Undomesticated Magazine's 2020 Global Gift Guide

Star Ferry gift wrap from The Lion Rock Press.

Presents That Evoke Past Voyages and Travels to Come

This year’s winter holidays may feel like a bust. We can’t travel, we can rarely see family and friends, and we also can’t shop like we have in years past. But all is not lost when looking for something special this holiday season. The Undomesticated staff put together a list of gifts ideas that can bring us to all corners of the world, even if it’s just in spirit.

An Evocation of Atmosphere — Tiffany Hawk

Sometimes, when we’re pining after travel, what we’re really missing is the expansive feeling of being in a foreign place, whether it’s the different sounds or smells we encounter, or just the experience of sharing something new with someone you love. Here are some gift ideas from our editorial director, Tiffany Hawk, that can send you right back to a far-away place — and let you share it with your friends and loved ones.

A Global Mix Tape

When wanderlust hits me the hardest, music is what saves me, especially when I’m feeling uninhibited enough to start dancing. What I can’t get enough of lately: Mashrou’ Leila, a politically-provocative and irresistibly catchy indie rock band from Beirut; Diego’s Umbrella, a gypsy rock band from San Francisco (possibly my favorite band on earth), known for their energetic blend of Eastern European folk, flamenco, and punk sounds; Tinariwen, a Taureg guitar band from Mali that draws inspiration from all over Western and Northern Africa; and since I never tire of imagining myself in a Parisian café, I’ve practically memorized (in atrociously botched French) the Something’s Gotta Give soundtrack, which features popular artists like Pink Martini and Eartha Kitt.

Need more inspiration? Check out the playlists from KXCI public radio’s Global Rhythm, read the New Music section on NPR, listen to live radio stations from around the world on Tune In, or simply stream the Global Top 50 on Spotify.

Mitti Attar, the scent of imported Indian rain

The Scent of Travel

Can anything evoke memory more powerfully than a smell? The Harvard Gazette doesn’t think so, but I didn’t need them to convince me. Whenever I want a hit of nostalgia, I open a box of sandalwood incense I was given on my first trip to Delhi. Since it’s starting to fade, I’m super excited to order something even more directly reminiscent of an Indian summer. According to The Atlantic, perfumers in the village of Kannauj have figured out how to perfectly bottle mitti attar, the scent of monsoon rain. You can order it online from Kannauj Attar, or you can try your luck with any number of online retailers offering something similar, including Amazon and Etsy.

If India isn’t your loved one’s place, don’t fret. Perfumers the world over are working to bring you travel in a bottle. The Destination Collection by Demeter fragrances offers colognes that they claim will conjure places from Thailand to Cuba to the Great Barrier Reef. On a more micro level, The W Hotel, Fairmont Hotels, and Westin Hotels all sell their room sprays, and scores of luxury hotels sell signature scents made for individual properties, including the The Gramercy Park Hotel, the Chateau Marmont, the Hotel Costes in Paris, and the Dorchester in London and the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong.

A Family Trip Around World, From Home, No Virtual School Required

I spent five years as an international flight attendant, headed up a travel magazine for another several years, and then married a pilot. To say I wanted to take my kids everywhere is the understatement of my life. Sigh. For so many reasons, it hasn’t worked out that way. Enter Growing Up Global and Global Kids, both by Homa Sabet Tavangar. We may not be jetsetting, but we have learned Bollywood dance moves, designed flags from countries real and imagined, learned to say thank you in five new languages, and one night, my picky eaters even begged to eat sushi. They didn’t like it, but it was still a win.

Ironically, the biggest benefit to the Global Kids deck was how challenging some of the “simple” games were. We tried a game called Zero from Korea and a game called Ampe from Ghana, which are both ways to pass the time like our Rock-Paper-Scissors. They were no harder than RPS, but we all struggled to get the hang of things at first. It was a brilliant and natural way to build compassion for other kids who may be new to our country, or even just their school, and who haven’t yet internalized customs that seem easy and natural to us. The bottom line? Tavangar’s recommendations got my kids off of Minecraft, did not require a single Zoom meeting, fostered empathy, and are starting to kindle a semi-desire to travel abroad with me as soon as it’s safe. I’ll take it! So global pandemic, if you’re listening, you know where you can go.

Supporting International Talent and Style — Susan Blumberg-Kason

Even though 2020 has been … itself, we’re still grateful to be experiencing all of its challenges in the here and now, when Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube bring us everything from wonderful stories to aspirations of travel and tutorials on how to cook a meal from another culture. And thanks to the Internet, we can also have artifacts from other countries sent right to our doors. Susan Blumberg-Kason put together a list of shops she likes to frequent that remind her of voyages past.

Imported Design to Remember a Favorite Winter Trip

Florence Long Cardigan by Odd Molly, a Swedish fashion brand that aims to symbolize female strength and courage.

