Souvenirs from America?

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Natalia

It can be difficult to find genuinely interesting souvenirs because many name-brands have already traveled over and become popular. What you should find are things that are more exclusive to the states, like

>Beef jerky (tasty and appreciated)
>Small Native American souvenirs such as dreamcatchers (interesting)
>Caps or shirts themed in the state you're coming from, or with popular sports teams
>Small bottles of American whiskey
>For children, small Lego sets are a nice gift
>Calendars with nice scenes around the USA

Some things that wouldn't be so great

>American beer (it'd be okay for the novelty, but Russians already have a great selection and their own taste)
>Designer items (fashion is different in Russia)
>Cheap candy, Hershey's chocolate, etc. (People are already used to higher-quality sweets)

Good luck in your search!

f15mos

No Coca Cola! They have that there. Beer is a better idea (I am not sure they sell Budweiser in Russia)
You want to go with something authentic which is not internationalized and sold everywhere in the world.
This is what I believe could be of real interest:
Clothing: genuine hand made cowboy leather boots, fringed leather jackets, genuine cowboy hats, checkered shirts. But that could be very expensive. Native American artifacts. Photo albums with pictures of American cities.

Political pins suggested above is a good idea.

Zosya

maple syrup

candy

Ok i dont want to sound mean here, but lol do you really think they dont have coke in russia? Since these things are souvenirs, well for you friends that are adults get them some shot glasses or beer mugs(at least they will be useful). The beer suggestion heh (they even sell beer at Mcdonalds) and there are tons of brands of beer out in Russia, so im not sure that be a good idea. Designer clothes (well it be a nice gesture however, russians learned how to fake designer clothes, shoes, purses etc.) so if they wear it others wouldnt appreciate it because they wouldnt believe it. As for your students, well the magazine idea sounds good ( like the Nickelodeon magazine for example) not sure how old your students are: but if they are younger bring them back some games (i.e: life, monopoly, fun stuff) that i know they dont have there or if they do its very different. You could always bring alcohol to your older friends but this is Russia youre going too lol the land of alcohol (where people grab a beer at like 9 am lol). Some postcards with great some American cities would be nice. Im sorry i cant think of anything else at the moment. Hopefully this helped a bit.

Mendeleyev

Here is a forum where native Russians give advice to Americans about what kind of gifts to take: http://ruadventures.com/forum/index.php?topic=5366.0

I'm a bit surprised, already living there you should know that "Koka Kola" and Pepsi are all over the place, as are pizza hut and dominos pizza, Burger King, Baskin Robbins,etc. Budweiser is in the major cities, but not very popular as the European beers tastes better and are easily purchased just about anywhere. Peanut butter is in the larger supermarkets but if it's a small town then it makes an interesting gift.

I'd bring American postcards (many Russians collect them), photo books of the Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Grand Tetons, etc as Russians love anything to do with travel. Milk chocolate, of which most American chocolate is made, is considered cheap in Europe and your Russian friends will be used to the higher quality dark cocoa chocolates. T-shirts with city names and state symbols will go over very well too.

Squeaky P

Most of your suggestions would be not so good because it would be inferior to Russian equivilents.

I've brought many things to Russia as gifts. Some things did not work so well, but other things did. The following went over very well:

good quality tea sampler
high end peanut butter
marshmallow candy
mexican seasoning
chocolate covered nuts
hats with themed insignia
music cds

Caesura

When I lived with a family in Moscow they were really fascinated with my cosmetics and lotions for some reason. That might not work for kids though, but perhaps older friends? Maybe some bath and body works stuff? Might have just been that particular family...

They have really good chocolate there already, so nix that. They also have American magazines that have been translated into Russian.

I agree with the Native American stuff...try to find some small things like dream catchers.

quartzschism

McDonald's stuff? I know they have McDonald's, too, but maybe it looks different.

Sadly, DVDs wouldn't play (different Region), else you could bring some shoot-em-up movies.

Something about cars?

Do they have peanut butter? (My brother-in-law spent some time in Europe, he had a hard time finding it in certain areas.)

Political pins? "Vote Obama', etc?

Alex N

1) Non-alcohol root beer
2) Maple syrope
3) pecan nuts
4) wild aquatica rice
5) peanut better :) s0rry Butter

# 2 ,3, 4 and 5 CAN be found in Russia but f### very expensive, and #1 is CAN'T.
I've been looking for root beer in all the best stores of Moscow, it's nowhere there.

ioana.florina

books of American authors (in English), albums with images from USA etc...

aunt t

Postcards
You may want to get some pizza mixes (you know the kind in the box with the dough mix and sauce to make your own) any foodstuff I would ship to myself via UPS or Fed-ex this way you won't have to check it through the airline and it'll be waiting for you when you get to Russia.
I would check with the airlines before trying to transport coke and beer.
Get a bottle or two of Jack Daniels at the Duty Free store at the airport.

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