Updated October 2026.
If someone invites you home for coffee or a meal, bring a small gift, usually something to eat or drink. An expensive present is not expected and may embarrass your host.
What to bring when you are invited home
- Bread or pastries from a bakery. This is one of the most common gifts Ethiopians bring when visiting each other.
- Fruit: a bag of bananas, mangoes or oranges from the market.
- Coffee beans or sugar. If your host serves coffee, bringing the ingredients is a natural gesture. See the coffee ceremony for what to expect.
- Soft drinks or bottled juice for a family with children.
- Something from your own country: tea, chocolate, biscuits, a small souvenir from your home town or a picture book about it. Personal gifts of this kind are often remembered after the visit.
Wrap the gift or carry it in a clean bag. Give it with your right hand. Using both hands is considered even more respectful.
How a gift is received
Your host may put the gift aside unopened because presents are often opened later instead of in front of the giver. They may also say that you should not have brought anything. This is usually good manners rather than a refusal, so insist gently and let the conversation move on.
Your host may give you injera, bread or a bag of roasted coffee in return. An outright refusal can cause offence, so accept a little and thank them. Greetings and hospitality and being a guest in an Ethiopian home explain the customs around a visit.
Gifts for special occasions
- Holidays. At Meskel, Genna (Ethiopian Christmas, 7 January) and Fasika (Easter), families visit each other with food. A box of pastries, a cake or a bottle of soft drinks fits any household.
- Weddings. Money in an envelope is the usual gift, given to the couple or the family. Ask a friend what is normal in that circle.
- A new baby. Visitors bring food for the mother, such as bread, fruit or ingredients for porridge, and sometimes clothes for the child.
- Visiting someone who is ill. Fruit, juice or bread is the custom.
What to avoid
- Alcohol for a Muslim host, or for Orthodox Christian hosts during a fasting period, when many people also avoid animal products. If you are unsure, bring food or soft drinks instead.
- Meat or dairy during a fast. On Wednesdays, Fridays and in the long fasting season before Easter, many households eat only vegan food. Things to know about Ethiopian food explains the fasting calendar.
- Large amounts of cash to a host family. It can make the relationship feel like a transaction.
- Sweets, pens or money handed to children in the street. It encourages begging around tourist sites. If you want to help, give to a school, a clinic or a local organisation instead.
Thank-you gifts for guides and drivers
At the end of a longer tour, a tip in birr, given in an envelope, is the usual way to thank a guide or driver. Some visitors also give a small present, such as a phone power bank or a good pair of sunglasses. Ask your tour company what is customary; Ethiopian birr notes explains the money.
If you want to take Ethiopian gifts home with you, see shopping in Ethiopia for coffee, spices, woven cotton and crafts.
