Special gift for French relative's hospitality?
 

In three weeks my husband and I will be staying at a hotel in Paris for 4-5 days. My French cousin and her husband will be picking us up at the airport, taking us to various Paris sights and will host us for a lunch at their apartment as well as drive us to the Loire Valley to visit my grandmother's hometown and meet with other cousins, etc. In short, they have most graciously offered to 'show us around' and I would like to bring something memorable from the U.S. as a thank you gift.

Perhaps some of you who have lived in France might know what kind of special American gift a Parisian would apppreciate receiving. The French have cornered the market on wonderful food, wine, and perfumes so I'm at a bit of a loss and drawing a blank.

Any and all suggestions will be most gratefully welcomed.

Hi C,

A coffee table book of your home state.

Any native crafts.

Flowers are always appreciated. Get them in Paris.

((I))

I avoid giving display items such as ornaments unless I know the taste of my host very well.

You might consider consumables such as rye whiskey (if they don't take to it, they can have in stock as an interesting drink for visitors to sample).

My fallback is to invite people out for a good meal. There are some fine restaurants in the Loire Valley.

One of the increasingly popular gifts that people now give each other in France are some of the Weekendesk invitations (www.weekendesk.fr) -- it is wonderful to go to a charming hotel and/or have a gourmet meal without paying anything.

"My fallback is to invite people out for a good meal."

That is what I would suggest too. French people invariably enjoy a slap-up meal (washed down with lots of wine), though if you are driving to the Loire valley you might want to save it for an evening when they won't be getting back in the car...

A nice bottle of something would go down a treat too (most of my French friends love adding to their collection of bottles to open at "apéritif" time).

Ira beat me to it! Hopefully you live in an interesting city

My father-in-law and his wife, who is French, live in Paris and have a beautiful garden on their terrace. We stayed with them for a week and to thank them (mostly her), I bought her a clematis plant at a local floral shop to add to her collection - and she stills sends me photos of it in bloom!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gift ideas. We are planning to take them out to dinner but the tip about driving and drinking was a good reminder of the strict drinking/driving rules in Europe and so we'll plan to make it a Paris restaurant where they can hop on the Metro afterward.

All your suggestions are so helpful. I'm still not certain but I'm leaning toward ira's idea about a coffee table book of New York/CT area. My husband and I will have to toss a coin as to who will have the privilege of carrying it! Love the idea of giving a live plant but would wait to see their apt. situation before considering that one. Thanks again to all...

I too think native crafts is a good idea (if there is something of worth-but many times there is) and/or a lovely houseplant-I've given houseplants to European friends in years past-one of those blooming Christmas cactuses? A huge hit in Scotland, which doesn't get a whole lot of sun, yet did spectacularly at a kitchen window in a flat in Edinburgh, easy to care for, and the blooms are in different colors.

Girlspytravel, thanks for your input. I will probably pick up a plant as well once we get there. I did purchase a nice coffee table book of NYC which is mostly pictures and just a little text (they don't speak/understand much English), but a friend suggested I try searching online for a similar book written in French. I thought that was a good idea but may not have the time to do that at this point since I'm still shopping for a pair of comfortable shoes with less than two weeks 'til take-off!

When traveling I have brought gifts of CDs, with music from my hometown, Chicago (the symphony, Chicago blues or jazz, etc.). They are easy to wrap and light to carry.

I actually brought scarves to French women. Talk about coals to Newcastle. But they were very nice silk scarves....

I sometimes give calendars of my home town. Also brought macadamia nuts to Paris, figuring that might be something different. And, being from Seattle, smoked salmon.

Claire-if you live in the NYC area, if there is some sort of local food specialty, not too cumbersome, like Mimar's Seattle, which has all kinds of native products/specialties, then that is a great idea as well, maybe locally produced jams or mustards, etc. But also music CD's are a good idea-the French love jazz, of course, but big band music might be a quite popular choice as well, depending on your relative's taste for music-maybe recordings of Frank Sinatra? One of his best "In the Wee Small Hours" -about lost love and late night isolation-(ooh la la! the French LUV music like that! -one of his top selling albums, ever, btw) or that album from the 60's "Live in Paris" which is excellent as well.

Lots of good ideas here.

Girlspytravel wrote: "the French love jazz"

Jazz is moderately popular in France. That does not translate into "the French love jazz". Some do; some don't.

I do not think it is a good idea to make assumptions about any individual's tastes. It is a different situation if you know the person, but my inference is that clairedelune does not know her hosts well.

Wow! So many great gift ideas from everyone -- I wish I'd posted sooner when I'd have had more shopping time -- no time to get into NYC now. I did think about getting a Frank Sinatra CD since my cousin's husband mentioned that Frank's a favorite of his but nixed that idea since I wouldn't know which ones he already has in his collection.

Our fallback will be to treat them to a few good dinners or perhaps pick up something from the Ariege area since we'll be seeing them again on our return through Paris.

Thank you all. I've learned so much from reading the various Fodor's posts on so many travel subjects -- a great invention and somewhat addictive I must admit!