We are from California visiting the Netherlands next month, will be staying with a host family for a long weekend, a couple in their thirties with a young boy. I heard Dutch people like American nuts and dried fruits, is that true? California almonds, pistachios, raisins and dried berries? Other things you can suggest? Thank you.

Whatever you do do not bring any cheese.
I suggest baseball caps, Los Angeles or San Francisco.

You might also want to include t-shirts or sweatshirts of CA universities (Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, etc.), stickers of San Francisco (depending upon where you live in CA), a small painting or sketch made by a local artist, native American basket or artwork, Ansel Adams photographs or book of his photographs of Yosemite or any nice piece that you especially enjoy and treasure probably would be very much appreciated.

Can you take dried fruits or is it only fresh fruits that are a problem?

I've never had a problem with dried fruits and regularly take them on international flights as part of my "snack pack". I make my owm mix so it is in a ziploc, not a branded package.

My husband is Dutch and all of his family lives in the Netherlands. We live in CA and whenever we visit them, we try to bring unique or unusual gifts. For our nieces and nephews, once we brought miniature personalized California license plates with their names stamped/engraved on them ... something like this: http://www.nycwebstore.com/detail.as...T_ID=AG-LP67LA
You might be able to find a kiosk in your local shopping mall that sells these, or maybe someplace around a touristy area.

I wouldn't bother with the fruit and nuts. We can get them in our local supermarket.
A baseball cap or top for the son, or a licence plate as globetrotter suggests. For the parents, a book of your area, an Ansel Adams photo as Maille suggests (that would get my vote - I love his photos), or some small piece of pottery or similar made locally to you if possible. Or of course a bottle of good Californian wine if you know they will drink it.
Alternatively take something for the child and take your hosts out to dinner one evening.

Thanks for the ideas, I won't bring cheese, and won't bother about fruits and nuts, how about macadamia nuts from hawaii?

See's candy or peanut brittle.

Hi Shanghainese - We just returned from a year of living in Amsterdam, and as I recall many of the nut mixes we bought over there in the neighborhood grocery stores included macadamia nuts, so I don't think they would be very special.

I second Hetismij's and Maille's suggestions.

I don't know where you work, but sometimes even something from a job can be interesting. I know it's sort of a special case, but I used to work for NASA on some Space Shuttle missions and I took a few shipping labels that I had from when I worked there that said: "NASA: Critical Space Item. Handle with extreme care." Various European university students I gave them to practically fought over them! It was really fun to see how much they liked them.

Come to think of it, if you're in the Bay Area, there is a NASA gift shop at Ames Research Center right on 101 in Mountain View (which is where I worked). It used to carry things like t-shirts, patches with various Space Shuttle mission logos, space shuttle posters and pictures, "astronaut ice cream" (dry and not cold, but tastes like ice cream), and stuff like that. The boy might like that kind of thing and it's definitely uniquely American and has links to California, what with Ames and Edwards Air Force Base, etc.

I almost suggested mac nuts but didn't since they weren't California-made. We've brought them in the past even though they have mac nuts in the grocery stores there and the relatives all liked them much better. I think it's because they tasted fresher. My brother-in-law's wife had never tried them prior to that and she really, really liked them.

I wouldn't bother with trying to bring See's candy (or Ghirardelli chocolates, etc). No offense to the suggestion (I like See's), but the chocolates there are far better than anything in the US.

Thanks to all for your ideas, we are excited about the trip!

I don't know how old the boy is, but most boys (3-8 or so) like the movie Cars very, very much (my 3yo son included). And although most of the toy items are also available here, some items (like the Cars Toon toys) are not available here.
So he will probably like that. See this dite e.g.: http://www.toywiz.com/carstoons.html

Don't bother with nuts etc. More than readily available here.

Other ideas mentioned here (baseball cap, t-shirt, license plate, other specific CA souvenirs, books, wine etc) all good!

One extra idea: Most Dutch (at least I do...) like children's clothing from brands not readily available here in the Netherlands. For instance from the Gap. Maybe it is fun to buy a t-shirt or something from the Gap.

Since Dutch children aren't the smallest (in height) it is my experience (from the Gap in Paris) you can better buy something one year up; for a 3 yo a t-shirt for a 4yo etc.

I just spent a week in CA on business and came back (to the U.K.) with a few souvenirs for my family. What went down really well was the book "This is San Francisco" by Miroslav Sasek which seemed to please adults and children alike.

The illustrations are superb and as it's part of a series the boy (or parents) might be inspired to collect them all. My son's copy sits on his bookshelf next to the London and Paris editions and acts as a physical checklist of where he's been. In a few more months he might actually be able to read them...