Pratteler

A question for Dubai parents,

Trying to organise a birthday gift for my grandson who is 10. I would like to send him a voucher online that he can spend in a toy store (or book store) in Dubai. I tried McGrudy's (as his mom often memtions this store) but you can only get vouchers from the store and not online.

I am told I cannot post anything or get anything sent by amazon etc as it will not arrive, so this has to be organisable online.

Thank you

Irishbeekeeper

Hi Pratteler,
Im a Dubai parent but I havent seen anything like that yet, although I must admit I am new here.
Good luck mate!

Pratteler

Thanks for the quick reply. I send the big grand kids online vouchers for topshop which go down a storm .. but then they are 16 and 15 and visit the UK often where they spend them. So it was sort of with that in mind that I wondered if I could organise an online voucher for spending in Dubai .. bookstore would also do just as well.

At Christmas, I thought I was being very clever and bought an itunes card here in Switzerland (where I live) but was informed by a not too impressed daughter in law that they had to have an itunes account in CH to use it.

Autonomy

You could have tried these 2:-

https://www.emaargiftcard.com/

http://www.mallgiftcard.ae/FAQ.html

However currently neither offer online purchases.... could you transfer the cash to the parents via bank transfer? I know it kind of defeats the point though...

Meow

Amazon posts (most items) to Dubai. We do have a postal service, but it only dleivers to PO Boxes. Or if your family has a Shop & Ship account (with Aramex) you can send items securely that will be delivered to their door.

Kix

Toys "R" Us maybe?

Millhouse

In my experience, this service is not available.

Also, the 'mall cards' are a complete rip off. The mall charges 20% against the value you pre-pay for the service and I would say that only around 50% of the shops in the mall actually accept them. A real pain in the ass when you get them.

You can of course send them presents directly via amazon - but of course nothing too heavy

Pratteler

Thank you so much for all your replies.

Yes, I too do not know why I cannot send gifts by post .. the best solution would be to pick up something here and post it to them, but I have been told time and time again not to do this as things "never arrive". The address I have is for the dad's large company, so I am not sure why they a so adamant about this, but the we go.

So it looks like another fail on the birthday front ... but thank you anyway for thinking about this.

Millhouse

It's because you are using the regular post - It doesn't work and may gifts go missing. Use a courier - like DHL or Aramax -- they always arrive. (although it costs more of course)

mentalist

You could always send the parents Cobone or Groupon vouchers for something nice.

Ethos83

Get the grandchildren gift certificates from amazon.co.uk. They can order whatever they want from Amazon and it'll be up to them to worry about shipping.

I ordered a number of books and DVDs from Amazon and they arrived at my office's PO number safe and sound, using regular mail (posted from the UK).

If you like this option just make sure that you buy the gift certificates from Amazon.co.uk, not the US version as shipping from the US is substantially more expensive than from the UK, and the Amazon US gift certificates won't work on the UK website.

Meow

You might find suitable gifts on the sites of two of the regions online retailers.

www.desado.com and www.wysada.com

Both deliver to the door.

archie159

A slightly old post, I know (found it while searching for something else), but just to say, in case it helps anyone, that I have had Amazon UK items delivered safely to my home address - ie the physical location, and not my PO Box. Very quick it was too... I always embed a phone number somewhere in the address in case they need to call for directions.

Millhouse

I've found the service and delivery from http://www.ic4uae.com/ brilliant. Assuming you want to buy the kids a fridge or cross trainer.