8 Great Gifts for Hosts

I love that you mentioned Puzzles!!! I work for a toy company and we recently have been making some super rad puzzles for adults. The best par is we have to test them in the office, which means putting together 500 and 1008 piece puzzles in between work emails. I think I am getting addicted! Also, there is a ton of articles recently about how puzzles are a great way to de-stress and clear your mind.

And it would be joy to drink out of those pink mugs every morning!!
(+ if you’re interested in some cool puzzles–> http://shop.eeboo.com/k/search?q=1008)

The best gifts are always the most unexpected – a bottle of wine they’ve saved from a recent trip abroad, a pack of cards that are all bent and loved by the end of the night, the offer to do the dishes!

Lo
http://www.themixtures.com

For Easter, a friend brought a box of Godiva truffles. We put it out with dessert and people loved them. We also enjoyed the remainder for the next week. I think the best hostess gifts are REALLY GOOD edible gifts, which is actually hard in real life! I’ve thrown away my share of stuff that was just meh.

A similar thing happened to us a couple of weeks ago except we were the offenders. I had accidentally texted my friend that we were coming in on a Friday night instead of Thursday like we had planned. I called her at the gate to her community at 11:30 at night because she hadn’t called ahead to let them know we’d be coming. I felt terrible but most of all I was just super impressed that her house was so clean and they had tons of good food in the fridge. You always think people do those kinds of things especially for guests but I guess that’s just how she actually lives her life. And with 3 kids under 4, too!

Normally people just bring wine, which I love. But once, I had a friend bring over a set of those velvet lined hangers along with a soap set – a fancy soap…L’occitane. I actually took the soap to work to use and people loved it. I thought the hangers were an odd gift, but man, I sure do use them. So in the end, not an odd gift after all!

These are lovely items, but I agree with the other commenters who said none of these really seem like things I would give to my host unless it was their birthday or something. I tend to give edible, homemade host gifts, like fresh bread, cookies or cookie dough that they can bake later on, jam or jelly, or spice blends. Storebought items that I like to gift are fancy booze, good quality dark chocolate, and flowers.
My husband’s family also seems to have a tradition of giving the hostess packages of nice disposable napkins. I used to think was a funny thing to give/receive, but they aren’t something I’d think to purchase and are really nice to have on hand for hosting a large crowd, when you want something less casual than a roll of paper towels, but the linen ones aren’t really appropriate.

We have a back yard flock of hens, a dozen big beautiful fresh eggs are a big hit for a gift. Can be used up and they’re pretty too, and they seem like a treat when you don’t have them every day.

I wish I could send my husband this list and subtly mention the salami bouquet… :)

As much as I love round-ups of pretty things, when I read these lists I can’t help but wonder who actually takes items like this as hostess gifts. I either make something (either baked goods or something I made at the sewing machine like coasters) or take cut flowers, but I would not consider things like these as hostess gifts.

We may be in the minority, but we prefer for our guests to not bring anything. We like to treat and take care of our guests from start to finish and don’t want them to feel obligated to contribute to the meal or bring a gift. We love gift-giving in general and thinking of unique presents for Christmas, birthdays, etc. but the hostess gift tradition is not one that we enjoy.

I love the story! Sometimes these casual things happen to be the best stories. It kinda forces you to relax and just go with it and that’s when magic happens, don’t you agree? I miss causal guests like my parents had when I was little …

I love when overnighters bring coffee beans for the mornings and wine for the evenings. I especially love when out of town guests bring locally made products from their town/state.

I’d love to see a post on what you give for wedding gifts…?!

This is so timely. When we went to South Africa, we brought ‘Canadian’ gifts for our hosts. We’re off to Ireland on Friday, staying in a few B&Bs and I hope to bring a small Canadian token.

Consumables only, please. Either as a recipient or as a giver.

Okay, there is one exception. Heath Ceramics bud vases. They are simple and beautiful.

When my boyfriend and I went to stay with his mom last month I brought some homemade pecan-ganache brownies. She’s moving so I didn’t want to give her any extra *stuff* for to worry about, but still wanted to bring a something a little decadent and elegant for her to enjoy. When I go to someone’s home I love to bring a little luxury that they might really enjoy, but wouldn’t necessarily think to buy for themselves, just like the caramels or apron on this list. I also love the suggestions for useful everyday items like those sweet pink mugs – whenever I use gifts like that from past houseguests it always reminds me of the wonderful memories we’ve made during those visits!

Flowers, wine, or a nice soy candle from the store in our downtown. I hope this tradition never dies.

We invited some friends over for dinner last year around my birthday, and one of the couples who came, brought me a beautiful mint plant in a bright yellow tin pot (I love plants, and bright things), a box of strawberries, an infuser water bottle, and a recipe for detox water using the mint and strawberries. They said since I work from home, they thought the bottle would be useful and fun!

It was perfect – we used the mint in cocktails that night, and the bottle is my day to day bottle for water, making me think of my sweet friends nearly every day. (I wasn’t able to maintain the plant, but planted some aloe vera in the same cachepot which looks lolvely as well).

It also made me want to get more creative with my host gifts – usually we just bring wine! Thanks for this list!

omg, that story from your friend! Hahaha! Was it a good weekend at least??
I’m always the one hosting so things my friends bring that I love are fresh flowers from their garden (just a very small bouquet in a mason jar but so sweet) & drinks ’cause I don’t drink much and thus out of touch with what’s cool =p

Love the olive oil idea- I would be so happy if someone gave me that instead of wine!

I always give a candle from Anthropologie and I’ve yet to meet anyone who dislikes the Volcano scent. They come in beautiful jars which become great tchotchke pots after!!

As an alternative I also like giving luxury ‘basics’- things you wouldn’t necessarily buy yourself but you want anyway. Case in point: Aesop hand soap. I received this once and whoa game changer