In less than three weeks, I’m off to London for a short cultural exchange trip. I need to bring some sort of gift to my host family, more a token of appreciation than anything else. Not more than $20. I’d like to get something that they couldn’t easily get in London, perhaps something NYC or at least USA oriented (no tacky figurines, flags or such, please :rolleyes: ).
Here’s what I know about the family:
-They have a 16-17 year old daughter, or, presumably a son, who will be staying with us in March.
-That’s it. I haven’t found out who they are yet.
Maybe a nice book about the state that you are from, with large color pictures? I would think that they might enjoy something like that, especially as it would allow them to see and read about the place they will be sending their child in the near future.
In her junior year of high school, my daughter spent a year in Istanbul as a Rotary Exchange Student. As customary, we bought local made gifts for her host family, as well as small trinkets to hand out to other exchange students and fellow Rotarians at the monthly meetings. We found pencils with the American flag on them for the small trinkets and we also took red/white/blue striped ribbon, cut it to size (like the ribbon for the breast cancer ribbon), glued a pennie in the middle, and put a pin on the back. These went over very big (and were similiar to what the other exchange students were handing out to people from other countries).
For her host family, we took Smucker’s Jelly Pack (made in the USA) and Hershey’s chocolate (we live in Pennsylvania, home of Hershey’s chocolate). We also looked for locally made items (one thing I remember was a Harley Davidson tee-shirts for her host brother, who was 17, since Harley Davidson is based in York, Pennsylvania).
Towards the end of her visit, her host mother actually came to the states to meet us (we were never going to be able to make it to Turkey, although we would have loved to have gone). I actually made an Amish inspired quilt as a gift for the host mother, who had expressed an interest in the Amish culture (we’re not Amish). The host mother, likewise, brought gifts from Turkey, which included a beautiful Turkish plate (hand painted), a set of Turkish bowls, Turkish egg cups and Turkish porcelin eggs.
My advice would be to check locally to see what is made around your area. Are there local factories which produce foods, dishes, local clothing, etc.? How about local galleries who display the artwork of local artists? (Even local scenery on note cards are nice.) Anything which is a representation of your local area is very nice to recieve. Every time I look at the items my daughter’s host mother brought for us (and the bowls are displayed in my office at work), it brings back a rush of gratitude and all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings–and I never even got to go to Turkey!
I’d be leery about bringing food. You never know what other folks will like.
I second the idea of books. Something like a coffee-table book about fall foliage or the like. A Scottish lady once told me that over in the UK they don’t have the majestic fall foliage like you find in the Appalachian mountains. Of course, she may have been just talking about ol’ Caledonia, but it still seems like a good idea to me.
