Although Paris is an expensive city, if you know where to look, you can still find lovely yet inexpensive gifts that are truly "French". In fact, the choice is big when you know where to look and what to look for. By inexpensive, I mean gifts within a price range of 5 to 15 euros. I also know that gifts must be packed into a suitcase and brought back home intact!

What is more French than gourmet food? So, why not start your gift search in the gourmet supermarkets in Paris, one of the best being La Grande Epcerie de Paris at 38 rue de Sèvres, just next to the department store Le Bon Marché (Metro Sèvres- Babylone). Parisians love their salon de thés, especially Marriage Frères, which makes their own exotic tea blends found, pre-packaged, in La Grande Epicerie. You can also find delicious herbal tea blends such as pear-vanilla (poire-vanille), plus packages of ground coffee, tins of French candy and biscuits, and even the French specialty marrons glacés or candied chestnuts. While there, you can also enjoy the abundant food displays which are splendid.

What about giving chocolate as a gift? There are small artisanal or hand-made- chocolate stores all over Paris. One I really like is about as centrally located as you could wish. It's called Charles Chocolatier, 15 rue Montorgeuil (Metro/RER Les Halles). If you're on a budget, you can purchase hand-made, elegant chocolate bars (tablettes) for under 3 euros. I really like Charles Chocolatier because they make chocolat à l'ancienne. This means pure dark chocolate made from cocoa, cocoa butter and flavorings. Yum!

Another idea for a "French" gift is a beeswax candle in the shape of a teddy bear, cow or rooster found in La Maison du Miel, 24 rue Vignon (Metro Madeleine or Havre Caumartin). As the name suggests, this store specializes in honey and honey derivatives. Although a jar of honey may not be the ideal gift to transport in your suitcase, they also sell honey nougat, cake and candy. Plus they have a special cake called pain d'épice that is a sort of French gingerbread.

Another inexpensive gift is scented soap. Along with bathsalts, they can be found in just about any parapharmacie in Paris. Parapharmacies carry all sorts of beauty and health care items, and the perfumed soap comes in a variety of scents such as hazelnut, almond and water lily. They are packaged in vibrant colors, making very attractive gifts. One parapharmacie I can recommend is Parapharmacie du Forum des Halles, 305 Porte Lescot (Metro/RER Les Halles). The Forum des Halles is a large underground shopping center; just find the FNAC electronics store, and the parapharmacie is right next door.

French design and style are admired throughout the world, and this applies to housewares, as well A great store for houseware gifts is Résonances. There are several stores throughout Paris, but my favorite is located in a very special pedestrian shopping street, very "in" among trendy young French, called Bercy Village (Metro Cour Saint Emilion). It was created on the site of wine warehouses built in the 19th century, and you can still see the train tracks that used to take the wine to the warehouses. Charming does not do it justice!

In Résonances, French design is expressed in such everyday items as butter dishes, stainless steel fruit presses and sets of multi-colored enamel expresso cups, one each in bright red, yellow, blue and green. And, if you're looking for a gift for that man (or men) in your life, Résonances carries beautiful pocket-knives from about 10 to 30 euros each.

Another possible men's gift is a mini-globe that swivels in all directions and costs less than 14 euros. This, and other "masculine" gifts are in great abundance in the upscale Nature et Decouvertes stores. As the name indicates, they sell products that are made from all-natural materials, and they donate 10% of their profits to a nature preservation foundation. There is an outlet in Bercy Village, but there is an even bigger outlet in another shopping center called Carousel du Louvre (Metro Palais Royal). Simply take the Metro exit that indicates the shopping center name and you have direct access. In Nature et Decouvertes, besides the globe, I saw a beautiful wooden ball point pen in a smooth, "zen" like wooden case, and if you want to visit the Louvre Museum, you can enter from the far end of this shopping center where the lines are much shorter so you get in quicker.

Finally, for that true French touch, why not buy a gift that was hand-made in a French monastery? My favorite store for this is called Artisanat Monastique, 68 bis avenue Denfert-Rochereau (RER Port Royal). The store itself is situated in a Parisian monastery called Monastère de la Visitation, (yes, they do exist--especially in this neighborhood). The atmosphere is calm and harmonious, partially due to the fact that all the nice ladies who wait on you are volunteers and the goal of the store is to support a network of over 300 monasteries in France. All the items are handicrafts made by monks and nuns and the quality reflects that. The store carries gifts in many different categories, starting (after all this is France) with food gifts right next to the entrance. I saw chocolate, biscuits and cakes and a real treat -- pâtes de fruit or crystallized fruit. They also sell liquors, plus hand made body care products, each item with the name of the monastery on the label. You can also find essence of lavender and other perfumes, room scents and candles. In the basement are the crafts with a great selection of lace trimmed nightgowns. There are also pillows and 100% wool woven shawls. It seem that in the past, when young women entered a convent, they took their trousseau with them, but were not permitted to use it, of course. After the nun's death, her family often gave permission to sell the antique clothing and linen to support the convent. I have never seen antique lace sold for such a low price as in this store -- even lace trimmed bloomers which, I was told, are now being transformed into blouses by the young and branché ("in").

As you can see, Paris has an abundance of gifts at reasonable prices. But, the good stuff is often hidden from immediate view. Once you discover the secrets, you realize that you have discovered something very special -- a way of doing things closely connected with the past, but confidently facing the future. France --vive la différence!