Balikbayans are importantt for us and when we found out family was arriving. We just plan ahead to take them out for dinner...that's how filipinos are. We just had to give them the best asian food and show them around new places.
It's a great way to bond except that there are a few people sometimes you'd love to be away from when family gets together. Here, am happy I took advantage of the early birds.
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Balikbayan Boxes
It is very common for Filipinos to leave the Philippines to live and work abroad. A balikbayan is a filipino who is returning to the Philippines from living or working abroad. A balikbayan box is a box of items sent by the balikbayan to their family in the Philippines. The box can be sent or it can be brought by the sender when they themselves return to the Philippines.
Balikbayan boxes can be filled with almost anything but it is usually filled with items that cannot be found in the Philippines or items that may be too expensive for the average person to buy in the Philippines. Common items found in balikbayan boxes include: clothes, shoes, chocolate, nuts, vitamins, basketballs, coffee and tea, magazines, shampoo/conditioner, soap, body lotion, etc.
My parents sent balikbayan boxes throughout the year but always sent them to arrive in time for Christmas. We find out what the family needed/wanted and put everything in the balikbayan box. Our family LOVES getting the boxes. I suppose its just like Christmas Eve waiting and wondering what is in the box. My cousins would always tell me they savored the smell of the box right when it was opened- the smell of America. In February I continued the filipino tradition and sent a box to my mom. The box contained some gifts for the family and some of the belongings that my mom couldn't in her luggage when she left. In March it arrived and I was in the Philippines when it did. I opened the box and sure enough it smelled like home- like America, as they all said.
resource http://www.filipinoplanet.com/filipino-traditions.html
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