Soon to arrive in for my little trip and was thiking about what i'd pack and what i might buy instead.

Then i got to thinking that the last time i was there i think bread was the only thing i found significantly cheaper than home.

What ahve you found that was surprisingly cheaper than home AND what country was it in?

I hear beer is cheap in prague but i don't drink.

house wine in France, of course.

The only things that are likely to be cheaper in Europe right now are local food products, which you couldn't bring with you anyway. I suppose you might find some bargains in local handicrafts, too, but in my experience in recent years, that hasn't been the case.

Actually, I've found that the pewter dragon art (Which my son collects) is MUCH cheaper in England than it is here.

Last trip, I found a beautiful dragon -- about six inches tall -- with large crystal stones mounted in the wings for £15. Not long after I returned, we found the same dragon in a specialty shop here for $85.

I've found only a couple of things to be real bargains. Wine in France and italy of course - and a lot that you can;t get at home at any price. And in Italy the "peasant" pottery is stil a comparative bargain - still way less than Bloomies at any rate - although not the bargain it was 10 years ago.

I don;t think beer is especially cheap in Prague - its just that everything is substantially less than in western europe. Hotels, food, handicrafts etc - as well as beer.

Shannon, Ireland's duty free shop has great prices on liquors, and we carry home as much as we can each trip. I found the wine prices at CDG to be quite high in comparison.

We carried a lot of liquor out of Juarez Mexico a couple of years ago but paid a LOT in Custom taxes. (Does it sound like we drink a lot? The rum we got in Mexico is still unopened!)

Just came back from Sicily...brought home red wine (Etna Rosso, which is not easy to find in the U.S.), local Sicilian honey, lemon soap, sundried tomato spread, etc. All very reasonably priced. U.S. Customs will let you bring back a certain amount of foodstuff -- you can check with your airline what the limit is.
Also, I love buying bath products from Italy. Nice-quality soaps, bath oils, etc., that are possible to find here -- but would be more expensive here in New York.
Finally, love buying Italian shoes. You can't get bargains on the super-big names (Tod's, Ferregamo, Gucci, etc.), but there are lesser-known Italian designers with great styles that you can't find here -- good-quality Italian leather shoes that simply don't make it over here because they're not the "big" designers.

I don't know if this is the answer you want, but since we often have an apt. or house and do some cooking when we visit France, we spend some time in the supermarkets. We find they are great places for inexpensive gifts. I've brought backs cans of pate on sale for friends, gift boxes of cookies, candies and french soaps. All easier to carry than wine.