I would like to thank you all for your gift suggestions. They were all great. And it made me realize that the people I’m stuck buying gifts for are spoiled, ungrateful brats.

I tried the wycinanki once, beautifully framed and simply gorgeous and they were met with a “what the heck is this garbage” type of disapproving looks. I did the dolls in hand made folk costumes, and they ended up as donations for some charity auction.
If I ever gave kapcie as gifts, I’d probably have those kapcie shoved down my throat.
Bursztyn (amber) was also greeted with suspicious looks, and the only thing that saved me was the fact it was set in silver. But after perfunctory thank-yous, it was delegated to a storage box somewhere and never seen again.

Krówki were tried, spat out and promptly re-gifted to an unsuspecting neighbor. Ptasie mleczko didn’t fare any better. I ended up eating it all by myself. And liking it. Very much. Thank you.

Books, especially of the coffee table type, as long as they had plenty of beautiful, large format photos in them, were welcomed warmly. Books with actual writing in them are not an option. The people I buy for are not exactly illiterate, but they don’t speak much English, and finding stuff about Poland in their own native language in Poland is rather impossible. And one time when I did find something, about Zamek Królewski (the royal castle) in Warsaw, the translation was laughed at but did provide hours of unadulterated, if unintended, fun and enjoyment.

Alcohol was never an option, those people don’t drink. I’d probably be strangled with a sports scarf, and a t-shirt would be cut into small squares for dusting the bookshelves.

So now you see my problems with gifts from Poland. I think I’ll try śliwki w czekoladzie (chocolate plums) next time and hope my MIL chokes on them. Porcelana (china) is also a great suggestion. I was thinking maybe kryształ (crystal), but is that a Polish gift? I think it’s more Czech than Polish, but I might be wrong.

What turned out to be a great gift and a surprising hit were Polish pickles – ogórki (cucumbers), buraczki (beets), śledzie marynowane (pickled herring) and grzyby w słoiku (a jar of marinated mushrooms). It wasn’t easy getting it through customs, and it was intended as my own stash, but it became so popular that I finally gave up and started gifting moje własne zapasy (my own stash).

So there you have it. And now that Christmas is coming up, I dread the season. It’s time to think about ordering gifts again.