Do you bring people stuff back when you go on holiday?

[heartbroken22]

My parents always did for family and so do I ( talking about brothers and sisters nieces and nephews). We've just done this and it has been exhausting. I don't want to do it anymore.

Only on MN is picking up some stuff on holiday exhausting.

If we are away as a couple, we would bring DS something. If my mum was cat sitting, we would bring her a token gift. No one else.
DS was away with school, and he brought us artisan local chocolate (he's 16)

I do - mom, dad, nan and grandad. Usually just a magnet or something small. Used to be fags too but everyone has quit now.

My dp was bemused the first time we went away and I went gift shopping.

I like it, we've always done it in my family.

Why are you buying clothes for adult siblings?

Are you getting souvenir types clothes or going to proper clothes shops?

Sweets for the end table at work. Something foodie for my DS if I go without him.

In the 70s and 80s I think we had more generous luggage allowances on package holidays than we do these days.

When I drive to Italy I fill my car up with oil, coffee, vinegar, biscotti etc... But that's all for me. 🤣

Used to, for parents, and now usually something small (local cakes/sweets/biscuits or alcohol!) for adult dc. Not work, any more, or friends. But I do still exchange postcards(!) with one friend I’ve known for over 40 years, just because we always have!

This is absolute madness - why?

Bring back a few bars of funny foreign chocolate for the kids if you must, but buying clothes for the other adults in your family…! No.

I've dialed it back massively, but will bring back things on request (within reason) for my nibblings and ILs.

I wouldn't go clothes and/or toy shipping unless it was for a Christmas or birthday present.

We bring edible items, occasionally something non edible as well.

PILs do it. I wish they didn't. As someone said upthread, I don't want stuff from a holiday I haven't been on!

We usually get a lift to/from the airport so bring the lift-giver back a consumable gift like a local bottle of wine etc. And then some biscuits/sweets for the office.

I buy plenty of souvenirs for myself though 😁 (mostly consumables and art)

That's mental. I've never gone to that extreme, ever!

A fridge magnet here and there, friendship bracelets for the kids school friends, bag of foreign sweets for the office.

Clothes and toys you can get within a few miles of home. Or online. Absolutely no need to waste any of your holiday or cash on this. Ridiculous.

Usually just for our parents (kids grandparents) and it’s usually a fridge magnet and some local sweets/chocolates….quite often bought at the hotel shop or airport. I’m not spending my holiday wandering round looking for gifts. Our parents usually get us a fridge magnet and they’ll get something for the kids although we tell them not to bother.

Is it gifts for people or are they asking you to pick up duty free/dupes etc?

if the former no
if the latter I don’t really mind as long as it’s not a massive long list and I’m not going out of my way

Never.

Unless it is something particular for a particular person that they can’t get here, or it has special resonance.
General souvenirs or gifts; no.

We all travel light with hand or cabin bags now, no room for tat. And it’s a waste of money.

Who sends holiday postcards any more? Not me!

I can't imagine wanting a fridge magnet from a place I haven't been to?

Sometimes we buy the GC a t-shirt or a toy if it catches our eye & we think they would enjoy. Otherwise we do usually buy something consumable, specific to the area we are visiting. Not a lot of effort and there is no obligation on the receiver to do anything with the gift, like display it. They can just chuck it in the bin if they hate it!

I used when I had young nieces but I don't any more. Nobody needs anything, it's just tat. I don't think I've ever received a souvenir that was actually nice! I only buy for people who are doing us a favour back home (e.g. pet sitting), and then it's usually something edible so they are not obliged to keep a horrible ornament for ever more. No one has ever complained about not getting a gift.

I bring some biscuits or sweets for my volley, it’s a team thing. We are only 4 so not hard to get something small.
Same for our neighbours who deal with our plants and post.

If I am in Germany I get a friend marzipan. So much cheaper.

When we go to Menorca we bring gin back for various people. Now we have DGS I might look out for something for him but I won’t bring him tat back.

Not really! I agree though - 20 years ago it was more of a "thing".
Now we would bring something for the neighbours feeding the cats but that's about it - probably nice biscuits or something.

I always bring my friend the worst most tacky fridge magnet I can find. It's a years long competition 😂

We only do this between us and the grown up kids. It's always a fridge magnet and maybe some sweets or biscuits from the local area. Nothing very expensive.

I bring back a small gift for the neighbour who checks in on the house when we are away. Something treat like and edible or classy and local. Used to do the same for my parents - tea towel, chutney, jam, chocs - when they looked after the house. Chocs or snacks for colleagues to is also a thing in my office.

My recent trip to Tokyo was almost entirely devoid of postcard buying opportunities. I have a family member that we always exchange cards with. I wondered if postcards were not much of a thing in Japan. There were a lot of souvenir type shops in railway station, but we mostly walked past them in favour of lunch or the connecting train.

On family holidays the postcard and souvenir/treat shopping can be difficult. Regular hols for us are Lake District, Cornwall. The former is tricky for buying anything if we are staying in a village, even if in Keswick I still have a job getting DH to give me a moment to go to Ye Olde Friars. He will resist me going in on the way to a walk or before one and then it will be closed for the day when we get back 😔 In Cornwall it's similar, NT shop is visited but he and DS lurk rather than browse. A better ruse is to send them for a drink at a harbour and head off to a nearby shop.

A fridge magnet for my primary school aged grandkids. I usually send them a postcard too but recently in Egypt I couldn’t find one!
As a one off I also bought a stick of cigarettes for my mother, but only because it’s her birthday soon and it was 10% of the UK price so a gift she’d appreciate more than anything else.

Usually get my mum a tea towel or something. Sounds boring but we both like an interesting tea towel!