The Hostess Gift—Go Beyond the Candle

I love giving (and receiving) clever hostess gifts. Some require a little more advance thought—but not much. And there are gifts that can be stockpiled, so you’re always prepared to be the best guest. These gifts work for me every time:

• See’s Candy (sees.com). Have you figured out that I have a sweet tooth?
• Lewis ice bag and mallet—this heavy-grade natural canvas bag is the best medium for crushing ice for a cocktail. You can find it in many stores as well as at Amazon, and it is usually sold with a wooden mallet.
• Shutterfly (shutterfly.com) is a great source for gifts customized with photographs. Postage stamps, playing cards, wrapping paper, puzzles—a beautiful or whimsical photograph can turn an everyday item into a source of delight. Recently I saw wrapping paper that was decorated with pictures of the family dogs!
• Cookie cutters with meaning—you can get any shape online at cookiecutters.com.
• Leontine Linens (leontinelinens.com) makes a beautiful quilted lingerie bag that can be monogrammed.
• Sabatino truffles (sabatinotruffles.com) for the fabulous gift of a truffle and a truffle shaver. Other gift items include beautifully packaged truffle salt, truffle oil…all things truffle!
• For beautiful custom Christmas tree ornaments contact Kathe Knitch (sweetruin.etsy.com). She also makes masks that are works of art (for that masked ball you have to go to, or just because…).
• Béquet Confections (bequetconfections.com) for the world’s best salted caramels. Buy several boxes…and hide them from yourself!
• Smithfield ham from Edwards (edwardsvaham.com) because there’s nothing better than a soft white bread sandwich with lots of Duke’s mayo and Smithfield ham.