Homestay Gifts—Gift idea for Costa Rican host families and others in Latin America

If you’re like most tourists or new students, you’re likely going to struggle to come up with something that will both be representative of your home and also appreciated by your host family.  What inspired me to write this post is the simple fact that Americans are terrible at this.  My mom suggested I bring tea to my host family.  Can you imagine bringing coffee or tea to Costa Rica!  That’s like bringing bottled sand to Hawaii to give to the locals as a kind gesture.  Other terrible ideas: t-shirts, baseball hats, board games, things that are expensive in the USA, and things that you wouldn’t want.  If it’s something you wouldn’t want, why would they?  I’ve seen (and myself brought) so many bad gifts that I’ve decided to do a blog entry on the topic.  Here are some suggestions.

Good Gift Ideas are things that represent your locale, but are also highly useful.  A snow globe of your city is not useful!  A South Park action figure is not useful.  What is your host going to do with a golf club cover from your home course?  Think.  What about some soft sheets with an interesting pattern?  In my opinion the sheets in Latin America are terrible.  Any bedding could be a great gift.  A bottle or two of local wine or liquor is a universal gift.  Be careful about bringing food from the US.  For the most part the same things can be bought in the destination country for less.  Also, steer clear of your local produce and meats.  These things can make passing through customs at the airport a miserable experience, and you may well lose your gift in the process.

My Suggestions:

-ELECTRONICS.  Due to taxes, limited supply and selection, and a technology-hostile climate, electronics much more expensive and harder to come by in most of Latin America.  I brought a discount MP3 player and a 2GB USB jump drive to give to my host family.  To give it a personal touch, I opened up the package, charged the device, and pre-loaded it with a few hundred of my most-played American songs.  Stereos, MP3 players, food preparation devices (like a blender or a George Foreman grill), computer accessories, and anything else in your price-range with a fairly broad application would do quite well.  If nothing else, your host family can sell it for more than you paid for it once you leave.

-Nice, mass-produced, somewhat personalized fabrics.  While certain areas of Latin America are known for their cloth artisanry, the bed sheets are still best used for exfoliation.  Try to cater your gift to the socioeconomic status of your hosts.  If you’re staying with an indigenous or low-income family, you may be best off bringing a fine, workable fabric.  My host family in Otovalo, Ecuador would have preferred a bolt of fine cloth to a full-sized bed set from WalMart.  If you’re staying with a somewhat well to do suburban or urban family, you’re better off bringing Mets-themed bed sheets and pillow cases.

-Sports equipment for your nation’s sports.  A cricket bat would be a nice gift from a visitor from India, as would a soccer jersey from an Ecuadorian.  I would recommend bringing a basketball or a football as a gift, especially if you’re going to be staying with anyone young.  These things are useful, represent your heritage, and universally understood.  It’s a shame that the three sports I enjoy playing the least are basketball, football, and baseball.  I must have been born in the wrong country.

-Creature-comforts from your locale.  Try and be more creative than getting some locally-made soaps.  Consider fine nail polish (though I don’t know much about the subject), face or body creams, that bizarre-shaped-lumbar-back-support-pillow-from-your-car-that-you-swear-by-and-can’t-live-without.  Be creative, be smart.

I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding a gift that your hosts will appreciate, will use, and will be a little more appreciative of your home and lifestyle.  Just make sure to follow these rules:

1.         Find something useful
2.         Make sure it isn’t readily available (and potentially cheaper or of a higher quality) where you’re headed.
3.     Pick something universal (so someone of most any age, gender, and background can appreciate the gift)
4.      Find a way to connect it to your home (a local sports team, industry, fashion, popular culture).
5.     Make sure it’s something you’d appreciate

Just be smart and put some thought into the gift.  You will be relying on the kindness and good spirits of these hosts for much of your experience abroad.

Pura Vida,

Z