Sending presents abroad

My daughter lives in Marvao Portugal and i sent her a tin of cookies. They were returned to me 3 months later. By that time she had returned home to me so i took them to her! They didn’t taste very good!

My Son and his family live in Europe ( I'm in New Zealand) Postage is very expensive often more then item I am sending . But I like to send gifts I have made or chosen myself , it's like sending a bit of me .

Exactly 65KL

It just feels like a point of contact.

That's not really the problem for us though 65KL & NotSpaghetti in France and Spain the recipient also has to pay duty on gifts received from UK.

I've got round the presents to France issue by booking a 36 hour crossing to St. Malo and back next month. (Including dinner!) Friends will meet up with us and we will swap the piles of gifts to distribute amongst friends and family.
Not so easy for Thailand though!
In addition we will buy all our wine and spirits, chocolates, cheeses etc so including the postage, the crossing might even pay for itself.

Postage to the USA is mostly no problem. Most items arrive in about a week and show up on the US postal tracking system about 24 hours after posting. Even before Brexit posting to some of the more obscure EU countries can be hit and miss. I once had a parcel take 3 weeks to get to Estonia and the buyer left me a 1 star review. Italy can be a bit dodgy too. Parcels to Japan and China take about a week. Taiwan and S Korea are also very good. Australian and Canadian customs are deadly slow.

i'd prefer the bear, not so keen on flowers.
but that's just me.
v enterprising, NS, to find that supplier locally.

sodapop

That's not really the problem for us though 65KL & NotSpaghetti in France and Spain the recipient also has to pay duty on gifts received from UK.

Can't you pay these in advance?

I have done this to the Philippines.
Just saying.

Ha ha welbeck - flowers are a "typical" style over there it seems!
Also, colours of flowers are awkward as have meanings...

yes, i remember my parent saying never to bring different coloured flowers to a sick person,
or was it the opposite, i don't know.
as for the meaning of flowers, that's a minefield.
i'll stick to bears, or generically, soft toys.
(cert not, stuffed animals, one americanism i hate; sounds like taxidermy, hideous).

Hi I’m the same I’ve got 4 grandchildren in Oz from 6 to 21 & over the last 13 years have sent money , posted presents& ordered from Australian shops which is what I did last year but as my daughter is so busy she didn’t have time to wrap them and I’m not sure I bought them what they wanted . So this year I’m going back to sending money and they can choose their own gifts after Xmas . Not idea but the best I can do in the circumstances

I'm not sure it's possible to prepay the duty NotSpaghetti I'll ask around. However it does add to the cost of the gift for the donor.