Hi, I’m a Brit coming to visit my boyfriend for the first time in Florida in June! I wanted to bring some things that him and his family might be interested in, but don’t speak to his family enough to ask them directly. What kind of things would you want from Europe as gifts?
(I say Europe specifically as i have access to eastern European markets and whatnot as well as the average British stores.)
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I would kill a man for a fresh Italian cantaloupe.
Not sure if that would work with customs, though, and melons (of the non water- variety) are pretty hit or miss in the states.
Real Smarties. Not the horrible dried tablets made by the company that holds the trademark here.
Yourself, be genuine!
Ask the bf what their likes and dislikes are and go from there. Don’t go extravagant
I suggest a selection of chocolate & snacks – stuff we don’t commonly have here. Most European chocolate is way better than ours. I’m partial to Galaxy personally, and Tunnock’s tea cakes. Digestives can be found but I wouldn’t say they’re common. Maybe some crisps in different flavors; your bf should be able to say what would be unusual but off the top of my head prawn flavor and cheese & onion.
Snacks and candy are always a pretty good bet.
some of those sausage pasties from Borough Market.
Things I would be interested in from Europe are every day items that are different in Europe, Like Teas and Chocolates. I don’t know if they drink or not, but a local Gin from London or Vodka from Eastern Europe may be appropriate if they do. Otherwise, different snacks that are unique to you that they probably don’t even know exist.
Tea, cheese, and skincare products.
I mean I always fuck up a pack of Mr. Kiplings French fancies. So you could bring those lol
If you’re a Brit, a variety of Cadbury products would be appreciated.
Some Cadbury products are available in the US, but they’re made under contract by someone else, and if you ask me, the British stuff is much better.
Idk what would be unique. Most places have access to a bunch of stuff because how diverse it is
Swiss chocolate? Our daughter brought us some Laderach chocolate. So good.
I wouldnt bring tea, unless you want to bring a small amount in a cute British box. Our friends (Weymouth) always bring us tea. It’s still in the cabinet.
Another thing would be a cute tote/shopping bag with England themed stuff on it or from your town specifically. Like I have a Weymouth one that depicts the ocean front area
Cute tin of cookies/biscuits?
Chocolate, tea, Scotch Whisky
I honestly don’t know what I’m missing. I would want you to just bring your absolute favorite local treats.
The British excel at suits, the best in my opinion. Since you likely can’t bring that with you, I’d suggest bringing some candy we may not have instead — anything you think Americans might find interesting.
Depending on how well you know him/his family, scotch or beer from the UK,, or snacks/candies that are exclusive to the UK would be good fits. I think you lot have a bunch of chip flavors that we don’t get here.
The typical housewarming gift is wine or chocolate, but you may be surprised at the level of European chocolate and wine we do have access to, though eastern Europe stuff is certainly far less common and would probably be a good gift as well.
if you get ahold of it, then bring Swiss chocolate. one of my wife’s grandmother’s is Swiss and she sends us chocolate all the time.
Honestly a small gift basket full of British goodies will be well received. If they’re drinkers maybe a nice bottle of gin, Pimm’s, or a couple cans of various ales is a good idea. Course food stuff is always a safe option. You can bring: Nandos Medium peri peri sauce, Coleman’s mustard, walkers crisp, or a mixture of chocolates and sweets like Terry’s chocolate oranges or Squashies. I’d recommend sitting down and talking with your bf about things his family would like and go from there.
Can I please get a Gregg’s coffee mug? LOL
Flake bars! And torrone
The strange packaged treats they have that we don’t : digestives, wagon wheels, jammy dodgers tea cakes, etc.
my fave European snacks are Tutku cookies from Turkey and Borovetz wafers from Bulgaria. If you brought these to me I’d be overjoyed. I’m not sure if other people would be as excited though.
Local alcohol is a great gift, as long as you know they don’t drink as a rule. Even if they drink maybe once a year, having a bottle of wine or maybe a brandy sitting around for that is always welcome.
I find tea towels are a nice souvenir gift, people can usually always use an extra one and you can have flair on it that is more interesting than normal (like maybe your local football team or British flag maybe?).
The UK is synonymous with tea over here, so perhaps some high quality tea? Even if they’re not big tea drinkers they’ll appreciate the gift and I’m sure would be curious to at least try out a UK tea at some point.
As for other european nations, ask if his family has any heritage they recognize at all. If so, they’d probably be interested in some regional food from that nation (make sure to check customs website to see if you can bring it in. usually as long as its not fresh food its okay). Even if they don’t like it they’ll have fun trying it at least.
Im sure they’ll be happy with whatever you bring, or nothing at all for that matter.
Yorkshire tea!
Can’t go wrong with bringing him some Jammie Dodgers. Although you should be forewarned that Florida is still experiencing issues with flesh eating bacteria in their coastal waters.
Good chocolate! Biafine burn cream. Harder to bring but scones and clotted cream. I dream of scones and clotted cream.
Chocolate. The stuff we get here does not compare to what we get from countries with better food standards.
