Life /
What gifts to take? Presents customs in Poland. [148]
If you like circus peanuts, you're one of a select few. Read this:
straightdope.com/columns/read/1159/does-anybody-actually-like-circus-peanuts
Kids don't seem to mind Hershey's kisses. My mom always sends a bunch and I have no problem getting rid of them with my teenage students. Never heard any complaints.
I'd be very wary of getting a kid an expensive gift unless I knew darn well sure that it will be appreciated. I've been burnt too many times on this. I, too, considered a coonskin hat or cowboy hat for the teenage boy, but had second thoughts about it. An American football seems more likely to be appreciated, though I would go with a cheap nerf one unless I was very sure that a real one would be appreciated. The mood ring is likely to be appreciated, too.
Sometimes, the best gifts don't cost anything at all, or very little. A great gift for a teen boy is an old US licence plate. I used my old Indiana plate to bind some papers together for shipping, and later gave it to a teen student. He was thrilled, and it's still hanging front and center over his bed. Another student was thrilled with a stupid four-color ink pen.
Punk sticks are a great idea, too. The practice is totally unknown in Poland, and kids are fascinated by it.
I've learned that a good experience is appreciated more by kids than an expensive gift. Marshmallow roasting is a good example. Making typical American foods like pancakes (extremely different from the Polish version), sweet yellow cornbread, baked beans, chili, REAL hamburgers (Poles don't have the slightest clue what these are, and are always pleasantly surprised when they actually see and eat one), chocolate chip cookies, carrot cake, brownies, AMERICAN cheesecake (very different from the Polish version), American pies, even rivel soup; I've cooked all of these together with my friends and students here in Poland, and we all had a great time. Ingredients for all of these are readily available in Poland except for maple syrup, which is prohibitively expensive here. Oh, and mollases, which is completely unavailable. So you don't really have to bring anything much; just buy the ingredients here. Make sure to leave detailed instructions so that they can make them again whenever they want.
Bringing the boy a simple deck of cards (with bikini models or cars or dinosaurs or something like that) and teaching him how to play poker is a great gift, too. I've had a lot of fun teaching this to my young students.
Teaching them some stupid trick like the dairy farmer's handshake can be a fun experience. (First person interlocks fingers and turns palms outward, thumbs pointing to the floor. Second person tugs on the thumbs as if milking a cow). There's lot of stupid little things like that that kids are amused by and get a lot of milage from.
Had tons of fun with my friends' young kids pitching pennies. Bring some American and Canadian pennies along for "authenticity".
Be careful with hot sauces and jalepenos and such. They MAY be a big hit, but more likely they will be way to spicy for Polish tastes, which tend strongly toward the VERY, VERY bland. Besides, they are readily available in Poland, although I often wonder who buys them.
Same with clothing. There's nothing that you can get in America that you can't easily get here. Period. That includes Mickie Mouse shirts and such. Kids are notoriously difficult to predict when it comes to clothes, and even more difficult to impress.
This is especially true for toys. There is a wide selection of just about everything here, including such iconic American toys like slinkies, hula hoops and board games. Lincoln logs are a rare exception, although they may not be right for the ages of the kids mentioned. The green army men will be appreciated, too.