Quintensential gifts from London?
 

I am sending a friend of mine something he wanted and I was able to find in the states. He wants to repay me, but I suggested him just sending me some things from London instead. Things that would always remind of me of my trips there.

Other than a British flag and a red phone booth souvenir, I can't think of what he should send me. I already have tons of tea, so that is not needed. And I am trying to avoid sweets.....I can't decide!

But the gifts need to be under 10 pounds. And no more than 2-3 pounds in weight.

Decisions...decisions...

When I'm in London I always pick up some neat mustards with Guiness or port. I get them at Tescos.

The english have hilariously flavored potato chips (they call them crisps). Pickle, Prawn and mayonnaise. Seriously. When in England we sent "joke" food baskets...full of oxtail soup, flavored crisps and especially disgusting TWIGLETS!

>Quintensential gifts from London?

A dictionary? :)

HP sauce?

((I))

hardy har, har Ira

no, I don't need a dictionary. I just need to write more.

A Tube map mousepad? It comes in handy for trip planning.

Indian spices?

What about something from Fortnum and Mason ... like jam? I love that store, and it always reminds me of London.

Items with Liberty of London prints... they have toiletry bags, lipstick holders, address books, etc. covered in lovely silk print fabric.

Unless you have a Lush store near where you live, how about some nice products (soaps) from Lush?

Anything w/ &quot;<b>mind the gap</b>&quot; on it -- T-shirt, tea towels, mouse pad, coffee mug, tea pot, umbrella, tote bag, etc. I've seen Mind the Gap on all those things and more.

empty wallet?

We collected tea towels on our trip to the UK and enjoy using them in the kitchen. I'm reminded of the trip every time I use one.

Inexpensive to buy and ship.

Tea = quintensential London

My vote is for anything with &quot;Mind the Gap&quot; on it.

Twiglets are the absolute most disgusting thing EVER invented!!! One of my sons just loves them, however. Yuck! :D

Little wellie boot soaps from National Trust properties. They are sold in all the gift shops for NT properties.

If you visit Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Palace tea towels and tea bags.

There was quite a flap last month when I was in London. Seems HP sauce will now be manufactured in Amsterdam.

I'm a fan of the mustards, too. Too bad you're off sweets or he could bring Smarties. I have a friend I always have to bring mushy peas. /:-)
Others want the latest issues of Hello magazine &amp; the Daily Mail for gossip.

Were there any items you liked from Boots? I buy lots in there. Or how about a nice cup &amp; saucer from the china shops?

the gentleman's relish from fortum and mason.

I love something from Harrod's even if I have to buy it at the airport. It's a reminder of London. I have tea towels, a small bear, and a couple of oven mitts plus a key chain. But, I do like the idea of a &quot;mind the gap&quot; item altho' I never saw those.

The London Transport Museum shop is still open in Covent Garden and sells all sorts of things &quot;branded&quot; with the Tube map and London Transport signs as well as old LT posters. A lot can be bought online as well, mind:
http://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/

Tea in teabags. The basic, run-of-the-mill stuff is far more flavorful than the typical Lipton brand. That says British to me far more than a tchotchke would! Of course, I would also add dark chocolate digestive buiscuits, but you said you're off sweets.
Paule

Twiglets are the food of the Gods you heathens. (Mind you, what can you expect from a people that freeze custard and put ice in tea. I blame the stuff they put on their hair – it rots the cerebral lobes and destroys all sense of taste))

A thing that I have given yanks that they seem to like is tinned spotted dick. You can buy it in most decent grocers (Heinz make it). It comes in a tin with “Spotted Dick” written in big letters on it. Being tinned means it lasts forever.

Someone mentioned Liberties which is a great idea – they have loads of really nice gifts in there. Some are surprisingly reasonable.

The museums all have rather good gift shops with some good stuff in them.

I love Twiglets.

Personally, I think London should offer an &quot;English&quot; class for non-British English speakers/tourists (e.g. Americans). Just an hour lesson on key words to know like &quot;queue&quot;, &quot;mind the gap&quot;, &quot;went to university&quot; etc. And then end the lesson with a pint of beer in the local pub.

I'll have to speak to David, my English teacher trainer, at International House about that.

schuler...in my experience, it is international english (i.e. british english) that is used in switzerland, so why the problem?

What's the problem? None really.

I'm American using a British English book to teach English. There are lots of language differences that both &quot;cultures&quot; aren't aware of, especially the Americans. When I get together with a native Brit, we usually end up comparing our language and laughing about it.

You'd be surprised how many words Americans don't understand when reading British signs or having a nice conversation with a local.

Or are you taking the Mickey out of me?

schuler...no harm intended...knowing that you are a resident of switzerland (long term, i believe), i was just surprised that you even notice british english. i work with many swiss from zurich and their english is strongly british influenced...pronunciation and words. much more so than the hybrid english that you hear spoken in many other european countries.

Walkinaround,

Interesting to know. Many students go to England, Australia or New Zealand to learn their English. I can usually tell if one of my students learned their English in Canada or New Zealand. Nothing wrong with either although sometimes my students say &quot;white&quot; for &quot;wait&quot; or &quot;die&quot; for &quot;day&quot;. When correcting pronunciation, it helps me to know where they learned their English. I still don't know if I should correct &quot;white&quot; or not.

By the way, I ADORE British humour... when I get it.

I tend to pick up cooking aprons when I travel.

The ART! range at the National Gallery is really fun - I got an address book and a deck of cards. http://tinyurl.com/ew5mf

Actually, playing cards are another great souvenir idea - I have some beautiful ones that I have collected in on my travels.

There are some unique items at the gift shop in the Globe Theatre that were much prized by my friends back home-books, videos, CD's, bags, interesting maps etc.

I have a little replica of the chopping block from the Tower of London on my desk at work. I am hoping it reminds my staff of who's the boss! But seriously, I love it! ;-)

A London A-Z?
A Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase &amp; Fable? (probably over 10 gbp now though)

I'd echo David's idea about museums.
BTW, he is being flamed by some nasty pieces of work on the soccer (sic) thread.
Please don't leave, David.
You have given me a few chuckles.

Anyway, I digress.
The London Transport Museum is a good bet if you want &quot;mind the gap&quot; stuff.
Their shop is at http://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/
They have lots of goodies including tube map flip-flops, aprons and &quot;mind the gap&quot; socks.

what is a Twiglets.?
melissa

Twiglets are a snack food. Rather like Marmite they tend to be loathed by people who come them as adults. My fav Twiglet story is the episode of Mr Bean where he dips real twigs in marmite and serves them as snacks.

I agree with anything that says Harrod's and anything that says &quot;Mind the Gap&quot;. Or how about something from Whittard of Chelsea? A nice little teapot perhaps?
((c))

Clotted cream. Lots and lots of clotted cream. :)

Only thing I brought back from London was a couple of liter bottles of Volvic water I had left over. :D Waitrose was selling 3 for 1 pound. Way cheaper than you can get here, if you can even find Volvic stocked (Evian and Perrier yes, Volvic, more rare).

Harrods was so expensive. They were having a sale on Lauren and the racks were 99 pounds and less and 299 pounds and less. No reason to buy Lauren overseas. But I would doubt that Burburry's would be any cheaper there as to over here.

Too bad you can't bring back any of the Indian takeaway foods. That is quintessentially London.