Good Scotch Whiskey
English tea biscuits and shortbreads, European cheeses, smoked meats, and a loaf of French bread.
Jaffa cakes.
Maybe some of the Walkers crisps with weird flavors and stroopwafels.
I like the others’ suggestions of UK made Cadbury. Also, something I can’t find in local markets here is clotted cream in a jar to go with my imported scone mix 🙂 Also, any UK cheese, especially Stilton or cheddar.
I wish we could import eggs from the plethora of British chicken species cause all we get in the US for commercial sale is white leghorn eggs with pale yellow yolks.
If you bring chocolate – put it in your carry-on. It will melt in a checked bag, and a melted Aero is useless.
A variety of British Crisps. Y’all have a lot of flavors we don’t have here. You can do a crisp tasting night.
Tablet. Digestives. Chocolate Digestives. Millionaire shortbread. Rum butter. Turkish delight. Lots of scotch. Jaffa cakes.
I have no idea, but I’ve always wanted to try Mr. Kipling battenberg cakes. They look so tasty!
I don’t think you need to bring anything but if you really want to the. I’d recommend just grabbing a handful of British snacks that aren’t available here.
Ask your BF what each of his family members likes in terms of snacks, and bring the British version of it.
Even if we have it over here, there is a good chance that they haven’t tried it or the formulation is different.
Barring that, I’m sure they would enjoy the British version of our American products that are formulated differently. But this will take some research.
Handmade items if his family is traditional or travels alot.
Icelandic mustard
I like the “Scottish tablet” sweet, and it isn’t easy to come by here.
Not kinder surprise
I am agreeing with the chocolate! European chocolate is wonderful and we can’t get some of it here. Cadbury’s for the win! Add some of your favorite cookies or snacks. Foreign snacks are always a hit because they are so different from our flavors, like a prawn crisp. And bring a can or two of those beans you all eat on everything. Bet they’re different from what we call canned beans.
I live in London so I know what’s unique over here
Paddington Bear stuff
Pens or anthing that’s from a palace or cool place
British money for kids
Roast chicken flavored crisps
Honeycomb candy
Scones
Daunt books bag for a book lover
My mom is a quilter so she wants fabric from Liberty
Wimbledon logo stuff
Fanta
Chocolate is always welcome.
Be careful for what you’re allowed to bring into the country food wise. I got hassled for bringing Cadbury to the US but I didn’t have to throw it away.
The toffee they sell boxes in teapot stores was a big hit.
Aero bars aren’t common here sometimes there’s one flavor in the “International’ section of the grocery store.
Currant flavored things aren’t common here.
Candy and treats and such. One of my co-workers lives in London and we always have a cultural exchange of candy and such when we’re in the states for work.
Things not available here such as Cadbury Roses.
Tbh other than candy and novelty items, we aren’t too interested in British food
What does he like? Besides you of course.
Well when I visit the other way round I bring jolly ranchers so some kind of candy.
Culture
I guess it depends on the people….but I lived in the UK for a number of years and haven’t been back in a while, here is a list of things I wish someone would bring me:
British chocolate
Branston Pickle
Brown sauce
Salad cream
Edinburgh Gin – any of the flavors but especially the raspberry gin or raspberry liqueur.
Bruadar – scotch whiskey liqueur (this is from Scotland but I was able to get it in northern England, too).
I think you guys have really fun biscuits, like what you might have as a snack with tea. My cousins are British and their house always has fun stuff. I think a few packages of fun ones of those!
My neices and nephew in NL wanted Crumbl cookies, and they were delighted when they tried them. Nothing says America like an over-the-top, giant dessert item.
Definitely bring some spotted dick to him. For his family, you should ask him.
The crown jewels from the Tower!
I love when my British friend brings candy. British gummy candy hits different than us.
Please bring them Flakes Chocolate or salt and vinegar hula hoops. You have the most delicious sausages (think bangers). And the tea. The tea is sooo much better in England than here.
Kent Crisps Ashmore Cheese & Onion chips are amazing. I got them in a Universal Yums box and loved them.
I’m married to a Brit and this is what I bring back every time we go visit: Jammie Dodgers, HP Sauce, Terry’s Oranges, After 8s, an assortment of Mr Kiplings, Aeros Mint things, Branston Pickle. Maybe throw in some Wine gummies.
Marmite? We have it in the US, but it’s still kind of obscure.
Everyone’s going to have a different answer to a very broad and personal question like “What would you like from Europe?” Lots of people are saying chocolate/candy/food, but food gifts in particular can be a very tricky thing to get right when you don’t know the recipient’s tastes or if they have any special dietary requirements. Like, chocolate would be a very safe bet if you were gifting me, but there are plenty of people who don’t like or can’t have chocolate for one reason or another.
If you can’t talk to the family directly, I’d ask your boyfriend what kind of British/European gifts they might appreciate and work from there. He presumably knows them and has at least a rough idea of what they’re interested in, unlike random strangers on Reddit.
Epic Grind shoes, made in Germany, and lets you rail grind like sonic the hedgehog