more thanking them for their hospitality than trying to go all Me-Ug-Bring-Home-Bacon on them.
I’m leaning towards flowers and wine, to be honest. Simple, easy to get rid of if required, no fuss.
Pimms is an interesting idea; I don’t know if they would drink it, but it’s very quintessentially British as a summer drink. I’ll keep it in mind! Gatwick Duty Free, here I come again.
Tea! I didn’t think of tea. Small, light, dry; easy to carry on a plane. Hmmmmmm… Maybe some really good Assam tea. It’s going on the list!
Heh. Excellent plan!
Again… it’s not really trying to make a point. Just visiting them; being nice. They’re quite a technological family, so already have iPads, thankfully, otherwise this would get very expensive.
Dervorin, some good suggestions for you there but why not do a bit of everything? perhaps aFortnum and Mason’s hamper? very English,distinctive and classy.
And don’t worry about leaving London empty during Easter, our family is popping up there next weekend for a wander around so we’ll keep it buzzing along for you.
Oooh, and a fancy watch? You laugh, but the SO in question was recently trying to explain to a well-meaning but clearly quite thick girl in duty-free that she didn’t want to buy any Toblerone because she was Swiss. She had to explain this repeatedly, I’m sorry to say, and even then, I don’t think the message quite sank in. The girl just gave up in bewilderment.
Ah, cheers. Don’t over-feed the walrus, though - he tends to get irritable and eat buildings.
I don’t think my wallet is going to stretch to a Fortune & Mason hamper, to be honest (Fortune & Mason are a bit like Marks Expensive, but more so. it would seem), and it would be interesting trying to get on an Easyjet flight with that on board.
I was teaching English to a married couple in Berlin - they went to Switzerland for a vacation and bought a really nice, rather expensive cuckoo clock. They bring it home and just before they hang it on the wall, see a little sticker on the back; “Made In Berlin, Germany.”
Thanks for your help, all. I had a chat with the SO last night and we decided that tea would be the best. I’m probably going to Yumchaa, which sells excellent loose-leaf tea blends, and snaffle a selection of their best. http://www.yumchaa.com/
Of course, this only means that I have solved the problem this time round. The next time, it’s going to be the same dilemma all over again!
Underline mine: from London?
For the next time, the indian sweets may be a good idea but your gf will be the best person to figure out whether her parents will like them.