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Gifts- For your children, their caretakers, and those left behind
Someone on another thread said something about packing up gifts for the children left behind. I can only speak about our kid's dom dzechi (children's home) but they weren't allowed personal possessions. They each had a small cubby that held their toothbrush and where their change of clothes was put. It was no bigger than the cubby that my youngest had here in the US at his small pre-school to hang his coat.
Toys were kept in a large toy room and because of the range of ages (0-6) of the children at the children’s home, they were all "toddler proof".
The religious sisters who ran the place liked the cash donation the best. The translator liked the maple syrup we brought, and we left chocolates for the care takers and the people who helped us at the hotel. We bought a nice meal (and gave a nice tip to) for the kind driver who watched our back in our crazy one day visit to Krakow.
My suggestion is that unless you know that you'll have access to laundry facilities (like you know that you are staying in an apartment and there is a washer), you save your limited suitcase space for clean underwear.
THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO PUBLIC LAUNDROMATS IN ALL OF POLAND. And even apartments that have washers will often not have dryers. There will be wooden contraptions to hang your stuff to dry.
You can get nearly everything giftwise in Poland, especially if since you are likely flying through Krakow or Warsaw. Also, some Dom Dzechi's will let you interact with the other kids, in others you'll never see your children's group mates.
If your children are in a Dom Dzechi and you want to do some thing nice for all the children, my suggestion would be to offer to purchase some easily shared food item that is a bit pricey by Polish standards. Such as Off season fruit or chocolate (btw, Prince Polo is like a very, very, good Kit Kat). My kids had never had ice cream and didn't know what to do with it when they got it at the hotel where we were staying.
I hope that other people who have gone before will state what items that they found was well received. Every Dom Dzechi is run a bit different so waiting parents should be prepared not to be able to be prepared.
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