Haha! Your own, extra-wide chair?
::::d&r::::
That is soo funny! I was home in Texas for three weeks and brought six boxes of Captain Crunch home to Ireland with me! Their all gone now. 
Did you know that Tesco Ireland now sells Betty Crocker Brownie mix now? Yay!!!
My best friend in the U.K. is Salvadoran-American, so she always begs me for Latin groceries. But what about Toll House cookies? My friend in France always begs me for them. What could be more American than Toll House cookies? Plus they travel much better than apple pie. Maybe with an American or regional cookbook?
At Waitrose’s online store you can get 3 varieties of Maple Syrup for < a quid per 100ml
Waitrose organic No 1 maple syrup is fucking gorgeous. Actually, I think the spouse secretly drinks it when I’m not around, it goes so quickly. You can also buy Bisquick in many supermarkets, which is a perfectly good pancake mix.
Yes, you can get Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (and Sticks) over here. York Peppermint Patties, OTOH, are not so easily obtainable. Mmmmm…
Actually – never mind them; bring me some. You coming to a Londope while you’re here, iwakura?
Oreos
A baseball bat - one of my UK friends came over here, and she said this was the only thing she had to get while she was here
How about break and bake cookies? I dunno if they have them over in London, but I think break and bake cookies are pretty nifty!
'Twould be nice, but I don’t think the trip coordinators would think much of my sneaking off by myself :rolleyes: It’s a pretty regimented, and short, program. And I’m not of US drinking age either, that whole puritanical thing :smack:
Heh – I did a school trip to London in high school, and the whole class including the teachers got plastered except for me and a friend, who ended up pouring the rest of them back onto the bus to the hotel at the end of the evening. Not much fun.
American living in Yurrup here.
First of all: for the love of all that is holy, no matter what anyone tells you, do not bring peanut butter! I know it hasn’t been brought up in this thread, but I have seen it suggested as an answer on other message boards. Believe me: anyone who can’t find peanut butter in Western Europe is just not looking.
I would not go for the maple syrup, unless you package it with your family’s top secret pancake recipe and an offer to fry some up one morning while you’re there. Maple syrup isn’t much good unless you know what to do with it. And those families who know what to do with it, are probably already buying it - it’s expensive but no longer hard to find even here in Norway, not exactly the exotic food capital of the continent.
Myself, I would go for a photo book of my city or state, together with a small package of unusual candy bars or similar foodstuffs. Check with a British Doper, of course, to see exactly what’s common in Britain. (I met an American tourist once who had a daily Snickers bar habit and brought her own two-week supply in her suitcase, only to find that they’re as common as dirt on this side of the Atlantic, too.) If you can think of a local specialty that would travel well, you can try that, too. For instance, I grew up in apple butter country, so in your shoes I’d bring a jar of apple butter from the farmer’s market. I can’t think of any NYC specialties that would be easy to take with you (anyone for some three day old smashed bagels? or petrified pizza?), but very likely I’m missing something.
Have a great trip!
How about fireworks?
That is wonderful advice. Even if it’s not a real ‘speciality’, it’ll still be different to anthing they’re used to (eg American honey is different to English honey simply because it’s different bees…if they’re honey-eaters, they’ll be fascinated, and if they’re not, they’ll be intrigued.)
As for food, you eat it and it’s gone and soon forgotten.
Books can be remembrances for their lifetimes and those of the owners. I still have the first book, “Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels” 1941, that I received as a gift from a teacher neighbor in the '40’s. It’s a photo/story book about the U.S. and the rest of the world. I’m fortunate to have visited 24 countries on four continents and seen many of the sights depicted, from Baalbeck to Vancouver, B.C., including London, to which I traveled from Nice, France, via bus ferry, and train. But that’s another story.
As a bibliophile, I suggest, by looking at my library,
“Witness to America” by Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinckley, (paperback remaindered at Barnes & Noble for $18),
“American Greats”, Ed. Robert A. Wilson & Stanley Marcus (paperback remainderd at B&N around $20)
or “America From the Air” by Robert Moore, Jr. (Sam’s Club hardcover $18).
Have a great trip and try to get to the Chunnel, one of the newest, greatest engineering wonders of the world,and to Stonehenge, an earlier one.
I really like the idea of something “Halloweeny.” What do they do for Halloween in the UK anyway? I can’t imagine that they make a big deal of it like we do.
You could take one of those small plastic jack-o-lanterns and fill it with little American candy bars. Just don’t bring Bit’O’Honey. You don’t want to have to try and explain that to your hosts!
That plus a book would be a really nice gift.
Hey, what about Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike? It’s a heckuva fun read, and it’s (obviously) Jersey-specific.
Since America tends to be a melting pot it’s hard to find something uniquely American.
Probably the most unique thing that you can give that is American is something from our musical heritage. Ray Charles made a recording just before he died with people like BB King and Willie Nelson. I can’t think of anything more American than Ray Charles and the performers on that record. The downside to this is that it is available in England. The upside is that it fits in your travel bag.
There are lot’s of coffee table books you could get: Barns, bridges, early aviation, national parks, Ansel Adams photo’s, Route 66 restaurants etc…
You could buy them a bunch of space pens with NASA insignia’s on them.
The more creative you are the more it will be appreciated.
Scanning through this thread, I see that one suggestion was fireworks. No, not fireworks. I think the customs and the airline might have views about that but, in any case, prime firework season here is 5th November, which means that for the few weeks leading up to that date , and a little time after it, we get very bored at hearing loud bang. 
Other than that rather negative (sorry!) remakr, I can’t help, me not knowing American stuff, and that.