One of my family’s most memorable vacations was a trip to Stockholm in January a few years ago. I love Swedish design and fashion, and it doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive to buy. Stockholm Objects is a lovely, woman-owned homeware and clothing shop in Illinois and Michigan with a great online store. To get through the early days of COVID lockdown, I ordered from Stockholm Objects a coffee mug with a Swedish Dala horse design. I love drinking my daily tea in this mug. Over the years I’ve bought from S.O. lots of comfy sweaters from Swedish designer Odd Molly. My younger kids especially love Stockholm Objects’ gnomes and each got one for Hanukah last year. The shop also sells a number of different holiday gift baskets.

Dim sum gift wrap from The Lion Rock Press.

Treats from My Home Away from Home

Hong Kong is my favorite city hands down. I came of age and celebrated many adult milestones there, so I can’t help but think of it as my second home. This year I ordered my holiday cards from the Lion Rock Press, a woman-owned business that gives all holiday card proceeds to a charity supporting mothers, babies, and adoption. The Lion Rock Press sells unique gifts that mostly pertain to Hong Kong and Singapore, but are universal in cuteness and fun. For Hanukah, I ordered my kids a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle and a bingo game from their online store. I also love their greeting cards, gift tags, and wrapping paper.

Handmade Jewelry from Abroad

Rombo #1 earrings from Casa Chiqui, Colombia

My mom and I started an annual mother-daughter trip a few years ago, which of course came to a halt this year because of COVID. But when we could travel, Cartagena, Colombia was one of our best trips. I fell in love with Colombian earrings on that trip and wished I’d bought more. But thanks to friends and online shopping, I’ve been able to purchase earrings at Casa Chiqui, a woman-owned shop in Cartagena. The shop sells both pierced and clip-on earrings. One pair makes a lovely gift for that friend or relative who has it all. Fun earrings also show up well on Zoom meetings!

Everyday Objects to Bring Us Joy — Yi Shun Lai

Variety stores are Yi Shun’s kryptonite. Think of that strange front section at Target, where all manner of things is on sale for $1 or $5 a pop. They’re usually the mundane items, aren’t they? Drinking straws, die-cut notepads; stickers. And yet, stores that sell everyday items are the ones Yi Shun gravitates to the most when she visits a new country. They’re perfect, she says, for little presents. Here are some quotidien items she’s purchased abroad for friends that have brought great joy — and that, when they’re done, are still readily available here in the U.S.

A Little Taste of Somewhere Else

My very favorite candy is Morinaga caramel, a Japanese confection with American roots. (In 1910, Taichiro Morinaga visited the United States and was so smitten with the candy here that he came back with a dream of bringing these caramels to Japan). When I was a kid in Taiwan, they came wrapped in neat wax-paper squares, and in their own pocket-sized box, and I’ll never forget the sensation of peeling back the wax paper and popping a cube of sweetness into my mouth; storing the box in my pocket, or, as I got older, my handbag, for a treat later.

Another favorite, I-Mei milk candy, is basically just a cube of reduced sweetened condensed milk, and it is also a joy. You can find both of these at Asian grocery stores online, but once I’ve gone down that rabbit hole, I find myself remembering sweets and snacks from other countries — Big Foot cheese snacks from Dominica, say, or salted licorice from Norway, or Jelly Babies and Twiglets from England — and I exit the internet with stocking stuffers for everyone.

Stuff to Scribble on

Stationery is a thing I pick up no matter where I go. When you’ve returned from a trip, jotting down a mundane note on a sheet of paper you’ve purchased from a normal stationery shop in a distant land can feel downright exotic. Everything from the paper size to the design of the notebook cover and the way it’s lined is an immediate reminder of how everyday life is conducted in another country. (Asian stationery is lined vertically; some French school notebooks have an alarming number of lines, so you can better learn to form your letters.) Side note: Japanese washi tape, the paper tape that was originally created for industrial use but which has since by co-opted by crafters, comes in a vast range of beautiful patterns and makes a terrific present. You can get it everywhere now, from big-box stores like Tuesday Morning and Michael’s, or at websites like MochiThings.com.

You Can’t Go Wrong with Gift Soap. Really.

I have a personal obsession with bar soap, probably a hangover from having to read Francis Ponge’s Le Savon while I studied abroad in Paris many, many moons ago. Since then, I’ve found that soap infused with the signature scents of your favorite places makes for both an evocative souvenir and a meaningful present.

Part of this has to do with the fact that our olfactory sense is the strongest of our five; the other part of it is the knowledge that things like household soap are often scented with something an area is known for or the most popular scent as determined by a local population. For instance, when we visited Japan a few years back on an extended-family trip, we visited regions known for their olives and their oranges. I bought scented soap in both places. And when I deployed to Haiti for ShelterBox after the terrible earthquake there, I brought home bricks of ordinary laundry soap, sold by street vendors. Is it an odd gift? Maybe. But I can tell you that I kept back a sliver of it for myself after I’d either used or given away most of it, just to bury my nose in every once in a while and recall the people I met there.