I have a few friends who are going to various other countires to study abroad for their Junior year. A bunch of us are getting togother to throw them a going away party and I was thinking of getting them gifts of stuff that you can only find in the US.
But that actaully spaked my own curiosity……
What are things that you can only find in the United States??
Or even
Stuff that is unique to other counties/reigons?
Preview is my friend :rollseyes:
sparked my curiosity,
not spaked or spanked or what not
geez…
A good bet is peanut butter. I took some of that with me to France, and my host family loved it. They have some really bad imitation stuff over there.
Can you get Yankee Candles outside of the US? I remember looking for some here, but ended up buying a whole heap from an American seller on eBay. Including shipping, it’s going to cost me around $80-90 AUD, so these had better be nice candles!
Hanging Chads. 
It seems that in other countries one of the stereotypes of the US is the whole Wild West cowboy thing, so maybe you could get them some cowboy gear. Or some Native American things, since after all, that’s the ethnic group native to the US.
A Yardstick.
Curry-flavored potato chips don’t seem to have made it out of the UK yet.
Fortunatly for the rest of the world, Marmite doesn’t seem to have emigrated out of Britain yet.
egg
rootbear is something that i can’t do with out but it seem’s that all of europe somehow does.
No, it’s made it to Canada. Seen it one the supermarket shelves. I don’t know anybody who buys it though.
As for “stuff available only in the USA,” my American wife always enjoys her Christmas packages from her friends back in the US. They always have an assortment of candy that she can’t get here: Red Vines, $100,000 Bars, Paydays, Almond Joys, and a whole bunch of other things we never had in Canada. Some specialty shops do sell them now, but those are few and far between.
But there’s an idea, ClarificC: American candy.
Perhaps times have changed, but when friends went traveling years ago, they took their own toilet paper because the european stuff wasn’t as user friendly as our squeezably soft stuff. The TP they brought back was really really awful. But as I said, perhaps times have changed.
Mc Donald’s used to serve rootbeer years ago in the UK. I used to be able to get I.B.C. here as well. After a ten year rootbeer drought (poor me :() Asda - A supermarket chain now owned by Walmart - have started to sell the stuff. 
Back to the OP, is the UK the only place that has dandelion & burdock?
Nope, not true! My local yuppie deli-gourmet shop sells Marmite, as well as Vegemite!
No, I’ve never tried either one. From what other people have told me, I’m not planning to…
What’s the point of studying abroad if you surround yourself with America when you’re there? Jeesh!
c-of-cyn
(an American living in Sweden who has also done a stint in France)
Pickled onion flavour Monster Munch.
I second root beer. Can’t find that anywhere. And stay away from the ginger beer in the UK…nasty stuff. Peanut butter, too…the stuff over there is usually nasty, but you can sometimes find some delicious Skippy.
Maybe also blue jeans that cost less than $70 
I don’t think a few jars of peanut butter constitute “surrounding yourself with America.” There’s no harm in having some comfort objects to ease the culture shock a little.
Candy is a good idea, and I’d also recommend English books if your friends are going to non-English-speaking countries.
I disagree. Ginger beer is heaven (but then, I like Marmite too).
I had a hard time finding catfish in the UK, but I guess your friends wouldn’t want a sack of fish fillets to take on the plane. Decent Mexican food is also hard to come by, so people who cook might appreciate some seasoning mix or similar staples.
I recommend crabs. They are easy to transport and fun to give.
I gess this just proves the original point , but
What is “Marmite”??
Rootbeer and Candy are great suggestions.