petey

I will be part of a group this summer, touring Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic. We will have limited shopping time. I am looking for suggestions for gifts to buy for my grandkids ranging in age 2-19.

missypie

For the youngest ones, you can purchase beautiful, shiny wooden pull toys and other wooden toys in Germany...just beautiful. In Prague, you can also find cool wooden toys, although the ones we bought were unpainted. We also found very neat and affordable hand puppets in Eastern Europe.

The teenagers may appreciate tapes or CDs of whatever the hot local groups are.

If you celebrate Christmas, you might bring them each a special Christmas ornament (bring bubble wrap with you.)

I took a similar trip in 1995 and items in the Czech Republic were much more affordable than, for example, inBerlin or Vienna.

bellairegirl

The older grandkids would probably like getting a Swiss Army knife from Switzerland.

MFNYC

If there are any soccer fans in the bunch, get them a soccer jersey.

grandmere

Steif bear from Germany for the younger ones? Music boxes?

P_M

What about chocolates? That's my favorite gift to buy, since almost everyone likes those. My friends have grown to expect fine European chocolates upon my return. Heaven forbid that I should come home without them!!

Mary2C

The chocolates with toys inside.

highledge

German soccer shirts for older kids.
Christmas ornaments for all.
Chocolate for all.
traditional dresses to be handed down in families with more than one girl

Don't worry about trying to make things equal in price- impossible given the ages!. I love the wooden toys, but they do take up a fair amount of room and are very heavy!

Underhill

We found wonderful nutcrackers--all sizes and colors--in both Germany and Austria. Something else that we brought back as a gift was a handsome mold for making an Easter-bunny cake.

klondike

I vote for the Xmas ornaments if you celebrate that holiday. They would be light and take up relatively little space and can be acquired in the same spot at once.

My grandparents brought back beaded figures/bells from Mexico for each of the grandchilgren. It brings me great pleasure every Xmas to hang them and they are on display in my curio cabinet the remainder of the year.

dhoffman

I second the suggestion about soccer shirts from Germany but puppets from Prague may be a good choice. Also, look for glass paperweights.

highledge

one more thought. How about 5( or 10 or 20) euros for each kid for their first trip to Europe? Might spark a bit of interest in the older kids.

TravelsWithStDavid

I agree with most of the good ideas here, especially the Christmas ornaments. We brought those from Austria, glass and also wooden ones. We have young grandchildren who always want us to play cards with them, go fish, war and all those games we all played as kids. I bring them playing cards with pictures of the local scenes we have visited. We just came back from Venice and got some great ones with a different scene of Venice on the face of each card. The souvenier doesn't last long, but they enjoy it, it doesn't cost much and takes up no space in your limited luggage. Have a great trip.

jenviolin

Do you have the game Jungle Speed where you live? You may be able to get it in a toy store. It's fantastic for ages 8 - 16. Hope the instructions are also in English!
Cheap but requiring careful packing: Kinder eggs (chocolate eggs with little assemble-it-yourself toys inside)
Mozartkugeln in Austria (special chocolates with Mozart wrapping)

Vera

Lots of good suggestions. Our grand-daughers LOVE costume dolls from the countries we visit. I asked the teenager if she still wanted one to add to her collection and she said YES. We also bring loose change home and divide it up. This trip to Austria, we brought a small cookoo clock for one 8-yr-old and one of those barometers where the figures pop out for a 10-yr-old. Big hits!
They also like getting postcards, and if you don't have time to write them, at least buy them and bring them home.
Anything with castles is a hit with a wide range of kids, and we got a computer mouse pad with the Neuschwanstein Castle, but there are lots of possible pictures on mouse pads nowadays.
Although we brought a local trendy music C.D. for a grandson, its risky. We happened to have the advice of a young person.
Another great hit was "Vikings World Tour" t-shirts from Sweden. If you find t-shirts that are "jokey" but also clearly represent the specific country, they're good.
Vera

Surfergirl

Swiss watches, even for the younger ones.

papagena

If they count as swiss (I think they are) swatch watches are fun for kids and teenagers - they come in loads of different colours and patterns and are quite cheap. There are swatch shops where you can choose from hundreds of designs.

For any younger girls you can get very pretty traditional dresses in Austria and Switzerland.

Swarovski also have a lot of outlets where you're going; they do pretty sparkly things for the girls.

Definitely get them some chocolates from Switzerland.