[zzarratusstra]

Hey folks,

I dug through some other posts on gift giving and I found some good advice but I haven't really found the whole answer I am looking for.

First I'll outline my situation and then ask a couple questions. I am going back to Thailand in February to see a girl I met and became romantically involved with on my first trip there this last October. It might seem a bit early to be buying gifts for the trip, but it the time of year for deals here in the US so I thought it might be worth getting started.

We will be going to visit her family up in central Thailand for part of my visit. Most importantly her elderly mom, 10 y.o. son, some older brothers and her childhood "best girlfriend".

My first question is just a read on gift giving in Thai culture in general. Some cultures are very 'gifty', others not so much. Where do you think Thai culture falls in this spectrum? Should I stock up on lots of small generic gifts for folks or just worry about the most important individuals?

Most specifically I am asking about ideas for mom and son. I have met both of them previously and we got along well, but it was a surprise meeting so I didn't even have a chance to pick up flowers for mom for our first meeting. I can't say I'm too excited about chocolates or souvenir stuff as gifts for these two.

I saw in another post that kitchen stuff was an appreciated gift, so I was thinking about maybe something like that for her mom, but I am kind of stumped as to what would be useful and appreciated. A good quality kitchen knife/cleaver? Are there any Thai beliefs around giving knives as gifts as there are in some cultures?

For the boy I am thinking books maybe, if I can find the right books in Thai. By the right books I mean the kind of stuff I liked reading when I was a kid, or at least ones that will get him excited about reading. I grew up on old school science fiction and fantasy stuff, Burroughs, Heinlein, Tolkien, but I might settle for Harry Potter. I'm all about sparking that reading bug in young minds, so really whatever will do the job is OK with me. Alternatively I was thinking a pro quality soccer ball as I believe he is currently more of a sports minded kid.

All suggestions are and advice are very welcome!