London & Paris: Best Gifts/Souvenirs $25 and Under

The London Transport museum does copies of vintage travel posters for around a tenner ($20) - including the iconic Man Ray 'Keeps London Going' which I love.

Paul Young choccies are lush.

"Keep calm and carry on" poster is a great message for today as the US the market in 5 minutes.

My relatives always like English jams, teas, the good quality tea towels, museum note cards, etc.

Restrictions are supposed to be easing but I had a jar of black current preserves taken away on a flight from Ft. Lauderdale to KC MO because it was in my carryon. It's considered a liquid--or at least that was the whim of the TSA on that particular day.

Can't see that happening in London and anyway, there's a good if somewhat pricey selection of that sort of thing in Duty Free.

Forgot to add, thought I was very clever getting pretty packages of paper napkins (serviettes) as gifts in the Gien store in Paris.

Didn't have glasses on--they're actually Caspari (NY) and made in Germany. Could have been China, I suppose.

Other London things:

Tins of biscuits. No one makes biscuits as well as us. No one. You can buy tins in places like fortnums, Horrids, Selfridges etc and the recipient can use the rather attractive tins once they've eaten the bscuits.

Coleman's mustard powder in tins. None more English.

Try the off-licence in Old Compton St for some rare brands of Gin. London Gin is afterall a world wide name.

Sportswear for any of the london football, rugby or cricket clubs can be bought in Lillywhites in Picadilly (and many other places). So maybe a wasps rugby shirt?

Believe it or not there is actually a thriving agricultural industry in london - apiary. You can buy London honey at farmers markets (inc Borough) and specialist shops.

Warner--A rugby shirt from Lillywhites for under $25? I only wish; I would be one popular auntie.

i have loved receiving mariage fres tins of tea and diptique candles.
although with the current exchange, diptique may be over $25

For London, you can usually find the Harrods and Fortnum & Mason teas (and biscuits etc) at the airport duty free shop. You can save a few £ and not have to carry them in your luggage until you're ready to get on the plane back home!

I used to buy the Harrods biscuit at the airport, but even then, they're awfully expensive (I think £5 for 12 biscuits). Since then, I have bought similar biscuits from M & S and they are just fine. Of course, they don't come in any pretty tins... rather just plain old paper packaging.

Whoever writes your newsletter sections on Paris obviously does not know French and is careless as a journalist because they do not even have the name of a store correct (it is Petit Bateau, not "petite" which grammatically is obviously false if you know French, and wouldn't even be pronounced the same way). Further, it appears that article was not even edited or checked in any way, or Fodors would have found out that no store exists named "petite bateau".

I don't agree with that article in some ways, as macaroons get stale within a day, and there are many good chocolate places so why single out that one. So I wouldn't take macaroons (which for some odd reason are extremely expensive even though they don't consist of much), and I would take chocolate from Debauve et Gallais instead, but there are many good places. I wouldn't go out of my way to go to J-P Hevin's, in other words.

I'd just go to the epicerie at Bon Marche or the gourmet food shop at Galleries Lafayette or something, and buy something with obvious French labeling that looks interesting, maybe some mustard, French bath soap/gel (which is a nice cheap present), or the Monoprix for French cheap cosmetics for women, stuff like that. When I've given gifts, those have been the biggest hits.

Warner--A rugby shirt from Lillywhites for under $25?>>

Ah yes, dollars. Sorry.

When I was in Paris last year, I found Fragonard to be a great place to buy souvenirs for the ladies in my life. They had lovely soap sets for 6-8 euros each, and bath gels, lotions, etc.

I even bought cologne for my dad there and he loved it.

I like to buy some "everyday" household articles from Paris - things that are useable at home but slightly different than what we have. The basil-scented dishwashing liquid from Monoprix is a big favourite and cheap (but you have to make sure it's not going to explode in your luggage so keep it in plastic bags). Sea salt, jams... all sorts of interesting treats are available at the Bon Marche food shop.
I do buy Fortnum teas at the airport when I leave the UK, although the selection isn't as great as at the store in London. I primarily buy based on the design of the tin And CW's suggestion of biscuits is right on - everyone in my family has an interesting tin or two that they use for storing sewing bits, jewellry, etc once the biscuits are gone.

