Gifts in Germany
 

I know that wine or flowers are appropriate in Germany for bringing to dinner, but does anyone know what's appropriate for a house visit? I'll be staying with colleagues in Sachsen-Anhalt for almost a week and I want to thank them for their very gracious hospitality.

Flowers or a small gift that has to do with your hometown/region upon arrival, and invite them out for dinner at a nice restaurant one evening.

We have many years of experience with home-hosted stays, and this is the custom:

- On arrival, you hand gifts from your region, e.g. a book, a T-shirt, regional food specialties etc. If you specify from which region you are, I can give you better tips.

- After two or three days, offer to invite your hosts for dinner. They will refuse. Be adamant. It may be tricky to find an adequate restaurant (because your hosts will propose rather inexpensive restaurants). So talk with them about local restaurants innocently, ask them about the cuisine which is served in which restaurant and find out which restaurant they would like.

- On the very last day, you might exchange another small gift, like a book or brochure about your region. Probably, you will invite them to stay with you.

Definitely coffe table type books about your city or part of the country as well as dinner at an elegant restaurant.

The other key is lerning to live in the local lifestyle - which probbly invoves smaller housing, smaller appliances, smaller cars, many more things that are "green" and eco friendly etc.

Thanks for the suggestions! I live in Michigan and can bring something from here, but there are more personal/historical connections between myself and my hosts, so I was going to bring a framed period photo, of my mother, who has a connection to the city and is the reason for why I will be staying there (long, long story). I have been with these people briefly before and those times brought books I had written and good bottles of wine. I'll do research on the web and find some good restaurants in the city I'm headed to. This time, it's for a week.