My brother and his family (wife 3 young - 8and under kids) are moving to Hague, Netherlands next month for a 3 year assignemnt with an American company.

What would be a good going away gift for them? theny are having a going away lobsterfest next month

If they don't have one already, a nice digital video camera. Do they both have good bicycles? Once they get to the Netherlands, they will be cycling everywhere (of course, they can also get great bikes in the Netherlands). Can they both drive stick shift? Their company car will probably have a manual transmission, so if they don't have experience with manual transmission, a gift certificate for some stick shift driving lessons would be useful.
They will probably be moving into a smaller home than they already have (unless they live in NYC). Will they be holding a garage sale to get rid of some things they won't need to take with them? You could coordinate it for them.
Finally, you could get them an online subscription to publications that are expensive in Europe (for example, the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times).
BTilke (Brussels)

thanks for the suggestions.

My brother has a good bike (he does triathalons) and the wife has his old hand me down bike - that's a thought.

digital video camera? I will find out - that would make a good gift.

A smaller house? I bet so - he has a 5000+ square foot house in Houston...
Garage sale - i will ask my sister who lives in the same town about this

I will find out about the shift car - they have automatics now.

i know my brother already gets online NY papers- good though though...

I live in Europe and here are some gifts I have given and received that I though were helpful:

1. Fiction books set in or about the Netherlands (other than Girl with a Pearl Earring) , perhaps post a new question here for suggestions. There are probably one or more non-fiction books about living and working in the Netherlands, run a search using that title. There is generally one for every country. I can recommend the Culture Shock! Series of books on living and working in specific countries, I imagine they have one for the Netherlands. They are printed by printed by Passport Books, you can find them on amazon.com or your local bookstore can order it for you.

2. Dutch language tapes or CDs.

3. Travel books for the Netherlands and/or Europe generally. Books about biking or walking in Europe would be good, for great walking guides to many parts of Europe, take a look at http://www.sunflowerbooks.co.uk/walking_titles.htm sunflowerbooks.com

4. A subscription to the International Herald Tribune, the English-language newspaper for much of Europe, an excellent paper with better European coverage than US-based newspapers. The European edition of the Wall Street Journal is another thought. Possibly a subscription to the local English-language daily or weekly paper in the Netherlands (you would have to do some research on this).

5. A subscription to a travel magazine like Conde Nast.

6. A promise from you to visit.

FYI, my company car is an automatic, I got to choose my preference. I would expect your brother would also have a choice.

excellent suggestions.

I am going to look for the culture shock book at Amazon now. thanks for the interesting and useful gift ideas

And let them know about Expatica:

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_...ubchannel_id=1

It was very helpful to me as I moved overseas. They will have a great time in NL!!

I can relate, Megan. I left Houston for the Netherlands Antilles myself over a decade ago.

All great suggestions above. Another item that a lot of expats like to have on hand is a webcam so that they can see their families back home when they talk to them on line.

Personally, I love care packages containing things from the US that we cannot get where we now live. Even the simplest favorite packaged foods, skin care products, shampoo, candles, games, kitchen gadgets, etc. can mean a lot.

Give them this URL with information on moving over and living there:
www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap22/living.htm

And I'm sure they've already got this URL too, but here's the city hall's info pages in English:

http://www.denhaag.nl/smartsite.html?id=3509

They'll find a vibrant int'l community there. Hope you're planning a visit!

Don't buy them anything large (like a bike) at this point, unless their things have not already been packed and shipped, which seems unlikely if they're leaving in a month. And if their stuff hasn't been shipped, the moving company would already have estimated the volume and anything extra may not fit in the container. When we moved to the UK, I couldn't have fit an extra tuna sandwich in our container.

Travel guides are a good idea. I've been spending a fortune on them since we got here.

Ann makes a good point about not getting them anything large if the movers have already packed up the things they plan to take along (although when we moved to Belgium, our movers showed about 4 weeks ahead of time and our stuff got there in 10 days...it really put the pressure on us to find an unfurnished apartment sooner than we wanted to).
However, I still *strongly* recommend that they learn to drive stick shift before they get to Europe if they don't know how already. For one thing, even if they're offered a choice, their car may not be ready when they arrive and most cars in Europe are still stick shift. The Volvo wagon we had requested before we got to Europe was delayed and my husband was given a stick shift Alfa Romeo while we waited. Also, they will need to know how to drive stick shift if they ever want to rent a "caddy" or little truck for some reason (we used one to take home some antique furniture we'd bought at auction). If they ever want to rent a car for any reason, automatics are more expensive and can be harder to come by, especially in small towns. Finally, why play into the European stereotypes about Americans--you know, Americans are fat, loud, can't speak any foreign languages, need ice in everything, can't drive cars with manual transmissions, yadda yadda yadda.
One other thing...download the software that allows them to watch American format DVDs on European computers.

Found out brother can drive a shift car no problem...

I will look into the DVD on European pc thing

My best friend lived in Japan for 2 years, and apart from missing food from back home, she had a hard time finding books/periodicals in English, as some have mentioned. Here is a slightly different suggestion, though: Audible.com has a subscription service for downloading books and periodicals. At the lowest subscription level, you get 1 audio book a month, and 1 subscription each month (which can be a daily, like the Wall Street Journal or New York times audio versions, or familiar NPR shows like Morning Edition or Fresh Air). It's a really great asset for frequent travelers, commuters, or folks who miss hearing English spoken! They will be able to keep up on current events AND bestsellers.

Since most folks bike to work, school, etc. a 2-pc. set of foul-weather gear would come in handy on a majority of days. It rains quite often in the Netherlands.

Amelie1 has the best idea of all. I live in Europe, and I download books and radio programs like All Things Considered to my iPod.

Make sure the subscription is charged to a U.S. address credit card; otherwise you will not be able to download many of the books because of copyright laws.