Summer Hostess Gifts You Can Make Yourself – Part 2
August 9, 2011
More DIY food gift ideas compliments of
MINI LOAF CAKES WRAPPED IN PARCHMENT
What hostess wouldn’t love a basket filled with little individual cakes for each of the guests! Bake your favorite loaf cake such as banana bread, pound cake, or zucchini bread in paper disposable mini loaf pans. When the cakes have cooled completely, simply wrap a strip of parchment paper or tinted vellum around each one and tie with satin ribbon. Paper loaf pans can be found at baking supply stores and Target. Click here for the chocolate cake recipe shown in the photo.
DINNER-IN-A-BASKET
This garden’s bounty gift is perfect if you are going to be guests for an entire weekend. Since several meals will take place during your stay, why not give the hosts a break and bring one of the meals with you! Place a deep dish tomato pie (Click here for the recipe) in a large, shallow basket that you’ve lined with a pretty dish towel. Add a half dozen or so ears of unshucked corn, fresh from the garden, a bottle of wine and fresh berries for dessert. Rest assured. You will be invited back!
BARBEQUE SPICE RUBS
This gift couldn’t be easier to make and you probably have all the ingredients right in your pantry. Spice rubs give meats an intense flavor that can’t be matched by barbeque sauce alone. Click here for two of my favorite rub recipes.
Craft store mini jars or large salt & pepper shakers make fine containers. Add a handmade label and you’re good to go! If you want to take it to the next level, arrange the jars of spice rub in a small, galvanized tub or bucket along with other grilling supplies such as tongs, oven mitts, flavored grilling wood chips, skewers, a chef’s apron, and a 6-pack of beer.
Love the idea of a gift basket, but not the DIY part? We’ll do it all for you. Click here to start shopping!
Summer Hostess Gifts You Can Make Yourself
August 2, 2011
Make thoughtful summer food gifts with these charming ideas from
Ah, those friends with the summer beach house have finally invited you for the weekend! Forgo the usual bottle of wine and create a more meaningful gift to show your hosts just how much you appreciate them. You do want to be invited back, don’t you?
LAVENDER LEMONADE
Click here for the recipe for my Lavender Lemonade, pictured above. Decant the lemonade into a fancy glass bottle with the handwritten recipe and a sprig of lavender tied to the neck. Add a basket filled with a couple dozen of your favorite homemade cookies and Ta-Da! You’ve got the perfect gift for a summer garden party.
MORNING AFTER BASKET
Hosts of a cocktail party or reception destined to go into the wee hours will remember you fondly the next morning when they crack into this thoughtful gift. Line a pretty basket with a crisp new tea towel. Fill the basket with homemade muffins or scones, a jar of jam, a sack of coffee beans, a couple of unique mugs, fresh fruit, magazines, Bloody Mary mix, and a small bottle of aspirin.
BASIL BASKET
If your basil grows like mine, by mid-summer you’ve got more than you know what to do with. Make pesto! Fill a pint size, vintage canning jar with some of your fresh pesto and arrange it in a half bushel farmstand basket along with a baguette, a big hunk of Parmesan, artisan pasta, a handful of tomatoes, a bottle of good olive oil and a small potted basil plant.
THE HUNTER & GATHERER’S BASKET
So you don’t like to cook, but you’re an expert eater and you know the local gourmet shop like the back of your hand. You’re uniquely qualified to put together a “cocktail-party-waiting-to happen” basket. Grab a basket and go shopping! Fill it with all your favorite cocktail nibbles… oil cured olives, nuts, assorted cheeses, crackers, breadsticks, cured meats, cheese straws and crudités. Now add that perfect bottle and a set of pretty cocktail napkins. Done and done! You are sooooooo going to be the hit of the party! Well, actually, you are the party!
Not in the DIY mood? Click here for hostess gifts aplenty. We can arrange for your gift to arrive the same day you do!
Easter Hostess Gift
April 20, 2011
Create the perfect Easter hostess gift with this easy recipe from
Forgo the usual bottle of wine and toss together a more meaningful gift for your Easter dinner hosts this year. Use the recipe below, or if you’re really pressed for time, pick up scones, biscuits or muffins from your favorite bakery. Line a pretty basket with a crisp, new tea towel and fill it with your baked goods, a jar of jam, a spreader, and a craft store bird’s nest filled with jellybeans and artificial eggs. Add a charming card and you’re good to go!
