When it comes to pasalubong, it truly is the thought that counts, not the cost of the gift. Trust everyone when we say do
not bring a gift valued at 10Kpesos. In some families that could almost be considered an insult, since they could never afford anything even remotely close to that. It also sets a very precarious precedent for you as every subsequent visit they will all be waiting for their expensive gifts.
One more story to put the value of that gift in perspective. When I first met Gloria, my wife, she was working at a very large plastics manufacturing corporation as the executive assistant to the President of the corporation. She was very highly paid for her work. She made so much money, she gave half of her pay to help support her parents and nieces/nephews. She earned 10kpesos per month, the same amount as the gift you planned to give the parents of your gf. Waaay too much for a first time visit and even for later on after you\'re married, in most cases.
T-shirts printed with US sports teams, city names, state names, etc are a huge hit with everyone. We bought 50 t-shirts at 3/$5 in a local flea market and gave one to every niece, nephew, sis, bro, aunt, uncle, mom and dad. They were more proud of those t-shirts than anything! Next trip I brought along 24
cheap ball caps (old samples that had been laying around my office collecting dust) They almost fought over those $1 caps!
Don\'t over do it with your first trip. If you marry the girl, you\'ll have plenty of opportunities to \"show off\" later.
Topic: Mindanao - Safety Question (Read 24693 times)