Gift for German hosts
 

Hi FFs!
We will be visiting the family that hosted my daughter on her high school exchange. (their daughter has also been here to stay with us) We sent coffee table books of our area and Minnesota (University) clothing when our daughter went the first time. Now I am stumped as to what to bring this time. We will be spending two nights right after Xmas...but as my daughter pointed out "the Germans INVENTED Xmas decor!" so an American decoration seems lame. Ideas?? Thanks!

Hi A,

>...but as my daughter pointed out "the Germans INVENTED Xmas decor!"<

There has been enough time for US Xmas decorations to have diverted somewhat from the German style.

I would go with your original idea. (Whatever it was. :) )

((I))

Wild rice.

Pancake mix, maple syrup, measuring cups and teaspoons.

Is there any type of non perishable food that is a holiday tradition for your family? Certainly there would be a lot more variation in food than in decorations. Home made chocolate chip cookies in a really pretty container, or with a pretty plate to put them on? Or an assortment of home made cookies, if you bake.. Anything home made is always appreciated.

When we visited the German family that our son lived with for a month during the summer of 2004, I wasn't sure what to bring along for gifts either. We were spending 2 nights with them.

Our son had already taken books about our state, which happens to be Minnesota also, when he went over.

I found a beautiful throw with a loon (MN state bird for all those FF not from MN) on it. They were absolutely thrilled and just loved it. I also took MN coffee mugs, a MN Christmas ornament, and some wild rice soup mix that all you have to do is add water.

Our German student had already been here and lived with us for a month that spring and he had all the MN Twins stuff so we brought him and his brother Timberwolves hats. For his 2 sisters--some small bottles of lotion and shower gel from Bath and Body Works. They just loved them.

They will love anything you bring as it is the thought that counts! Have a great trip!

p.s. If you live in the Mpls. metro area the General Store in Minnetonka and the Woods in Maple Grove (where I found the throw and soup mix) usually carry a nice selection of Minnesota stuff.

Till recently, I was always puzzled by these questions. There are reasons there's not much maple syrup or peanut butter on European supermarket shelves: we've all got far more of it at home from previous North American visitors than we'll ever get through. If anyone here actually liked the stuff, you can be sure it'd be as ubiquitous (and cheap) as McD's.

You've presumably got to know the people, and you wouldn't ask strangers for advice about what to give acquaintances in the next state. So why not give the Germans what you'd give the next-state acquaintances: something they like? And you know more about that than anyone here.

But that was before I visited the Sonoma Harvest Festival a couple of weeks ago.

And there in the craft competition tent, behind the table settings and the dishes of fruit that looked absolutely identical to what you'd find in any County Fair in Britain, was a North American craft that's practically unheard of in Europe.

Quiltmaking. The quilts put in for the county competition were gobsmacking. And something I've only seen on this side at folk museums. They're clearly widespread in North America, because my local county museum recently had a travelling exhibition of quilts from Ontario - which we'd assumed were on exhibition because this was such an obscure craft.

Now home-made quilt specialists are just about the only niche retailing we didn't see on the subsequent trawl of practically every mall west of the Rockies. But America wouldn't be America if someone hadn't set up a business specialising in these wonderful works.

And if some visitor brought us one of those, it'd make up for every bloody bottle of maple syrup, and every packet of pancake mix, that's been cluttering our pantry for the past 20 years.

Hi Flanner,

Not that you might be making fun of my idea or anything, but just last week I was asked to make pancakes for some Swiss friends, hence my idea.

A quilt is a wonderful idea. They might love it or put it next to their twenty year old pancake mix.

Homemade cookies is also wonderful but they don't always travel well.

Another gift that would also be appreciated is inviting your hosts out to dinner in a nice restaurant.

It is hard to come up with the perfect gift. It's like trying to come up with the right numbers for a lotto ticket.

I actually already have maple syrup planned as our German "daughter" said that was her favorite new food she tried while in America.
I appreciate all of the ideas! Thanks!

This may sound a little crazy, but here goes. I have hosted 9 foreign exchange students and everyone of them have never had a BLT and every one of them really liked them. Freeze and take a couple pounds of American bacon and make BLT's for them. They just don't have bacon like ours. Three of my exchange students took bacon home with them.

I have also taken maple syrup to my friends in Europe. You also might try dryed cherries or cranberries.

How bout good ole Fruit Cake - or something they don't have and kids could love - Beef Jerky - my son grew up in France and i often sent him Beef Jerkey which amazed his friends and it was a smash hit.

Three French women recently stayed at my house and they wanted to take bag miniature statues of the Big Boy from Big Boy restaurants - a hit back home and friends asked them to get more.

When I lived in Austria, I introduced our German language instructor (who was a young university student back then) to Chocolate Chip cookies. She loved them so I gave her a recipe which we converted into metric measurements. Now every time I go back to Europe and we have a chance to visit, she asks me to bring her some chocolate chips.

You could make up a batch or two of the dry ingredients for chocolate chip cookies so your hosts would only have to add the wet ingredients and bake.

Chocolate chips and Beef Jerkey..., those days are long gone. All flavours of BJ are sold at my local Tengelman supermarket as well as Peanut Butter and even "canned Spaghetti". (Who puts spaghetti in a can?? How sick can that be...) But as long a people are buying, it will be sold. ;-)

How about Marshmallow Cream - is it on shelves in Germany - another thing my older French relatives crave for.

Beware of Christmas ornaments, unless you find something original and hand-made. The average German considers the average American style "kitsch".

>Marshmallow Cream
Havn't seen it in a store up to now, but don't bring Marshmallows, they are everywhere.

I don't get the maple syrup thing, either. I suppose if they really want it, it might make sense, but I don't think Minnesota is known for maple syrup, so I don't get that idea.

I really don't understand the mentions on Fodors that people take "pancake mix" to Europe. Are people really so lazy or uninformed that they can't mix a couple ingredients to make pancakes? Or do they really not know how to cook at all. It's nothing much but flour, egss, some rising agent, and milk (I use buttermilk) and a touch of sugar or salt and oil. It only takes a couple minutes to mix the ingredients together, and they are very common ingredients. Some post on here claimed they knew someone in Europe who pined away for pancakes and they had to bring them pancake mix once or year so they could make them. I suspect those people lied and didn't even like them or something is wrong with them.

I'd forget the junk food thing, and take some Christmas decor that was different maybe, if you really thing they like that. The friends and family I know in Germany like somewhat more exotic things than pancake mix etc from the US. The women like some brands of creams or shower gel or lotions that they either can't get there or that cost a whole lot more there. They also like some handcraft type things, but in good taste, so I think the quilt thing is a great idea.

When we visited my husband's German relatives a few years ago, I made a hand woven table runner to take along as a gift. It was neutral in color (so it would go with anything), and they were thrilled with it. The quilt idea is great, too, but would be pretty pricey unless you make it yourself. Also, we were told by a German friend that you should always bring flowers when you are going to a German family's house, so we bought flowers at the train station enroute.

We are hosting a German student now. She told us all her friends want her to bring back Orea cookies. Apparently they are hard to find and expensive. SHe's from a small town outside of Munich.

>Orea
What's that? You mean Oreo? You would need to shop at Metro for them, but they aren't nearly as good as the local brands!!!