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Best Holiday Hostess Gifts
Published 11.24.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (3)
Last year we wrote about our favorite hostess gifts for cocktail parties, dinner parties and holiday open houses. We also highlighted some of our favorite types of gifts: drink coasters, unique matchbox sets, salt and pepper shakers, and fun family gifts.
This year, we have a list that we've been compiling all year long. Here are some of our favorites:
Whiskey Stones
These whiskey stones are ideal for putting a slight chill in your malt. Or, freeze the cubes to add cold to any drink without diluting it. Brilliant! This is particularly perfect if you're attending a cocktail party, though etiquette says that no gift is necessary.
Non-stick Edge Brownie Pan
The blog world fell in love with this brownie pan last year and has touted it as "the best new thing" which makes for great description of a hostess gift. This one will guarantee yourself a return invite.
Books
You can never go wrong with a book and there's bound to be something useful for your host in Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know.
Unique Pencils
A great way to start off the new year is with freshly sharpened pencils and your sense of humor intact. These mustache pencils will look beautiful with a big ribbon tied around the pack. (via Swiss Miss)
NY Times Puzzle with Obama
You can have almost any NY Times cover made into a high quality 400-piece jigsaw puzzle at Hammacher Schlemmer. We think the November 5th cover is just perfect. This would make a great Holiday Open House gift.
Christmas Tree Ornaments
A Christmas tree ornament is a very nice hostess gift, especially when attending a cocktail party. Here are a couple that are very flexible in design:
This reusable ornament by Method Home does double-duty as it's filled with wood-scented potpourri.
This photoball ornament will mix in with the color scheme of any Christmas tree. (via Mighty Junior)
A Bottle of Wine
Let's be honest, a bottle of wine is not the most creative host gift. But, the Holiday season is crazy busy and picking up a wine is easy and, at the end of the day, still a very nice gesture.
If you're going to go the wine route, consider dressing up your gift:
Find the striped hat and scarf set at the Sundance Catalog.
Stock up on these irreverent wine tags. Heck, you'll be looking for excuses to gift wine bottles to your hosts. Check out popptags for more swigs of funny.
Visit Hostess Gifts and Etiquette from last year.
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About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.
This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
Disclaimer
This column is only for entertainment purposes. Any recommendations or information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for advice by a trained professional. For a full statement of our site policies, please click here.
Comments (3):
meghan said:
Could you provide a link for the Whiskey Stones? This would be a perfect gift for my dad.
(The link is fixed. Thank you for pointing that out.)
Posted on November 24, 2008 13:01
sarah said:
great suggestions! i hope y'all update this list for 2009. for anyone interested, gifts.com has several of these items on their website (in fact they blogged about the whiskey stones a couple of weeks ago). they also twittered about their hostess gift guide today and feature a cordless serving tray that keeps your entrees/appetizers warm or cold at your desired temperature. other interesting items worthy of purchase are designer wine bottle openers, cool cutting boards (like one made a chalkboard where you can write the names of cheeses next to each, etc), and herb gardens. it's definitely worth a look! here's the link: http://www.gifts.com/occasions/host-hostess/25ohraicp?mode=72
Posted on November 18, 2009 15:34
Paris Coddington said:
Fantastic ideas. I'm definitely going to try the striped hat and scarf set. I received a pretty nice hostess gift on thanksgiving....a bottle of Meursault White Burgandy (my favorite!), assorted dark belgium chocolates and batter blaster organic pancake batter. I have never tried batter blaster before but my kids are dying to use it because it comes in a spray bottle like whipped cream. I guess that's good for me because it means there will be no mess.
Posted on December 2, 2009 00:54