With the holidays come the parties – an array of family, friend and work gatherings that will see you eating, imbibing and making jokes about all the eating and imbibing. But what to bring the harried hosts beyond the de rigueur bottle of wine? Here’s a list of lovable gifts at every price point:
$15: Flowers. Simple flowers in non-garish colours will never disappoint. Resist the urge to go with a small plant. Your hosts might not want the lifelong responsibility of caring for whatever struck your fancy at the florist. Resist also the urge to go for a big, loud bouquet. Better to choose a unified bundle of mums or daisies, anything that won’t clash with your host’s decor.
$25: A beautiful bottle of olive oil will never disappoint. And it’s an indulgence people often neglect to splurge on for themselves. Throw in some fancy olives to complete the package.
$50: You can pretty much never go wrong with a few gorgeous cookbooks. Hopefully your host likes to cook, but if they don’t they’ll have a lot of beautiful photos of food to look at it for inspiration and appetite-building. For example, What Katie Ate, is as much an art book as a cook book, full of lavish displays of enticing foods.
$100: A hundred bucks buys a whole lot of gift. SO! Think about a shmancy bottle of wine, coupled with a bit of do-gooderyness in the name of your host or hostess. A Kiva card lets your giftees choose entrepreneurs from all over the world to support with micro-loans. Other ideas: plant a tree or ten in their name, or donate to the World Food Program on their behalf. Choose wisely and make sure to avoid any charity they wouldn’t want their name associated with.
Now get partying, those cheese cubes won’t last long!
