Gifts

Inexpensive Ways for Au Pairs to Ship Boxes Back Home

by cv harquail October 11, 2017
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I knew we’d had a few posts about sending Au Pairs’ stuff back home when they leave — but I didn’t realize it had been seven years ago! Let’s update our info on best rates and options:  What does your family do? Our au pair is leaving in April after spending two years with our […]

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How Best To Celebrate Our Au Pair’s Extension? (Poll)

by cv harquail January 14, 2016
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Dear AuPairMom — We’d love the community’s advice about how to recognize and celebrate our Au Pair’s agreement to extend with us.   I’d like to know what is expected, common, meaningful, etc. Our family with save about $1500 (not to mention loads of time and hassle) because she’s extending for another year. I’d like […]

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Why You Shouldn’t Round Up Your Au Pair’s Weekly Stipend

by cv harquail January 12, 2015
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What is “One Hundred Ninety-Five Dollars and Seventy Five Cents“? A:  The amount of an Au Pair’s weekly stipend, or B: An awkward, not-round number? Both. Which is why many families ’round up’ from $195.75 and pay their au pairs an even $200 per week. Rounding Up seems to make sense. If you pay your […]

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Holiday Gift Exchange: Host Parent to Host Parent

by cv harquail December 22, 2014
au pair gifts, au pair advice, choosing an au pair

My mom had a wonderful tradition for our neighborhood Christmas party. She asked every grown up to bring a small gift for a grab bag.  The gift had to be wrapped in aluminum foil so that (1) you couldn’t quite tell what it was, and (2)everything looked shiny. When folks arrived at the party they put […]

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Get Your Au Pair an American Flag, says TexasHM

by cv harquail June 13, 2014
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Happy Flag Day! Flag Day is a special day for our neighborhood — it’s my next-door neighbor and friend Michael’s birthday. Every year his wife decorates their front porch with flags and has the neighborhood over for cake to mark the dual celebration.   But even without the cake, it’s still another fun reminder for […]

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Celebrating Your Au Pair By Creating Experiences

by cv harquail February 15, 2014
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Often when we want to celebrate a milestone with our au pair, our thoughts turn to gifts of things.   We don’t feel embarrassed turning to gift cards and cash, because we know that our au pairs are often saving money for travel or for some special item at Urban Outfitters.  We tend to recommend […]

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Departure Gift Ideas– For Not-So-Great Au Pair

by cv harquail October 15, 2013
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“We only have to endure our au pair for 6 more weeks!”, writes a Host mom.” Yes, endure. Very long story, but we have had a mediocre au pair for the past 10 + months. She only wants to party, lies consistently, does not respect curfew, treats our children like potato sacks, and I have […]

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Pinning Your Hopes on a Happy Holiday: Gift Ideas from APIA’s Christine Connally

by cv harquail December 22, 2012
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There are several concessions that I have to make regarding online tools so that I can actually get my behind and my attention out from in front of my computer. With work that requires reading, writing, editing and analyzing data, and hobbies that invite reading, writing, surfing and rabbit holes, there are things to which […]

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Au Pair Gifts To Kids: Katrin’s Book-a-Day Advent Calendar

by cv harquail December 6, 2012
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Host Mom Sandra tells us about a creative, low cost holiday gift idea that combines a clever physical gift with an enduring gift of spirit: I just wanted to send a quick note about my au pair, Katrin Schwingenschlogl from Austria. For the Christmas holiday, she developed her own Advent calendar for my children. She […]

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AuPair Gifts That Give Back ~ Ideas from Susan Robinson

by cv harquail December 2, 2012
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How about some some gift ideas for au pairs that, with their purchase, provide a donation to women’s and children’s causes around the world? It’s two gifts in one!  The curator of this list is Susan Robinson, known to many of you as AuPair Answer Mom over at Cultural Care. Susan Robinson has been host […]

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