Presents for Australian children

[LoonyLunaLoo]

We’re going to visit friends in Australia for Christmas and I’d like to take some things that they can’t get in Australia for their children. The parents are English but have been in Australia for a long time and the children were born in Australia. Can anyone recommend some treats we could bring them? I’ve bought them and our DS matching elf pjs from Asda so a tube of sweets that they haven’t had before to go with them would make a nice Christmas even present. I guess chocolate wouldn’t survive the journey?

Thanks for all your suggestions. It’s good to hear that chocolate will survive, we went for Christmas 7 years ago and the chocolate was rubbish! A selection box would be great. DS adores strawberry Bon bons, I wonder if they have those there? We actually do live by the sea so rock would be good!

The children have visited the UK, although the youngest won’t remember and their mum loves a good Union Jack nick back! We’re already transporting a tea pot 😂.

Clothing would be good. Last time we went Lonsdale was considered very trendy so we went to sports direct and bought a load for them 😂. There was even a fancy boutique Lonsdale shop in their local shopping mall!

They have tinned beans & sausages in Australia

They also have Cadbury's & Xmas crackers.

Hotel chocolate would actually be a good idea. They have a similar variety of nice chocolates in Australia - not sure why everyone thinks it’s terrible there, it’s really not, certainly you don’t the pits of chocolate depravity that is Thornton’s - but they don’t have hotel chocolat as far as I’m aware.

@TheClitterati I literally never saw that until moving to Britain. I really didn’t think that it was a thing anyone would ever want. Mind you I never even tried tinned beans before moving here either so could have easily missed it (not that I mind)

Another thing that was requested was a Uni of Oxford hoodie, by a pre-teen.

I ended up buying her and a couple of her friends ones from Amazon in an XS. They wore them to death in winter.

Hotel Chocolat / Lindor / Toblerone / Rafaelo
Walkers Shortbread biscuits (the aussie ones don’t taste quite right)
Percy Pigs
Children’s books / STEM And school books / toys (all much cheaper here even those designed for the Aussie curriculum - ask the parents what they need).

@LoonyLunaLoo M&S have released Christmas inspired Percy Pigs, they all have little Santa hats on.

You don't say how old the kids are but when DC were younger, I would ask MIL for lightweight rain gear (cagoule type) as it's not widely available here and expensive.

And, again if the kids are primary aged, pencil cases, wallets, pens etc all go down well. Don't bring Smiggle. It's an Australian company. And don't bring anything pork. Biosecurity are very strong on that right now because of Swine Fever. And no bee products, of course.

No to:
Lindor, Toblerone, Revels, PeppaPig, sherbet dibdab, beans with sausages, Christmas crackers, etc.
Yes to:
Mini Marmite for the joke
Bonbons (my Aussie kids love them), cola cubes, sherbet lemons.
Cute taxi/bus souvenir.
They might not have Hotel Chocolate but they probably don’t care!
I don’t know what Percy Pigs are but they seem very popular on Mumsnet so could be a winner.

Aldi in Australia sells Jaffa cakes.

My aussie friends love to take tunnocks caramel wafers and tea cakes back with them.

Sorry, I should have added: the things I said no to I said no to because they have them in Australia except for a couple of the brands of chocolate but chocolate isn’t such a big thing in Australia. they like it but it’s not the national position that is in England. Brits love those chocolates because we’ve grown up with them. Aussies love Tim Tams for the same reason but there’s really nothing amazing about Tim Tams.

Crackers, Peppa Pig merchandise, Toblerone, rafaelo, shortbread and Marmite are all plentiful here in Australia so I don't recommend any of that. All available at the supermarket.

I think most of the food brought in is for adults/children who miss UK food. I know people who bring in Yorkshire teabags , ready brek - Marmite you can get here (Sydney) .
Books - they're really expensive in Australia and tend to be out later as well (and in less variety)
Clothes - maybe branded ones ?
Games- how about UK monopoly ?

Make sure the tea pot is an original Brown Betty.

It would have to be a special teapot. They aren't exactly hard to get in Australia. I accidentally broke one last time I was there and just went out and bought another one. In Myers, I think.

Australian here - chocolate is as common there as here in the UK! You might not want as much on a hot day (then have a choc waste or a paddle pop). There is a chocolate chain called Darrell Lea, which is stocked in Lakeland.

I take Percy pigs, but next time I’d also take Parma Violets.

Ah sorry must be the Stansted rule then - I thought that was all airports.

IME of foreign foods, particularly for kids - it's not that it needs to be anything particularly amazing or better than what is available in Australia, it's just the novelty of something different especially if it's something they have never seen before.

I didn't know you could get marmite there, that might be a bit pointless in that case.

Having read the Lonsdale update I’d say go to tkmax and buy some cheap Ralph Lauren stuff.

@PhoneLock the tea pot isn’t a present, our friend ordered it any paid for it herself, we’re just transporting it. It’s not particularly special, it’s from Asda 😂 but she really wanted it 🤷‍♀️

Definitely books, so expensive here. My favourite chocolate from overseas is Irish Cadbury's but my kids love the one from England too. My sister visited recently and brought a lot of books and chocolate 😊

a selection box. We dont have them and I miss them

Maybe crackers (to pull not for cheese) as I dont think they really do that in Australia

Not true at all. Australians pull crackers just like other countries do.