Shower Gift Ideas Needed for Friend Adopting a Teenager from Russia

How about tickets to a show or a gift card for a local movie theater. Books about America for the teenager would be a nice gift too!!! Or....how about books about Russia for the mother? A really nice book would be about how to raise teenagers. :)
Movies are always great. How about some classic movies for her and her new daughter to watch together? Like.......Pretty in Pink, Breakfast club, Sixteen candles, Footloose, etc. Good luck and congrats on being an aunt. :)

Lisa, SO EASY!! Teen magazines, Jewelry, crazy socks, if you know the girls size, cute t shirts or sweatshirts, a cd player,
gift certificates for clothes or music, cute robe or pj's, even a teddy bear! Good luck, have fun! (Have 5 great kids!)
Kath

Congrats!!!!!! WOW. Well I adopted as well but my daughter was 2 days old. BUT what a joyous occassion. I would say get her clothes, magazines anything that you would want as a teenage girl. Anything that is pop culture wise popular among the teen crowd would be really sweet. Also maybe learn to make some russian recipes so she can still have some of home too. My family is russian so if you email me I can get you some true recipes. ____@____.com

Hi L.,

Lots of cute teen-girly gift ideas here: www.barefootparties.com/laurarenton. The bunny slippers are always a huge hit with young girls. Let me know if you see anything you like. I have many items (and several pair of slippers) in stock. I have a 13-year-old daughter and can make some suggestions.

Best wishes to everyone! L.

How fun! Do they speak Russian? If not a translation dictionary.
You could make big sister and little sister t shirts.
Buy or make copies of favorite music for new sister.
Russian cook book for the mom/cook of the house

I know she's 14 but thought how much it would show the new family cares if they surprised her w/ a children's song she might have heard when she was little.

I learned one in youth group years ago I wanted to find for you. But haven't seen it so far.
"May there always be sunshine, may there always be blue skys, may there always be mama, may there always be me"

And Yallo boo vas (sounds a bit like yellow blue bus) is how to say I love you in Russian.

Folk songs w/ translations
http://www.kaikracht.de/balalaika/english/songs/
children's songs
http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=ec&p=985&c=157

A. H

My suggestion for the little one is a Language Littles doll. (www.languagelittles.com the russian doll is named Anna) They offer several language dolls that have perfect tone and inflection in lots of different languages. My daughter has the chinese doll and it is just perfect!

For the 14 year old, perhaps a gift certificate for some tutoring or ESL, depending on her language skills.
For the mom, some scrapbooking supplies that are adoption themed? If you're really crafty, make an adoption story scrapbook with places she can just drop appropriate pictures in. My SIL made one for me when my son was born, what an awesome gift!!

Wow...tough question. I can't think of anything else since you don't know her yet. It's hard to get personal items for a teenager you have yet to meet. You did well with the GC and the scrapbook...memories are priceless.

How sweet that you have not forgotten the 7 year old...

Congratulations to your sister and you too, Auntie! I saw some great ideas for you. I was thinking possibly a camera for the "new" daughter so she can document her interests when she comes to America.

Also, maybe think about special foods and traditions, as Christmas is coming. They could start her own Christmas ornament collection, maybe with ornaments from places she has been to in the USA or something special from Russia. You could do the same for the 7-yo.

I see you have a ton of other great ideas so I'll leave it at that. Good luck! Let us know how the adoption goes! :-)

The best gift you can give is love and support. Prayers are good too! We adopted our son from Russia 10 years ago. You could tell her that I am available to talk if she wants to!

S.

I have a 14 yr old boy, and ipods, music, sports stuff, the "in" clothing stores, maybe tickets to a sports event that's popular in Russia(is hockey big there?), gift cards to decorate her room, I like the song idea (maybe there is a club or suppoort group-she will probably miss hearing the Russian language-so maybe find some music that is in Russian, Maybe even an American Girl doll (she can find one that looks a little like herself (this is probably too young though) so it might work for the 7 yr old.

What would be great is if you could find some kids that she will be attending school with and give them a party, skating, bowling, skiing, etc, so that she will be able to get to know some kids in her knew class.

Good luck!

For the 7-year-old, maybe an age-appropriate camera? I'm not sure what's out there, but there should be a digital camera that's easy to operate (i.e. point and click). That way she can document her trip. I would think that it might have the added bonus that if she is nervous at all about this (a new cild coming into the family, a huge trip) it's also something that's just for her, and not related to the new family addition. And yet she can use it to snap photos of her new sibling, too! (I would also make sure it has a big storage card, so she doesn't run out of room halfway through the trip.)

How beautiful they're doing this. Congrats to them!

We adopted three girls from Russia in 1991. They were 15, 13 and 8 at the time. They really enjoyed looking at teen magazines and modeling different clothing styles. Digital camaras were a real hit with them and they loved taking pictures of each other and friends modeling the outfits they had put together. The oldest appreciated a Russian/English paperback dictionary and a pretty notebook that we bought for her. Whenever she did not understand a word she would look it up in the dictionary and write it in her own personal word book for future reference.
M.

Congrats to her!! You have a lot of good ideas so far, but have you thought about a gift card to a book store that carries books about Russia, or in the language? Also, lets not forget about the 7 year old. Make sure she is feeling included in all of this. Have the child pick out whatever gift they want to give to their new sibling. Also, have your child "study" up on Russia. You could also buy the teen a sweatshirt that says Michigan on it, to make her feel like she is home. I would also just do basic ediable gifts for her, like maybe something the family really enjoys, so she can get a taste of it. Or put a gift basket together with all Russian food. Have fun with it. Remember the teen will be very over whelmed at first so give the family plenty of space! :)

L.;

First off, A BIG CONGRATS to your friend on a new addition to the family! :)

I completely agree with Amy H, it sounds like she experienced something similar as she covered a majority of it!

Is there any way for them to have contact prior to the p/u? This could help them come up with better ideas if they can find out any favorite colors, items, etc. for her new room? (if it was left 'neutral' for the teenager to have her input.)

Check out what's going on in her new neighborhood, ie, teen events, activities, teen group, newsletter, youth church, school, libary, possibley get a gift certificate to an upcoming play, or local Salon, Mall gift certificate, clothing is so different there, than here. Best of luck to you, and the new addition to your family. Mom of 4 grandma of 3.

Girls of any age like Claires - they have just about everything. There's also Best Buy for music, or any book store would be nice