Okay – we all know this – we have STRESSED about what to bring as gifts for the various people along our adoption journey – while the judge was included during our first adoption, he was not during our second adoption because of it being misinterpreted as a bribe of some kind – but typically your gift list will include:

Almaty or Astana coordinator – expect to spend between $20-$30 on a gift
Almaty or Astana driver – our agency said tips were fine
Adoption city coordinator(s) – between $20-$40 (we wanted more in Taraz for ours – she was fabulous)
Adoption city driver - tip
Baby house or children home director – around $30
Medical director (possible) – around $20
Baby house caregivers – typically 6 to 8 – small items (see gift list below)

Some families find it hard to believe we even have to “gift” – they don’t understand – but yet – we tip waiters, hairdressers, babysitters – you get the picture. In a lot of countries, tipping does not occur – but gifting does. I guess as adoptive parents – we want that “perfect” match and that is a little hard to do – since we don’t know the person – we are buying a “generic” gift and we are lost. We can handle tipping because it is just a percentage of the total of a bill – but with gifting all the questions come to mind – how much, what, do we wrap it, etc.

I’ll try to give some advice and guidance from my three international adoptions on the whole gifting process:

You do not wrap the gifts – I took gift bags and tissue with me to wrap overseas. Customs may want to look and now post 9/11 they also open a lot of suitcases to determine what is inside.

I highly recommend if you can connect with someone who just returned from your agency – they will know that coordinator, driver and baby house director and may be able to give you shopping suggestions! And to be honest – with the journey being 2 or 3 trips now – you can get to know the people first hand and shop on your return home prior to travel back!

In Albania, we didn’t have access to many items at the time – we brought a LOT of gifts. Kazakhstan has a LOT of gift buying options when you arrive – so if you by chance didn’t have the opportunity to shop prior to travel – you can shop for the director and baby house staff while there.

Now some gift suggestions:

Any car theft deterrent
Car cleaning items (Armorall, squeegies, etc.)
Sewing kits
Bungie cords (the little ones you can use in the car)
Polaroid camera (with extra film)
Music boxes
Kitchenware plastic storage containers (Rubbermaid, Tupperware)
Good quality, turn-key type manual can openers
Teapots (particularly novelty ones)
Small acrylic cutting boards
A good bread knife
Place mats and napkins
Pot holders and matching kitchen towels
Good quality small kitchen devices (vegetable peelers, pot scrubbers, spatulas, cooking utensils, etc.)
Big fluffy bath towels
Insulated lunch containers
Flashlights with extra batteries
Office supplies such as Glue sticks, White-out, Staple removers, Post-it notes
Gourmet coffees (particularly instant flavored coffees)
Teas
Good candy (boxed)
Peanut butter
Beef jerky
Solar calculators
Watches
Nice perfumes
Good quality skin care items
Large bottles of Advil (not available there), aspirin or Tylenol
Garden apron and matching gloves
Photo albums
Frames
Slippers
Writing paper and envelopes, or nice stationery
Large bottles of good quality lotion and/or hand sanitizer