Many people do not realize that when they send a gift from the USA to Europe or anywhere around the world, they may also be sending a bill to their gift recipient.  Your packages may be subject to the customs fees and import duties of the country to which you have your gift shipped. These charges are always the recipient's responsibility.  That means that before your gift can be delivered, the recipient will have to pay to get it released from customs.  This can be embarassing for you, a lot of extra work and money for your gift recipient, and can destroy the intent of sending a gift in the first place.  Who wants to say, "Happy Birthday! Go to the post office and pay 50 Euros and you can pick up your gift from me that you may not even like". 

How can you make sure that this doesn't happen?  The best way to make sure that your recipient will not owe any fees or import duties is order a gift online and make sure it is being sent from within the European Union.  That way any taxes will already be part of the price of the gift.  There are other big benefits as well.  This way you can be sure that your gift will not get stuck in customs for any reason - it won't be going through customs since it is already in the EU.  Also, shipping is generally much cheaper within Europe and locally.  You might put together a $20 gift in the USA and end up spending $30 to ship it.  It's much better to get a $40 gift and spend $10 to ship it. 

Be on the lookout for a company that tells you it is easy to ship anything anywhere.  It isn't.  There are many rules and regulations.  I heard a story about a US company that sent thousands of dollars worth of muffins to Paris with FedEx.  Who knows why.  They were sent overnight but sat in customs for over 2 weeks.  What a nightmare!  

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have - or any good horror stories.   

Does it seem we’re focusing on France this week? Perhaps Bastille Day on Wednesday has put us in a French frame of mind. Look for postings on Belgium next week when Belgians celebrate their national holiday next Wednesday.

So in celebration of all things French, we are breaking out some of our fantastic champagne gift baskets for France. My personal favorite is the Champagne Glamour. 

I also have a personal reason to celebrate, having completed my first half marathon in under 2 hours on the 4th of July. I wasn’t interested in a full marathon until seeing this great run taking place in September, the Médoc Marathon. What a great way to run, past beautiful wineries and tasting great French wines along the way! After I would definitely need to indulge in one of our wine gifts for France! Or perhaps our great staff would send a champagne bottle to me!

-- Sasha

Summer always seems to be the time for birthdays.  These are celebrations that you don't want to miss.  Once a year each person gets their own special holiday all for themselves.  It is such a great opportunity to let them know how much you care about them!  We just created a great gift called the Birthday Celebration.  It's a wonderful birthday gift for France  or to send to any other country in Europe.  The Birthday Celebration arrives in a sleek hatbox, a perfect gift for a man or woman, and is filled with delicious Belgian chocolates.  Another personal favorite of mine is to celebrate with champagne.  Recently InStyle magazine rated Champagne and Chocolate as the most desired food gift.  I totally agree with them!  Be sure to take a look at all of our great ideas for birthday gifts with delivery to France and birthday gifts with delivery to Europe.

Mother's Day, like mothers, can get a little bit complicated. 

For instance, when is Mother's Day?  For most countries in Europe, Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May.  Austria, Switzerland and Germany will be celebrating on May 9th this year.  Then there are the big exceptions.  For the UK "Mothering Day" was back in March and France will not celebrate Mother's Day until May 30th.  The most important thing to remember is don't forget mom on Mother's Day.  Of course she will love you no matter what, but she was always there for you and this is your chance to show your appreciation.

Next big question is, what should I get Mom?  You can never go wrong with flowers.  Gifts For Europe has some wonderful bouqets we created especially for Mother's Day.  We also have some special gifts of flowers and chocolates that are sure to please.  As an alternative you may want to consider a breakfast gift basket as a "breakfast in bed" for mama.  She deserves a day off!  We even offer champagne gifts for that special mom who deserves a big celebration. 

Our mission here are Gifts For Europe is to make things easy.  If you have any questions about what to get mom, or what day mother's day is celebrated anywhere around the world, call or email us and we'll be here to help you out. 

I had a great conversation with my son in the car.  He said, "Mom, is Dad going to get you something for Valentine's Day?" I said, "I hope so.  What do you think he should get me?".  My son said, "I should go to the toy store with Daddy and we can get you a Valentine robot!"

