Gift for AP when she arrives in country

[Anonymous]

Looking for a gift or other gesture to give our AP upon her arrival at the agency for training.

We are doing a gift basket and cards from the kids. Any other ideas?

What about ideas for when she arrives at our house?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

At the hotel, we have a package waiting with some American goodies (candies) as well as a gift card for when she does the NYC trip. We also send her a cellphone so that she can call us easily and also so she can put her new friends' numbers right into the phone.

At the airport, we meet her with a sign (made by the children) and balloons. We also have balloons at home, on our walkway, and then a few more on her room door. In her room is a welcome basket with toiletries, some candies, and a few gift cards, as well as fresh flowers.

The important thing is to make her feel welcome and to help her see how excited you are that she is there. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

That's very generous and thoughtful

[Anonymous]

We also send a small package to orientation, including a handmade card/drawing from kids, some snacks and goodies (have thrown in healthy snacks including clementines/apple, granola bar, plus some sweets).

At home a welcome balloon (just one! I'm impressed by PP with so many balloons!). Also a gift basket at home with an itunes card, SmarTrip card, metro map, key chain.

The special balloons are really popular with our APs. One thing our old AP did was pre-order a frequent movie card & this was in the gift basket too. Our APs see lots of movies and it was great for her to start earning points immediately. I will do this in the future.

[Anonymous]

23:02 here. I actually love balloons myself. My best birthday ever was when I was maybe 18 or 19 and my sister went everywhere I might go in the town where we lived and left a balloon, so throughout the day, I knew there were 24 balloons in town and went to go find them all - so much fun.

But back to AP welcoming, balloons are inexpensive but there's really nothing more festive. We do red, white, and blue, and the children make a big welcome sign that usually has an American flag and German flag on it (our APs are German), and it's a really fun way to welcome them.

I love the idea about the movie card...I'm going to do that with next AP (who may well be male...so I may not do the same kind of toiletries for him!!).