Every December the same message arrives: someone in the family loves Brazil, has been to Brazil, teaches Brazil, or married into Brazil, and nobody knows what to buy them. A Christ the Redeemer keyring is not a present. This is the list we actually give people.
It is grouped by who you are buying for rather than by price, because that is how the problem actually presents itself. Nothing here is a novelty item. Every one of them gets used.
For the One Who Is Going to Brazil
Four things that a first trip is measurably better with, and that are far easier to buy at home than to hunt for on arrival.
- Havaianas Brasil flip flops — The real ones, made in Brazil, with the flag on the strap. Brazilians can tell the difference across a beach.
- Ceptics Brazil (Type N) plug adapter — Brazil kept its own socket. Nothing anyone owns fits it without this, and hotels ration the loaners.
- Lonely Planet Brazil — The current edition. A country this size needs a book, not a browser tab.
- Lonely Planet Portuguese Phrasebook — Spanish will not do it. Twenty phrases of Portuguese changes how the whole trip treats you.
For the One Who Misses Brazil
The Brazilian abroad, or the person who came back and has not stopped talking about it. These four bring the country into the house.
- Brazilian double hammock with tree straps — In Brazil the rede is furniture, not camping gear. This is the wide cotton kind you actually sleep in.
- Norte yerba mate cup and bombilla set — Chimarrao is the ritual of the Brazilian south, and it is shared, which is the whole point of it.
- Barillio muddler and Lewis ice bag — A proper caipirinha is crushed ice and bruised lime, not a blender. These are the two tools that decide it.
- Goias 28-inch Brazilian churrasco skewers — The long flat blades a churrasqueiro uses. Everything else is a kebab stick pretending.
For the Children
Picture books that treat Brazil as a place people live rather than a carnival float. We read all of these before recommending them.
- Living in… Brazil — A Brazilian child narrates her own country. No safari-tour voice anywhere in it.
- Good Night Brazil — For the very small ones, and the first Brazilian place names they will ever say out loud.
- Saudade — A picture book about leaving Brazil and missing it. There is no English word for the title, which is the lesson.
- Our World: Brazil — Board book. First geography, the map before the words.
- Oi from Brazil — Bright, funny, and the greeting is right, which is rarer than it should be.
- Beautiful Brazil — Photographs rather than illustration, for the child who wants to see the real thing.
For the One Who Teaches at Home
If the person you are buying for homeschools, the present that lands is the one that removes a month of planning from their December.
- Brazil: A Complete Unit Study — 327 pages, ten units, three reading levels, 100 quiz questions and a 40-question final exam with every answer key. Grades 3 to 8, instant PDF or paperback.
- The Amazon: A Unit Study — 310 pages, sixteen units, ages 5 to 13, full colour. Named peoples, four forest layers, five centuries of history, sourced and dated.
The Two Rules We Use
First: buy the thing they would not buy themselves. Nobody buys their own hammock. Everybody wants one.
Second: order it before the first week of December. Brazil-specific items are small-batch, they sell out, and the reorder does not arrive by the 25th.
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