Well, to tell you the truth, like most women I prefer to receive beautiful bouquet of Valentine flowers and a big box of Belgian chocolates on Valentine's Day.  Even better, I love to have them delivered to my office so everyone can see them.  Terrible,  I know!  It's just so exciting to get flowers during the work day. 

We have some amazing gifts of Valentine flowers and chocolates ready to ship all over Europe.  We feature the entire Valentine collections of Godiva and Neuhaus chocolates.  We have also put together some wonderful Valentine gifts of our own for every price range.

Valentine's Day is on Sunday this year, so remember to order early for delivery during the week.  You don't want to be late.  From romantic Amsterdam to lovely Zurich, we ship to every country in Europe. 

It has been a while since we've posted.  It has been crazy getting ready for Christmas and the holiday season.  We put together so many new Christmas gift baskets for Europe that we barely had time to post them all on our web site!  Most people don't know this, but we also run the online store for Neuhaus chocolates - www.neuhaus-online-store.com.  Right now they are running a limited time promotion with FREE shipping to the United States for all Neuhaus chocolate orders over $150!  This is a big deal.  This is the first time Neuhaus has ever offered free shipping.  This is for some of the very finest Belgian chocolates available shipped straight from Belgium to the US.  My personal favorite way to take advantage of this offer is with the Neuhaus Christmas Gift Set Large.  This is enough chocolate to last for the entire Christmas Season and it is at the very top of my wish list.  Hint!  Hint!

As Lisa posted earlier, I recently traveled to our Belgian headquarters for meetings and training. I always look forward to these trips, and a highlight of every visit is of course walking through the warehouse, seeing our new gift items in person, and selecting a few to take home for myself and to give as gifts. I've been fortunate to welcome new babies to my extended family this year, so top on my list was a visit to our "baby aisle".

I love our new baby gifts. Our product managers are mothers of young children, and they search for items they would want to receive themselves. We have a great line of plush toys, Happy Horse, based in the Netherlands. Happy Horse has horses of course, but also some great giraffes and an adorable ant eater. The ant eater and this orange giraffe found their way home in my bags, destined for nieces, nephews and cousins.

I have also stocked up in the past on our great home-grown Belgian line of Rube and Rutje clothing and towels. Everything is soft and durable. The little hats and socks are precious and have been appreciated by all friends so far!

Take a look through our baby collection for a wonderful assortment of toys and necessities for babies, and of course, delicious treats for the parents, and beautiful flowers to celebrate the occasion.

This has been a great week at my house.  Sasha stopped by in North Carolina on her way back from the warehouse in Belgium with all of my favorite Neuhaus chocolates from Belgium.  I always ask for the classic Fresh Cream Ballotin.  These are almost impossible to get in the US and they are amazing!  They have come close to breaking up my marriage a few times - my husband and I argue over who ate two pieces and who had three.  My other favorites are the Tentation.Tentation (Toffee filled with coffee ganache) chocolates and Caprice (Toffee with vanilla fresh cream) chocolates.  Luckily I prefer the Tentation and my husband prefers the Caprice, so there is less strife when we enjoy these.  As an extra treat Sasha brought a number of Neuhaus chocolate heart pralines.  I hadn't tried these before and wasn't sure about the dark chocolate ones, but they turned out to be the best in my opinion.  I'm forever ruined for US chocolates.  Nothing can compare to fresh Neuhaus in my opinion.   

Have you ever wondered how  to send flowers to London? Or to any other place in the UK? Well, many people order gifts via the internet, and let a European company deliver the gift on time. Gifts For Europe is one of those companies that help you send gifts to almost everywhere in the world. It's even possible to send gift baskets to London, chocolate to Paris, wine crates to Germany, ...

It's a perfect way to thank friends, family or co-workers who live far away.

You want the best for him, but he can be hard to buy for. So we'll do the work finding the perfect gifts, you just look at our Father's Day collection and pick your favorite. Useful Note: Father's Day is celebrated on different days around the globe. We find this link useful for knowing when it is observed in various countries: http://www.fathersdaycelebration.com/when-is-fathers-day.html

Take a look at the Gifts for Europe Father's Day Collection.

One of our gifts is the Rothschild wine and godiva chocolates.