DRIED CHERRY-PISTACHIO SCONES WITH VANILLA DRIZZLE
INGREDIENTS
(Makes 8 servings)
For the scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 cup half & half, divided
¼ cup salted roasted pistachios, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup dried cherries
For the drizzle:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add the chilled butter pieces and, with an electric mixer on low speed or a pastry blender, cut the butter in until the mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse meal. Freeze for 5 minutes. Add all but 2 tablespoons of the half & half, the pistachios, and the dried cherries, stirring until dry ingredients are just moistened. Do not overmix.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, with floured hands, gently shape into an 8-inch round. Cut round into 8 wedges and place ½-inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush tops with the remaining 2 tablespoons of half & half. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until golden. Let cool.
- Stir together the confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla, adding more milk if necessary to create desired consistency. Drizzle over the cooled scones. Let drizzle set for about 20 minutes before arranging scones in basket.
The Fine Art of Re-Gifting
October 9, 2008
Gift-Giving in the Workplace
September 21, 2008
Gift-giving season is fast approaching. During these crazy economic times choosing gifts for business associates, bosses and co-workers can be tricky. Here are some tips to save you from making career limiting gift choices and keep you on the A-list. Because these days it’s really, really important to keep your job. To find a gift for any occasion, including the Chocolate Calling Card above, go to www.elizabethwgiftbaskets.com
1. Don’t overspend on the boss. Not only does it make the boss uncomfortable, it makes you look a little desperate.
2. Do your research. It’s great to give gifts to clients for holidays, birthdays or “just because.” Just make sure they are in a position to accept them. Some companies forbid employees to accept gifts from certain suppliers, considering it swag. Others may place a dollar limit on gifts that can be received. By the same token, clients who receive corporate gifts that they feel are cheap or insufficient will tell the world about it. Do a little research before you order those tiny $20 candy bouquets to send to clients who spend thousands with you annually. You may want to raise the bar a little. Also, be sure you are straight on what’s tax deductible and what’s not before you buy.
3. Avoid self-help gifts. No matter how many times your coworker has complained about those extra 10 pounds, DO NOT, repeat DO NOT present her with the latest new dieting book. Well-intentioned gifts like this are extremely risky. You may mean well by giving a self-help gift to an office mate who fears public speaking, is going through a divorce, or is trying to quit smoking, but this sort of gesture could really hurt their feelings.
4. Don’t bring cut flowers to a dinner party. There’s nothing wrong with giving someone a big bouquet of beautiful flowers. Just don’t show up at the door with them when you’re invited to the boss’s fancy dinner party. Your host has enough to do as guests are arriving without having to go hunt a vase to put your flowers in. Besides, it’s a pretty safe bet that the centerpieces and party decorations for this party are already in place, so not only will the host have to find the vase and arrange the flowers (while oohing and aahing for your benefit,) she’ll then have to find a place of honor for them that doesn’t clash with the existing décor. If you’re really set on flowers, order them in a vase and have them delivered the day before the party.
5. Don’t give thoughtless gifts. Just because you love your meat and potatoes, doesn’t mean your vegetarian office mate will be thrilled with an Omaha Steaks gift certificate. Trying to impose your tastes on others can be construed as aggressive and offensive in a competitive work environment.
6. Don’t try to be funny. Even though it seems like you spend more time with these folks than your own family, you may not know them as well as you think. Something you think is hilarious may be perceived as tasteless and gauche to a colleague. And office mates aren’t as forgiving as family.
7. Avoid Booze. Unless you know for an absolute fact that your recipient has long been a connoisseur of rare single malt scotches, for example, reconsider a gift of hard liquor. If you really want to give libations, wine or champagne are safer (albeit somewhat boring) choices. When giving wine remember, one really great bottle is better than three mediocre ones.
8. Don’t give embarrassing gifts. This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at what goes on in some offices. Suffice it to say, even though your boss is pregnant with her first, and even though you’ve had three and know all there is to know about babies, you still shouldn’t give her a breast pump as a birthday present. It’s just wrong.
9. Don’t give advice to an expert. If your recipient has a long time hobby or deep knowledge about a particular subject, it’s tempting to try to find something that directly relates to that expertise. Trouble is, if they’ve spent years developing this expertise, they probably already have it or don’t need it. The guy who has been fly fishing since childhood most likely doesn’t need another book on the basics of fly fishing.
10. Avoid gifts that are religious, sexual or racist in nature. It’s tacky to give your Jewish employees miniature Christmas trees just because that’s what you’re giving everyone else. And those tickets to Chippendales for the female staff members? Wrong.
What have I missed? Do you have a story about a disastrous office gift? I’d love to hear about it.














