Best Souvenirs to buy in London and Paris?
 

Hi all,

My husband and I are going to London for a week in April with a day trip to Paris. We usually like to buy souvenirs for our family but have no idea what to get.

Do you have suggestions for nice souvenirs that cost no more than $10 USD? We're looking for authentic - not cheesy t-shirts/magnets/shot glasses/etc.

London: a jar of Marmite.

The same subject (re: Paris) is being discussed here:


http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35182888

Friends always want me to bring back tea from London. A male friend asked for those cardboard coasters with the various beer logos on them. Mouse pads are another favorite & I always get myself one.

You can get some very nice scented soaps as well & do check out the museum gift shops for some great souvenirs reasonably & they help support the site.

Teas or biscuits (aka cookies) from Harrods and/or Fornum & Mason.

Teas from Mariage Frères

Cadbury chocolates; Walker shortbread biscuits.

Ditto to the food suggestions in London. The young children of my siblings love jelly babies. Marks and Spencer has some nice soaps and lotion.

The best place I found to buy stuff to bring home was at Harrod's in their "Christmas" section. Isn't just for Christmas so not sure what the area is called. Has lots of "London" stuff and "Harrod's" stuff. You can find under $10 things, I think. I have enjoyed personally the oven mitts and dish towels I've gotten. At least they're useful.

Also, I found some Christmas ornaments while at the Tower of London. They were Henry VIII wives :-)

Some custom blended tea is always a big hit. I get mine from Miles Tea Merchants in Porlock which is in Somerset but I'm sure if you look, you can find plenty of tea merchants who do this in London.

Anyone can bring me No. 89 shaving soap and talcum powder from Floris on Jermyn Street in London.

Bon Marche has wonderful paper things -- invitations, cards etc -- in their stationery department in Paris.

In Paris, the stationery departments are wonderful. In the gift shops of the museums are good souvenirs. I love to bring back the beautiful sticky notes with a famous painting on them. Easy to pack and about $5.

The top 3 requested when I go to London are
Tea (love Fortnum & Mason),
biscuits (cookies)
chocolate

Tea towels (linen dish towels) make an inexpensive and easy to pack souvenir. Many many choices--Union Jack, London tube map, tea-related designs, images of royals, you get the idea.

I rarely buy souvenirs, as they are too often seem cheezy and useless once I get them home. When I do buy something, it will be something useful. I like a lot of the suggestions made on this thread. Small things that are useful.

I have seen some rather nice Diamond Jubilee teatowels for £5, and i usually hate that sort of thing.

For kids, little tin banks that look like the old red telephone booths in London. Really beautiful stationary in the British museum.
A bit off the wall, but in Paris: gargoyles. We had a replica of one of a dog gargoyle from Notre Dame and our cat broke it. If we ever go back, we will get another one.

As you say, there are souvenirs and souvenirs.

The tactic I've adopted over the last decade or so, is to buy the person I'm getting it for something that they'd love anyway, only it comes with the added bonus of being bought somewhere memorable. It may also not be so easy to find where they live, so they're likely to be the only person in their circle of friends that would have one.

As examples, I've bought a carved wooden apple complete with articulated worm in Prague, a bright pink candle in the shape of a rabbit from Paris, a coffee flask made by Royal Copenhagen, in well, Copenhagen and (possibly the riskiest purchase) plush representations of pee and poo (http://www.kissochbajs.com/index_sve.htm) when in Malmo.

With the exception of the coffee flask they all cost less than the equivalent of $10 and I can assure you that they've all been talking points and well received.

I know it's different strokes for different folks, but I like my souvenirs to last longer than a bag of sweets or pot of tea. I think it also shows that you're thinking about them as individuals and not just another person with a gaping hole in their kitchen cupboard begging to be filled with a 'commemorative' tin of something...

Don't forget to check where it is made!!

fridge magnets are fairly inexpensive

How about some inexpensive scarves? I still have my Burberry one I bought on my 1st London trip. It makes you feel a little more "sophisticated" to be wearing an authentic London scarf :). I've found some more inexpensive ones at souvineer shops near the British Museum or from street markets.

Rather than spending money on plastic Eiffel Tower or Big Bens I usually bring people either post cards or guidebooks from a sight (I buy them in every place I go) that I think they may want.