sissy- Sometimes the smallest things are much appreciated and valued.
When I was in Paris last year I bought several beautiful little musical boxes that played French tunes.
The best shop is in the arcades within the Palais Royal. Fantastic choice and beautifully wrapped!

Hi S,

>...a relatively simple and inexpensive means of shipping things back home.<

Simple is
having the vendor ship it
having the post office ship it
having UPS or FedEx ship it

Inexpensive is carrying it home with you.

Find out how much your airline charges for overweight luggage.

A friend of mine recently told me she sends all her purchases home via Mailboxes Etc. She claims it is inexpensive and readily available in most cities. I can't comment first hand but she swears by it.

This usually works for me..

If I know I'm going to be doing a lot of shopping (like my trip to Paris last month, where I did a lot of Christmas shopping), I pack lightly in a large suitcase, so that I have plenty of extra room. Then, I pack a large totebag at the bottom of the suitcase. When I'm packing my stuff up to go home, I fill up the suitcase, and pack stuff in the totebag. Then I put my purse as well in that carry-on and, voila! That's now my one personal item that I can carry-on with me.

Some airlines let you take one personal item in addition to another carry-on, check with your airline, as sometimes it varies on the route (example, on Virgin you can carry on one personal item and one other item when travelling TO London--travelling back home you're restricted to just one carryon--which for me was the large totebag filled with presents and my purse)

Have fun!

Thanks again everyone.
Tod, I have just read about Palais Royal in a book my husband bought me for Christmas called "My French Life". It was reading that book that made me jump onto Fodors for advice as the photographs and descriptions of places to shop & things to buy were tantalising and got me thinking that I may get a little carried away! Absolutely gorgeous photographs.
Ira - you are so succinct in your advice and I have written down your options.Thank you. I will try & carry as much on board the plane as I can.
Ralstonlan - I haven't heard of Mailboxes etc either but I will check them out. Thanks.
Miss Ziegfeld - a friend of mine who went to Paris & Italy a few months ago also suggested taking a tote bag. She still had extra luggage though! I hadn't thought of checking with the airline (Singapore) but I will do that tomorrow,
And .. I WILL have fun, thank you!

Years ago, when I used to spent a few months at a time in Europe, I sent lots of boxs home from European (Franch and Italian) post offices. You have to adhere to the regulations as far as boxes and lettering, but as I remember it was pretty inexpensive to send a box of clothing back to US. Nothing was lost.

sissy- I also like to shop! My husband and I sent a majority of the things we bought in Germany and Switzerland back to the U.S. via DHL. Some of the larger stores will package and ship them for you. Shipping is a bit expensive, depending on how you send it and how heavy it is ... but it was worth it to us so we didn't have to lug it around. Everything made it back in one piece except for a bottle of white wine, which broke in route (our fault due to the way we packed it).
Ira had a great point ... simple/expensive is having the vendor or DHL ship it whereas more hassle/inexpensive is taking it back with you.