Anything Liberty.

Cadbury Flake

Jo Malone candles (if you want to splurge)

Paddington or Harrods bear Christmas ornaments

Oh, never mind on the Jo Malone travel candle. A friend brought me one & I had no idea they were that expensive until I just now checked.

These are always on my wish list, but personal to me (meaning if someone is going, I beg them to bring me back the following):

From Paris:
Fragonard Murmure, especially in the little solid form
Amora Mustard (tons of it!)

From London:
Garibaldi biscuits
Yorkie Raisin & Bisquit
Schwartz shepherd pie mix
Fairy Liquid
Mum deoderant

Cadbury bars--my favorite is Fruit & Nut. Everyone on Fodor's knows how much better they are than what we can buy here. I go to Sainsbury's and stock up on them and Jaffa cakes.

For me, consumables and usables are the best option.

Paris
Different types of mustard
Sea salt
Mayo with Basel

London
Cheese, cheese and cheese
Orange bitters (and other types of bitters) from FnM (great additions for a champagne cocktail or to give a Manhattan an extra oomph)
Tescos Thai Cup-a-soup
Digestive buiscuits (for comsumption with blue cheese)
Wish I could bring back some sausages - but they are a no-no and would drive those little beagles crazy.

Jams & Jellies from Fortnum & Mason

When we come back from London, our suitcase is always stuffed -- just for us -- with Taylor's of Harrowgate Tea, Irish soda farls from Sainsbury (I buy them the morning we're leaving and freeze them as soon as we get home), and Nescafe Instant Espresso -- which makes excellent, Greek-style frappe in the summer.

If our trip takes us to London in autumn, we always hit Harrod's Christmas shop for interesting ornaments for ourselves and others and the liquor shop for their branded wine stoppers. We'll also choose our Christmas cards from the charity carousels we find in the vestibules of almost every church we visit.

Otherwise, we tend to shop in museum stores and street markets.

I totally disagree with Christina on the JP Hevin chocolates... they're amazing and a great gift, assuming you're going to be seeing the gift recipient within a couple of days.

I'd also add Cote du France to the chocolate list in Paris. The Paris Walks chocolate tour takes you to both chocolate shops and neither is to be missed.

I found one other under $25 gift that I loved in Paris: oven mitts (and aprons) in the Petit Palais that say "Mon Petit Palais" ("my little palace") - my friends went crazy over them.

I always buy dish towels. I love using them, they actually last longer than the ones I buy at home. I buy cheap ones at Monoprix and really nice expensive ones at the bigger stores,still all under $25. True that I would not spend $20 on a dishtowel at home but in Paris it's a nice treat.

The other cheap gift I like are the tacky coasters they sell all over at the souvenier stands and stores. I have them from France, England, Africa and Italy. I use them in my office and they bring a smile to my face. They usually cost about $7-10.

Love love love Petit Bateau, always buys lots of inexpensive clothes that are quite well made and wash well for the price.

Street markets....we found some lovely little original glass pendants at a street vendor on Portobello Road this summer for about $20US each. Each was swirled and in different colors-the artisan and her husband were selling them--they were set up not too far from the Woolworth's. My daughter enjoyed buying scarves in London--it really depended on where you were though for price. We found that if you walked through some of the off the beaten track roads and popped in little stores, they were much cheaper than in the more "popular" shopping areas.

I have only recently found out that one can buy cups & saucers, lamps, etc., from famous Cafe`s in Paris.
It is the exact same stuff they use on a daily basis.
So, you can present your friends and family with coffee cups from Les Deux Magots, Cafe de Flore and others.

We consume one jar of Hediard cherry jam and buy more to take home....such an intense cherry flavor. Cheap and fun are the aprons in the touristy places on Rue Rivoli as well as the sparkly "Paris" t-shirts. The Fragonard soaps keep my bathroom smelling wonderful for weeks until the bar becomes a sliver in the soapdish!

In the UK, most churches, stately homes etc. sell bookmarks.
I buy them myself although I live here.