Our Norway cousins made their first trip to America. I planned on Houston sightseeing. They planned on shopping, eating, and buying all the things they can’t find in Oslo. For anyone seeking what to buy in the US to take or ship to Norway, this is what they wanted.
Full disclosure our cousins that visited from Norway are 15, 18, and 41 years old, and female. There are loads of makeup and girly girl things on this all-American shopping list!
Table of Contents
Snacks & Candy You Can’t Find (even in Oslo)
- Air Heads
- Buccee’s Quattro Candy
- Crumbl Cookies
- Good & Gather dried fruits
- Guacamole Takis
- Gummy Skittles
- The extended Oreo selection, such as Oreo Thins
- Pepperidge Farm Goldfish
- Pop-Tarts
- Pumpkin spice food, treats, drinks & cake mixes (including pumpkin whoopie pies)
- Reese’s
- Sour Patch Kids
- Shipley Donuts
- Swedish Fish
- Trader Joe’s Everything!
- Twizzlers
Guro making her pumpkin cake mix for coworkers in Oslo!
Products Not Available Or Too Expensive To Buy In Norway
- Baseball/Trucker style hats – Studio 1220 is an American store with all sorts of fun local options
- Cowboy boots – Old Gringo is my favorite brand but even better if you find a vintage pair!
- Everything but the bagel spice
- NFL Jerseys – Houston Texans Jerseys & clothes for teens (Target Fan Shop is their favorite for this!)
- Pumpkin spice skincare
- Pumpkin spice candles
- Reversible Squishmallows
- Stanley Tumblers, Cups & Mugs
- YaYa Club – A Katy, TX boutique shop complete with all the shoes, boots, sparkle & southern charm souvenirs any first-time visitor to Texas from another country could ask for!
- Brandi Melville (Italy). Although Brandi Melville is an Italy-founded company, the Westwood store adjacent to UCLA made the brand popular. The girls went to the Houston-based store first which was closed due to a power outage, but managed to visit a store in London on their layover to Oslo. That’s how determined she was to take Brandi pants back to Norway!
Cowboy boots from Texas are a must!
Make-Up Brands You Can’t Get In Norway
Any skincare products from these stores or brand names are a huge hit! My cousins repeatedly visited Target, Sephora, and Ulta Beauty during their 7-day visit in Texas. Not all are American brands but they can be purchased in the US.
- Aveeno
- e.l.f. – Only a limited selection can be found in Oslo stores.
- Bubble
- Milk Cosmetics
- Pacifica
- Rare Beauty
- Sephora – The Sephora Collection, kits & minis are perfect sizes for gifting and traveling overseas.
- Target
- Tatcha
- Treehut
- Ulta Beauty
- Aquaphor (Germany)
- Byoma (UK)
- Charlotte Tilbury (UK)
The American “haul”
Believe it or not but the girls bought everything in this post! They would return to the house every night excitedly going over their “American haul” and taste-testing different candies with their American cousins. It was so fun hosting their first visit to the USA and witnessing what was important to them to buy for themselves and friends and family in Norway.
As the girls called it, their “American haul”
How did they get all of this back to Norway?
They each flew to Texas with one large suitcase, minimally packed. Since the weather in Houston is very warm nearly year-round, they were able to pack extremely light without typical Scandinavian gear for the week. Otherwise, getting all of these American things overseas would have been a challenge!
Final Thoughts On American Things You Can’t Buy In Norway
As a former expat in the UK, being able to buy products not available in your home country is a big deal. In fact, I stocked up considerably when we repatriated to the US from England. It’s fun, fills a void, brings nostalgia, creates memories, and as an expat provides comfort when you’re a bit homesick. Although our cousins aren’t expats (yet!), the intent is the same. And trust me, they were NOT ready to leave the USA!
Although I wasn’t able to reciprocate as a Houston tour guide as they did for us in Oslo, being a part of our Norwegian family’s first-time shopping experience in America was incredibly fun and sweet! Now I know what to get them for Christmas.
Posts the cousins used to plan their US trip:
- American Snacks Not In The UK (candy included)
- 11 American Brands You Can’t Get In The UK
- 10 Must Dos In Houston 2023
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