<p>My son is about to leave for a study abroad program in Jordan, and will be living with a family -- although he will not be matched up until he gets there. He's been advised that he should bring along some small gifts for his family, as well as for other families he might visit during his stay. (Pretty obvious actually, but he certainly would not have thought of it on his own--and I might not have either.) Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions of something he might bring. The program advises against food, and in a Muslim country, liquor is off the table too. Help!</p>
<p>Since we live in New Hampshire, my kids took a coffee table book about New England. I made sure it had lots of great photos as the host families spoke very little English. They also took Yankee candles in "Mom's Apple Pie" scent and a small bottle of maple syrup. They both said the hosts loved the gifts. </p>
<p>Here is a link top an older thread on this subject.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=172402&highlight=abroad+gift%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=172402&highlight=abroad+gift</a></p>
<p>My D. is in Cairo (comes home Sunday). We are from the Northwest, so she brought a small box of smoked salmon. She made some CDs of her favorite music (and some that she performed herself). Small items indicative of your locale are always great. She also brought a book (with lots of photos) about Washington State, and pictures of family and friends back home (with letter from parents!)</p>
<p>If your son's college produces souvenirs, these, too, could make nice gifts: maybe a set of postcards, pens, diaries and calendars. Or something with a regional flavor.
My nieces went back to France with maple syrup (they've learned to pour it on their waffles) but we searched for aluminum containers rather than glass bottles for fear of breakage en route.</p>
<p>My son is currently studying in Jordan, but not living with a family. He brought some items with his college logo on them and a few small trinkets with our city's logo and our sports teams' logos on them. He also went to vistaprint.com and had some business cards made up with his contact information on them, listing his occupation as "Arabic student", since business cards are often exchanged there. Vistaprint did the job very cheaply ($5-ish if you use one of their templates) and within 2 business days. </p>
<p>And, by the way, if your son will be in a big city, like Amman, he'll likely find more variety of food than he has at home. The mall near my son's school has Cinnabon, Burger King, a Cincinnati-type chili place, etc. and he eats at local Jordanian places, too. There's even a Safeway grocery store down the block from his apartment.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great advice. We live in New Jersey - maybe a Soprano's tee shirt or a Springsteen CD? (Just kidding.) We'll go to the shop at our county's art museum and find something. Or maybe get stuff in NYC, where we all work.</p>
<p>Thanks Cleveland for the info about Amman. That's where my son will be. I'll tell hiim about the business cards -- and the food.</p>
<p>One of my Ds is in Spain this summer living with a family during a study abroad experience. She took a mug for each member of the family, with her college logo on it, a couple of pretty dish towels for the mom, a photo book about our city, some local candies, a bag of treats for the family's dog, and a photo album filled with pictures of our family,her boyfriend and her friends, her apartment, our dogs!, our house and the neighborhood where we live. They loved all of the gifts but particularly enjoyed looking at the photos! The program that organized her trip had many suggestions for the gifts - we chose a few of their suggestions and added a couple of our own. :)</p>
<p>My D just got back from Germany. She took some specific presents for certain folk, and some general presents for "in case" situations. Among the general gifts, she took a coffee-table book about America, Yankee Candles of various sizes, Bath and Body Works stuff, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Pay Day candy bars. She took an Atlanta mug, some peach-flavored hard candy, and some Atlanta postcards to write Thank-you notes on. She also took some Indian bead necklaces for her friends. She played softball when we lived there, so she took them some baseball-related paraphernalia, too. She came home with very little left over (one candle, and one bath and body works thing, and one ornament.) She said everything was very well received.</p>
<p>Don't laugh about the Sopranos. Your son will not bring this, but my sons have been out travelling this summer and they tell me that their peers in the rest of the world are addicted to Grey's Anatomy.</p>
<p>Wow, Jordan! That's really cool. Good for him!</p>
<p>Just a small suggestion that he not bring anything that can melt in the luggage -- it's really hot there right now. I guess that would include candles or candy (especially chocolate). The beautiful coffee-table book is a good idea, as long as not too heavy to carry.</p>
<p>Maybe a really nice guestbook and pen to go with it? Some stationery and gift cards? Anything from a museum shop, particularly well-known museums would be a hit with the parents. For the kids, if you are heading to NYC, anything that says 'New York' on it will be fun to give. I see a lot of non-Americans overseas wearing 'I heart NY' tshirts. Baseball caps, key chains, cellphone charms, funky bracelets, buttons with slogans, and anything that's a 'fun fad'. You can't go wrong with a New York theme. Of course everyone's heard of the Sopranos too!</p>
<p>H & I are often in the position to have to give gifts to international business clients - we like to make up small gift bags with specifically American goodies:
* chocolate covered cranberries
* small bottle of maple syrop
* ghiradelli chocolate
* teas from Republic of Tea (check their website for a full selection)
* Jelly Bellies
* Almond Roca
* Peppridge Farm cookies
* Pez candies with fun containers
etc
You can get all of these items at regular stores (I go to Cost Plus) and then bring a flat gift bag which you can fill when you get there
Add a photo book about the area where you live, photographs of your home, the parents, other siblings --
And you have a nice, yummy, personal & relatively inexpensive gift for the host family
BTW, I've never had problems bringing candy/chocolate overseas - they do fine in a suitcase.</p>
<p>Please remember, no wrapped gifts through airport security. I sent a few gift bags for the kids to use once they got there.</p>
<p>Living near the Pacific ocean, Disneyland & Hollywood, D brought small picture frames with those themes, a few fridge magnets, and 2 small photo albums with her pictures of places she's been to that she loves (NYC hot spots, Hawaii, her & friends, etc.). These were for her 3 week host family in Russia. They loved them, and immediately took a "family" photo (which included D) and had it placed inside the D'land frame. We did not wrap them, instead she took gift bags and tissue paper.</p>
<p>I like katlia's list - I would perhaps substitute a few "local" items - peach candy, pecans, vidalia onion relish...</p>
<p>Regarding fridge magnets - no clue what refrigerators are like in Jordan. In Germany they are not magnetic, so magnets don't work. (Fridges are tiny, and fit into the cabinetry.) Lots of stores sell fridge magnets for the American tourists, but the Germans don't have much use for them.</p>
<p>We do the gift bag thing, too -- an added bonus for our German friends, as US bags tend to be a lot more fun and varied than German ones. Regarding wrapped things in suitcases - when I have fragile items, sometimes I wrap them in tissue paper and tape it, and attach a note to the baggage handlers, saying what it is, and asking them to re-wrap it carefully if they need to open it. Even when we get the paper notice in our suitcase that the suitcase had been inspected, they have never unwrapped anything that had a note on it. One Christmas I had one full suitcase of gifts, some of them wrapped, but with one end left un-taped. I left an itemized list attached it to the inside lid, with a note that all wrapped packages were open at one end for inspection. Everything arrived in perfect order, even though the suitcase had been inspected.</p>
<p>thanks to everyone for such great ideas! the info about wrapping and gift bags is particularly helpful. my son informed me today that he bought 8 I heart NY t=shirts for $20 to bring to give out to people he meets. I doubt they're really high quality t-shirts, but it's a start....</p>
<p>I host one or two European girls every year, and they always get us gifts, too. Bath items (like chocolate soap from Belgium, because Belgium is famous for chocolates), and souvenirs from the country, like picture calenders. This year, I got a really nice lace brooch made "from real Belgian lace."</p>
<p>Also, I loved me I <3 NY t-shirt, I can't find it now :(. I loved it even though it was really cheap quality.</p>