souvenir

June 1, 2009 12:59 PM

Someone I know is in the process of moving back to their county after a couple of years of post graduate study. The question is what would be the best souvenirs that one could buy here from the United States to take back?

Specifically he is looking for items (clothing, electronics, books, household items, symbolic items, etc.) that are uniquely American and hopefully not sold or found elsewhere. And also they need to be somewhat cheap (under $30, preferably $20 as he needs to get around 20-30 different items for his relatives and their kids), although he is open to the possibility of spending as much as $60-$100 if the item is unique and special enough.

If it helps, the county he is going back to is a middle eastern one that has cut economic contacts with the U.S. (which means that although officially United States does not export any products to this country, many of the items the one might find here could also be found over there).

posted by clueless22 to travel & transportation (6 answers total)

Levi jeans or items with the Levi logo.

Music?

Something with his university logo on it.
posted by Houstonian at 1:10 PM on June 1, 2009

(Will he have problems going through Customs in his country with items from the States? Music, movies, alcohol of course...)

Maybe foodstuff, like Starbucks coffee?
posted by Houstonian at 1:12 PM on June 1, 2009

yes. barring alcohol and pornography, he should generally not have any problems with the customs.
posted by clueless22 at 1:26 PM on June 1, 2009

There are some related threads, like this one.

When we go back to the Philippines we usually bring bags of American treats such as Hershey's chocolates for the kids. Last year we also gave away some of those little robotic dogs as gifts.

How about paintings or photos that could be hung on the wall of recognizable and distinct American vistas, such as the Empire State Building, the Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge, Las Vegas, etc?

Maybe 'Obama' or 'I <3 NY' tee-shirts?
posted by gushn at 1:37 PM on June 1, 2009

I was going to suggest alcohol, darn it. Maybe BBQ sauce?
posted by chairface at 4:00 PM on June 1, 2009

Maybe secondary to bigger things, none of which leap to mind, perhaps this person could grab some newspapers and news magazines, maybe special-interest magazines if he knows people who like cars, basketball, fashion, rock music, etc. Newspapers and magazines, general interest or otherwise are a snapshot, a look at where things are now, both in the articles and the ads.

Oh, a thought; maybe picture books with pictures of the place(s) the person has lived and visited. I had some colleagues visit the SF Bay Area from far away and they were delighted to take back books with nice pictures so they could better share their experiences, show those near and dear what they had seen and experienced.
posted by ambient2 at 4:02 PM on June 1, 2009