10 Perfect Gifts for Your Couchsurfing Host That They’ll ACTUALLY Like!
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When using Couchsurfing (or any other hospitality exchange) as a guest where the stay itself is without monetary compensation, you should consider offering a little thank you for your host, to show them that you appreciate them. Even if you’re just crashing with your family or friends. I mean, you ARE getting a free stay after all. But there is a bit of art that goes into selecting perfect gifts for your Couchsurfing Host.
You don’t want to be known as…a guest who gives BAD gifts to your couchsurfing host, right??
Kidding, no one is gonna spread rumors about you haha. They might do an anonymous reddit thread complaining about it haha.
But you don’t have to worry about any of that now. I’m here.
I must admit that I am prettyyyy great at giving gifts to my hosts, and I’m going to share that magic with you today. I’ll include gifts for every price range, including absolutely free! It’s all about showing gratitude, and when it boils down to it, it’s the thought that counts.
But taste doesn’t hurt either.
Here are some of the best gifts for your Couchsurfing host.
Gifts From Your Home Country
Uh – like, duh.
The most obvious gift idea is probably to prepare something that is typical in your own country. If there’s anything particularlyyy iconic about where you are from, consider offering that as a gift! But that said, I wouldn’t recommend bringing anything too cumbersome.
For example, if you are from Germany, your first thought might be to bring a German beer mug as a gift. While it’s an awesome gift (and super cool!), if you are a light traveler or plan on city/country hopping, it may be a bit heavy to carry around. So…maybe a small wooden trinket would be much easier!
Snacks/Food
Personally, snacks and food is my favorite category of gifts for your Couchsurfing host.
It’s also the easiest – and one of the cheapest.
AND WHO DOESN’T LIKE FOOD???
Win-win-win.
Small snacks and candies are generally the best option. I mean, you could TRY to pack poutine or crab legs, buuut I have a feeling it won’t last long. No perishables please!
To get more specific ideas for gifts for your Couchsurfing host, take a peak at their profile and find out what they are interested in. If they love sweets, go with the candy route. If they are an active person, get a nut mix from a local artisan. When in doubt though, grab a local bag of Lay’s chips that they might not have in their country!
Books (in a language they can understand)
Books are a fun gift, and don’t take up TOO much room. So they make for amazing and thoughtful gifts for your Couchsurfing host. However, books CAN get heavy if you’re not careful haha. This would also be a helpful time to look at your Couchsurfing hosts’ profile. They might mention that they like a certain genre or author.
Another fun idea would be to get them a cookbook from your home country! I personally love cookbooks, but I hate buying them for myself, so I would love to get one! I surely can’t be the only one, and you can point out some of your favorite recipes to your host!
Or, if they are into a certain hobby or activity, try finding a unique book related to that! Here are some of my favorite hobby books (not necessarily how-tos):
- Gardening: Encyclopedia of Landscape Design | Urban Jungle
- Weaving: Zapotec Weavers | The Handweaver’s Pattern Directory
- Painting: Painting in Stone
- Hiking: Epic Hikes of the World
- Tea: Growing Your Own Tea Garden| Discovering Tea Regions
- Festivals: Around the World in 500 Festivals | Music Festival Challenge
A Homemade Craft
If you are particularly talented at making something, do that! But like, something nice that took effort. Sorry, but no one wants macaroni art from an adult.
Unless you’re some world-famous macaroni artist or something in which case do you boo boo.
Whether you are a naturally gifted painter (maybe a painting of an iconic vista from your home country), or you fancy knitting (a cute beanie perhaps?), if you can whip something up from supplies you already have – all the better.
That said, you don’t have to open up a whole Etsy shop or give up a piece of beaded jewelry that took you days to finish, but something small would be great gifs for your Couchsurfing host. And totally unique!
Itinerary to Your Home City/Country
If you’ve spoken to your host and learned that they have plans to visit your city or country, some fun gifts for your Couchsurfing host would be a personalized itinerary for them! After all, who knows the location better than a local?
Likewise, if they are interested in your country, consider putting together a playlist of your favorite artists from your country, or recommendations of books from/about your home country!
I personally like to give reading lists! If you need an idea, check out my reading lists featuring authors from some of my favorite countries.
Cook for Them
A gift doesn’t have to be a physical thing that takes up space in your suitcase. If you have the time (and skill) it might be a nice idea to prepare some dinner from home. It’s a fun and intimate way to connect across cultures. And there’s food, so that’s always a plus! The host can invite over their friends and have a nice little dinner party.
You can even do a potluck style and you can each prepare something!
One really nice thing to do, if you know your Couchsurfing host’s schedule, is to wake up and cook a nice breakfast for them. It may require a little digging (if they eat meat/pork, how they like their coffee, if they like heavier/lighter food in the morning, etc.), but it will be a super thoughtful and sweet gesture.
If they have to work, consider packing them a lunch to go!
Take Them Out to Eat/Drink
While we are at the topic of food, if you are a lousy cook, or you feel there is just nothing interesting your countries’ cuisine has to offer, you can take the easier route and just invite your host to eat out. They might have a good idea where to go to have an authentic food experience, and you can offer to pay for the meal. Everyone is happy and you got to experience some real authentic food together with someone who know how to eat more exotic dishes in the right way.
