Gifts

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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Give Your Au Pair The Gift of Travel ~ Ideas from HRHM

by cv harquail December 13, 2012
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Most Au Pairs want the chance to travel during their year with us. “Travel” can mean a lot of things– vacations, long weekends, day trips, and even a quick stop over at something interesting on the way to a regular errand. Host mom and regular contributor HRHM shares these ideas for simple, fun, lower-cost travel […]

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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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Au Pair Asks: What welcome gifts do Host Parents enjoy?

by cv harquail August 3, 2012

Dear AuPair Mom, I’m European and will soon be flying to the US to meet my Host Family. I’m truly excited. Here’s my question: Nearly all Au Pairs bring gifts from their home city for the new families. For the host kids it’s easy to find something fun, but I’m not sure about what to get my […]

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Do you celebrate your Au Pair on Mother’s Day? (poll)

by cv harquail May 11, 2012
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Searching through the racks of Mother’s Day cards looking for something just right for my step-mom and mother-in-law, I noticed just how many Mother’s Day cards there are these days for people who aren’t mothers: “You’re like a Mother to Me” “To a special person on Mother’s Day” “Celebrating you for all you do” It […]

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Top Holiday Gifts for Au Pairs

by cv harquail December 15, 2011
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By way of LCC Sandra Cody Gwinn comes a terrific list of the “Top 10 Holiday Gifts for Au Pairs”, by Cultural Care’s Stephanie Reuter. Stephanie’s list is a great summary of lots of the advice you host moms have shared here and elsewhere, with her own personal twist of specific suggestions and links! If […]

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Holiday Gift Idea: The Gratitude Jar

by cv harquail December 14, 2011
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Another favorite, handmade memory gift is a Gratitude Jar. A Gratitude Jar is just a decorated jar, with slips of paper and a pen attached. Parents, au pairs and kids can use the jar to remind them to write down funny or sweet things that happen, and then put the slip in the jar, to […]

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Holiday Gift: For her or you?

by cv harquail December 13, 2011
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I ran into one of my friends while shopping at Williams-Sonoma this afternoon. I was supposed to be getting a Christmas gift for my BIL, but instead my arms were loaded with stuff to upgrade my own kitchen. What can I say? I really needed some pinecone place card holders… But I digress. My friend […]

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Holiday Gift Ideas: What could an Au Pair give to an ‘Host’ Uncle? Housekeeper?

by cv harquail December 4, 2011
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I’m so impressed that there are still 19, 22, or 29 shopping days left (depending on the holiday you celebrate), but many of you are already getting organized! Right about when I posted the call for general gift ideas, we received this email from Au Pair MMC. Her gift-giving situation adds four challenges– She needs […]

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Christmas Gift Ideas: From Au Pair to Host Family

by cv harquail December 1, 2011
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It’s time for little elves to get busy, making things to capture memories. Writes an LCC — I’m a counselor for a small group of au pairs and at our last meeting the question about Christmas gifts for host parents came up. They all want to give something meaningful, they understand that in most cases […]

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