Buying presents for family living abroad

I send to America and Australia. I go on Amazon us or au, choose a gift and give the us or au address for delivery. Saves a fortune in postage and hassle. M&S online used to offer a service where you chose and paid and they delivered it to Australia- not sure if they still do.

I use amazon canada to send gifts just the same as amazon here and like ours its free delivery if you spend over £20.It also means you don't have to worry about time taken in post.

There are often expat services which import items and can then ship them inland. For example here in Germany there are a couple of shops. I use one based in Cologne, especially at Christmas. I can get biscuits, sweets, crisps, Branston pickle, Dettol, Marmite, Christmas puddings, brandy butter, Christmas crackers etc, all with inland delivery prices. These things are otherwise virtually unknown in Germany and not available in supermarkets.

I have heard that there is this sort of thing in the US so no doubt there is one in Australia, too. Not sure if they do wrapped presents., though.

Family in Canada so now send vouchers via email. Amazon , not on the high street. M&S also so international delivery.
If all fails credit to daughter’s account and she buys locally.

Sue Domin, Parcels2go will actually pick up from your house. I live in France and regularly use P2G for presents. They have an excellent service. Just last week daughter who lives in Scotland sent a parcel, picked up Monday at 10a.m. and arrived at my house on Wednesday 3.p.m. Also a package from Surrey picked up Tuesday afternoon, arrived at my house on Friday morning. Also I had 2 parcels picked up from my home on Tuesday afternoon and delivered to the above addresses by Friday.

If you want to send books The Book Depository has free delivery all over the world. Huge range of books.
John Lewis deliver abroad for £20. In the first lockdown I ordered from JL for a couple of birthdays and they arrived in Adelaide very quickly. It seemed amazing that I could send birthday presents in the middle of a pandemic. The only drawback is that I don’t see the actual items and can’t wrap them so it can feel a bit impersonal.

We transfer money into the family account so that presents can be bought or contributed to by us.

Any post and parcels going to Australia at the moment takes ages to get there (possibly due to isolating it for 2 or 3 weeks on arrival). I sent 2 birthday card over the last few months and they both took over 8 weeks to get to Darwin!

Calendargirl

I’ve always transferred money into DD’s bank account in Oz in good time, when the GC were small, she then bought them gifts which were from Granny and Grandad in England. Now they are older, they either have the cash or she buys them something she knows they would like. She and SIL get themselves something also.

I have no idea what they want, what size to buy, and postage is so expensive.

My family live in the USofA, and this is what I do too.

My granddaughters live in Australia, normally we would go out to visit round about now and I would buy their presents for their parents to hide. This year I'll go on one of the local department store websites (probably K Mart), order some gifts and have them sent to their house,
If anyone is thinking of sending things by post from the UK please remember that the post is taking at least a month to reach Australia (only a few flights going at the moment)

For several years I used to send teen niece in the US cash inside a paperback or purse or other small present, or wrapped around something small.

Maybe I was lucky, but it never went astray or got nicked.

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Just ordered 2 small gifts from Kew Gardens shop for relative in Europe. £12 postage.

I usually order something from an Australian based company which gift wraps and delivers. My relatives are all adults so I'm not sure if there are companies which specialise in gifts for children

I order from any USA based online companies for my son, and pay with a Post Office dollar card. No problems and saves postage from UK.

I'm just packing up my parcel for DS and family in NZ now. I've chosen light items (T shirt, vintage dress, soft toy and clothes for baby and a few other bits), so the parcel weight is 2.5kg. It's still going to cost £40 to post! With them being so far away though, I do like to choose things for them to open so they know we are thinking of them.
Previously I have Googled local (to them) wine merchants and ordered a nice bottle of wine via email.

Aprons?? ...... no problems!!!

Generally order on line for my family in Australia.
The online shopping isn’t as extensive as here but if I have had aprons sourcing what I want then I contact the supplier and they have always been very helpful.
Anything you can get here you seem to be able to get there.

We stopped sending gifts a few years ago when I was charged over £20 to retrieve a parcel containing a small gift that didn’t cost much more than that.

We send a huge box of longed for biscuits, chocolate etc to USA include cards etc always send by courier who collect from our home. This time it weighed just on 9 kilos cost £65 collected Monday morning am delivered Tuesday pm brilliant also transfer money to GC accounts they like to receive a parcel from home and get excited to see what Nana has included in the way of sweets!

If you order from an Australian company the charges will surely be much less. E. G. Amazon.au

Ebay is the most popular in Australia apparently, but there may also be more local firms. You could Google "Sweet shops in Brisbane" or "Toyshops in Sydney" or whichever is relevant.

We stopped sending gifts both ways the year of 9/11. Bought gifts for the children with the money and said they were from A&U as arranged.

I'm sending gifts the other way - from Australia to UK, not for family but for a close friend so the cash option is not there. The other thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the charge the recipient has to pay if the gift is over a certain amount. I've been told the value has to include postage so in my case it would usually be at least $18 (approx 9GBP).

Before I was aware that there was a charge sent my friend a valuable gift for her 80th birthday. It cost her a considerable amount to collect the gift.

Last Christmas I found something in UK and had it sent directly to her. Not quite the same as shopping personally but needs must.

Yes expensive. £25 for 2kg to USA. I used to send lightweight token bits by post and have Amazon deliver toys directly without gift wrapping.
Now I send small stuff by post which usually takes two parcels, and money. Two adults and one dgs. Expensive way to send a few lightweight gifts plus chocolate and local confectionery that they don’t get over there but it’s a little piece of home. I just accept that this is how it is.
Also I send random comic books and confectionery to dgs as unexpected treats from granny and granda as I feel it’s worthwhile to keep a personal touch.

Funnily enough I've just been trying to order some chocolate to send within Australia for an Anniversary present but have come unstuck because of using an UK card.
I've done David Jones gift cards for people in Sydney before; seems to be their equivalent to John Lewis. www.davidjones.com/

I've just ordered the Countryfile calendar to send to NZ. They post it direct so I don't need to wrap it or take it to the PO. £3 goes to Children in need.