Did you know that there are actually a lot of different rules to eating sushi? No? Well, a Japanese host could explain all about how to dip your sushi into the soy sauce correctly.
In case a dinner breaks your budget you could go for some drinks. You don’t have to pay all of the drinks, but if you bought even one round of drinks it could be an easy way to show that you appreciate your host. Also going for some casual drinks with your host and maybe some of their friends is a great way to meet people and learn about the drinking culture of a place.
As soon as everyone has a bit of alcohol in them it gets so much easier to talk in a non-native language hahah.
If you don’t drink alcohol, taking them to a cafe (or out for boba – MY favorite) is a great alternative as well!
Travel-Related Gifts
I mean, it’s pretty safe to assume they’re interested in travel. So travel-related gifts for your Couchsurfing host would make perfect sense!
That said, it’s also pretty safe to say that they’ve traveled before, or that they have everything they NEED to travel, so they probablyyy don’t need a passport cover or luggage tags or yet another scratch-off map that all of their friends buy them for their birthday.
A few ideas that I shared in my gifts for travel lovers post are digital photo albums/picture frames, an instant photo printer, ring light or wide eye phone attachments, or even a piece of jewelry!
Acts of Service
It isn’t always a guarantee, but if your host needs an extra hand around the house, offer to help out! Take out the trash, wash the dishes, offer to clean the house before leaving – it may seem like small gestures, but it’s very appreciated.
If you’re a handy person, ask your host if they need anything looked at while you’re there. Or if you know your way around a car, you can offer to change their oil or…whatever else people do in cars idk.
Observe Something They Need/Want
Finding gifts for your Couchsurfing host that are both thoughtful AND useful can be difficult. Especially if you try picking them out in advance.
That’s why another way to find gifts for your Couchsurfing host is to wait until you actually arrive! Upon checking in with your host, you may find that they don’t have AirCon or a strong heater. They may not have too many extra blankets or a coffee machine.
Then would be the time to subtly ask if they were ever planning on getting one. AND BAM – you buy it for them. They would be eternally grateful.
My Favorite Gifts
As someone who loves having people visit (mostly my friends when they come into town because who else would visit me *cry emoji*), I’ve been lucky enough to have guests who bring gifts. I’ll share some of my favorite gifts that I’ve received, and maybe it can give you some ideas for gifts for your Couchsurfing hosts.
That said, most of these gifts have been giving by my lovely friend Millie, the travel blogger at The Next Somewhere. Go check her out!
- Phone Holder for a Car: While driving around with me, my guest (*cough Millie cough*) noticed I didn’t have a secure way to hold my phone to the dashboard while driving. She observed this need and picked one up for me before she left!
- Accessories: It can be a little expensive buying whole outfits for people, not to mention risky if you don’t know their tastes, but accessories have a lot more leniency. I’m a HUGE beanie fanatic, so I’ve gotten a few of those, as well as cute jewelry. Get ideas from their social media pictures for ideas.
- Snacks: Love love loveee getting snacks from people. I’ve mentioned it early, but you can never go wrong with snacks. I’ve gotten Japanese candy, Filipino comfort snacks, Canadian maple syrup (lol), Taiwanese pineapple cakes, Swiss chocolates (even tho I don’t like chocolate *cry emoji*), and my favorite – MEXICAN CANDYYYYY.
- Office Supplies: This may come out of left field as a suggestion for gifts for your Couchsurfing host, but I personally LOVE office supplies. Especially cute office supplies. Washi tape, notebooks with photogenic covers, smooth glide pens, and STICKERSSS. Ugh, beautiful.
My Least Favorite Gifts
When you’re shopping for gifts for your Couchsurfing host, it’s important to consider avoiding things they…wouldn’t like. I mean, they probably wouldn’t tell your to your face and they would still think of you as a very courteous Couchsurfing guest. But still, it’s always a little more pleasant on the host if they don’t have to discreetly throw your gift away after lol.
SO, some gifts for your Couchsurfing host that you should AVOID are:
- Things that they collect: I mean, for a lot of travelers that collect specific items, the joy in collecting comes in actually visiting the place and picking out the item that represents their time there. For me, I collect magnets and mugs, so it’s kinda womp womp when someone gives me a magnet from their home country and it just doesn’t feel…right to keep it with my magnet collection. So to play it safe, avoid the most popular collectible items.
- Clothing: For some reason, even though I tell her not to EVERY TIME, my mom loves to buy me shirts whenever she visits a new city. I simply have TOO MANY t-shirts. I’m also very picky about what I wear, and I don’t want to feel like a poser wearing a “Key West, Florida” shirt when I’ve never been there. Like…what if someone asks me about it??? Also, you don’t know their size or their preferred fit, so best to avoid clothing and stick to accessories.
- Something TOO obviously expensive: I meannnn, there’s no set price limit or anything, but don’t be giving out diamond rings to your hosts. It can make them a bit uncomfortable. So keep gifts reasonable, yeah? And if it’s treading that line, just reassure your gifts that it was cheaper than trying to find your own place!
Gifts for Your Couchsurfing Hosts: Conclusion
Hopefully, you’ve found at least one or two gifts for your Couchsurfing host! What did you think of my list? When you use Couchsurfing as a guest, do you usually bring gifts for your Couchsurfing host? What do you usually bring?
Do you have any gifts for your Couchsurfing host ideas? Share them in the comments below!
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