A Guide to Holiday Gifts for Expats

Has your daughter or son run off with a charming foreigner? Is your best friend or uncle a high-flying international businessman? Now that the holidays are almost here, are you puzzling over what to get your favorite expat? Here are some gift ideas for the geographically challenged.

First of all, there are two kinds of expats: those who are coming back for the holidays and those who aren't. This makes a huge difference. If they aren't coming back you will have to somehow get their gift to them. If they are, you can pile them up with American goods to fill the two empty suitcases that, if they're smart, they will have brought with them.

For the first kind, you'll want to load them up with gifts: things that they need and will be buying anyway; things that will fondly remind them of a holiday in the home country. With the current exchange rate for the dollar, everything is cheaper in America, and your expat will most likely want to go on a shopping spree. You can help with this. Why not give them a gift certificate to their favorite American store? Gap, Target, Macy's, you get the idea. Household items such as sheets, towels, and of course, CLOTHES(!) will make great gift items. Duvets are more common in other parts of the world, so a nice duvet cover might be in order, especially if your international student is living in halls of residence and has been provided with a cheap polyester one.

Has your expat recently made the transition from a warm climate to a much colder one? You can help ease the transition by providing them with silk long underwear, cute scarves, and maybe a nice new coat. Wearing tights with boots is very popular in fashionable areas such as London, so make sure your expate-ess has plenty of both in stock. Handily, cute tights make great stocking stuffers! If you're feeling particularly generous, you might consider booking them a holiday someplace sunny in the middle of February when they will need it most. European carriers such as Easy Jet and Ryanair have cheap flights from all over Europe to sunny southern Spain or other Mediterranean destinations.

Books are another great item. Some American authors can be more difficult to find abroad, and often have later publication dates than in America. This is particularly true for non-English speaking countries. So stock up on the recent books of your expat's favorite author (paperbacks are another great stocking stuffer), or better yet, get them a certificate for a local bookstore so they can pick out some new books themselves. CDs are also a great present. Just remember that American DVDs might not work on DVD players from other parts of the world. If your expat usually watches movies on a laptop, though, it should be fine. Also, electrical items should be able to stand a higher range of voltage and you'll need a plug converter! A lot of times it is easier to buy electrical items in the country of residence for this reason, but things like laptops and iPods are usually much cheaper in America.

The other kind of expat is trickier. If they are stubbornly remaining in their picturesque Welsh cottage for Christmas or have chosen a Swiss Alps skiing trip over a stateside visit, you will have to figure out how to get your present to them. Assuming, of course, that you still want to give them a present in spite of them snubbing you! You have two options here. Either mail a present to them or order one online and have it shipped. You can order from any of the Amazons (amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr, etc) without even creating a new account! Or order presents from sites like Tesco.co.uk, and have it shipped to your expat's abroad address. Foyles.co.uk (a great bookstore) will even ship your order over £10 to a UK address for free! Find out where your expat likes to shop and do a quick google search to see if you can order online with an American credit card. Or, see if you can order a gift certificate for them.

Alternatively, you can assemble a present yourself and mail it. This is a more personal but probably more expensive option. Anything from the first list is also a good gift for this kind of expat, but since you'll be mailing the package, lighter is better. Try to think in terms of value for weight-the less something weighs and the more expensive it is abroad versus in the States, the better value it is to send it as a gift. Probably your expat has a guilty pleasure that is only available in the states. For me, it's Flammin' Hot Cheetos. I'd almost rather have a box of those than a box of clothes! Keep that in mind when assembling your gifts. Also, be sure to get your gift off in plenty of time to get there before the holidays! Test their willpower by sending it early and labeling the box "do not open until December 25th" or similar. Since ground shipping with the USPS is no longer an option, you might also consider using more reliable and faster services such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL-these options may not be much more expensive. Especially think about this if you are shipping to the UK, which is experiencing a boat of Royal Mail strikes.

Above all, don't forget your expats this holiday! It's easy to be out-of-sight and out-of-mind, but it's hard living in a foreign country and these little things from home do help!