Hi

I am going to visit friends in Scotland and am having a brain freeze.

I would like to take them things which are kind of US-specific (not food) but am coming up clueless. I bought them a few books - a regional cookbook and a book on our history - any other good ideas? I might consider the clothing route but a lot of times those kind of things are tacky.

could someone give me an idea of a non-tacky item of clothing? Would a really nice college sweatshirt be a good idea? or not. I live fairly near DC, but will be in NC and FL later this spring.

or any other ideas. I don't feel very inspired by my ideas right now..

thanks!

Polly

Polly, I have some Scottish cousins whom we have visited in Scotland a few times, and they have come over to visit us in California a few times. We always bring California wine because they love it and it is so expensive in Scotland. But since you don't want to bring food, I'l assume that includes wine too.

When they come over here they always buy jeans at the vintage clothing stores, and on his last trip my cousin bought his girlfriend some cowboy boots to take home. I think a Georgetown sweatshirt is a nice idea. I also recently sent my cousin a FDNY baseball cap and he is wearing it all the time, especially considering he was in NY on 9/11. For Christmas my mother always sends their mum a calendar with scenic pictures of the US. If you bring a regional cookbook it might be nice (or even necessary) to include some of the ingredients.

Re: clothing. My relatives abroad love college sweatshirts, especially from Ivy League schools. Also high on their list, especially for the teens, are clothes from Gap. Who knew? I guess it's really expensive elsewhere.

I just returned from Scotland and England where I had a chance to visit my nephew who is a college student - t-shirts, sweat shirts, and NY logos were very popular!!!

FDNY and NYPD caps and shirts are certain hits, as are various other sports items (we brought Seattle Mariners and Seahawks caps and a kid's football helmet to Scottish friends a few years ago and I think they had to cut the helmet off the kid's head eventually because he'd worn it until his head had got too big.)

Going to North Carolina? On the way-off-the-beaten-path wing, though, would be T shirts or caps etc. from Flora Macdonald Academy in North Carolina, or St Andrews Presbyterian College, also in NC. (Flora Macdonald was the woman who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape the English in 1745; she was imprisoned in the Tower of London for awhile, then released and moved to North Carolina (Fayetteville) where she was a loyalist organizer during the Revolutionary War (go figure.) Many's the song written about her and the Young Pretender. (She went back to Scotland and is buried on the Isle of Skye.) There was a large Scottish community in NC in those days, and there's still a lot of heritage activities going on there - caber tossing and the like. A souvenir from that part of the US would be a big hit, I'll bet.

oh wow! perfect!

John, where in NC are these academies?

and, dumb Q I know - has anyone seen anything FDNY or the like, outside of NY?

thanks!

Polly, someone mentioned on the European board that if you bring a US cookbook as a gift to someone overseas, that you should also bring measuring spoons and measuring cups, as the European measurements are different.

All close enough to I-95 in central/south NC.
http://floramacdonald.com/
http://www.sapc.edu/index.html
Do a search on Scottish roots in NC and stand back.

Polly, I bought the FDNY cap on ebay, and the purchase price went straight to the 9/11 fund for firefighters' families, and shipping was free.