I enjoy receiving candles this time of year. Or anything usable, like tea, soaps etc

I do not like to receive decor gifts because I'm rather picky about that. One of my dearest friends is the most thoughtful person I know but she chooses decor items for me that she likes.

Saying that, I often give candles or other scented items as hostess gifts. We have a few shops in town that have the scents of the season that I'll pick up as gifts.

I make a few homemade items (syrups and sugars) that I'll place in decorative containers and give away.

I'm growing a few paperwhites to give as hostess gifts later this month.

editing for typos... not enough coffee this morning.

For the most part, I give the same gifts that I've enjoyed receiving. Interesting olive oils and vinegars, coffee, local artisan spice blends and locally made specialty food items. I have also given wilton armetale pewter serving pieces to a few family members who collect it (my favorite was a majolica onion shaped casserole-- so hard to find that I can't even find a photo to share).

This has been my go to for a few years -- especially for the holidays. He always has a new blend to release so I am sure to have something new and interesting to give. A limited number of his spices and blends are available on etsy.

Seems like everyone we know brings wine. That is great, but in our case, I don't drink red wine and people always seem to give us red wine. Well, it makes DH happy because he drinks it.

A friend of mine almost always gives us a box of fancy cookies from a specific bakery that makes amazing cookies in fun designs. Another friend once brought us a bag of biscotti made by a local baker, and they were so nice to have with coffee the next day.

If I bring wine to someone, I always add either a cute/fun wine stopper, or a package of funny cocktail napkins, or an ornament if they celebrate Christmas.

Chocolates are always nice! I am obsessed with salted dark chocolate caramels.

Have any of you seen the Corksickles? They are $20 here and I'm debating about whether it would be a nice hostess gift for someone who drinks wine. You freeze it and then put it in the bottle of wine to chill it quickly. Except some wines are supposed to breathe so I don't know whether it would really be useful. I tend to chill my whites and keep them in a chilling vessel with ice when serving multiple bottles.

We received a corksicle a few years ago. We keep it in the freezer where it takes up very little space, and it does chill the white wine. But, we hardly ever use it now, we find the wraps that you store in the freezer and slide the bottle into it, are more convenient. No wet corksicle to rinse, dry, and put back in the freezer. That said, it is a cool gift that we have given ourselves with some nice cocktail napkins and a bottle of wine.

We get tons of wine, which we then serve at the next party. We are pretty clueless about wine so I have no idea if it is swill or precious, except by the demeanor of the giver, sometimes, LOL.

I also get a lot of soaps and the like. TBH, i give them to our school's holiday bazaar. They take new/regifted items so that little kids can go "shopping" for their parents and siblings. It is also a fundraiser.

I asked for hostess gift suggestions about a year ago on this board and I think it was Funky and perhaps others who suggested local and edible. I really like that idea, and try to hone to it. That way it is not wasted and it supports the community. Sometimes it needs a little packaging to spruce it up, but that part is fun.

Oh yes.. I was tickled with the hostess gift I put together for a friend's annual cookie baking party. I bought vanilla sugar, saigon cinnamon and a cumin-maple blend (not really cookie material.. but hey, I went with it!) from Calicutt spices pictured above) and I packaged it with a couple of lottery tickets with a christmas cookie theme. I NEVER buy lottery tickets but they seemed appropriate and I worked them in with the bow. I tend to do that kind of a thing.. I have two local businesses that showcase a lot of PA artisanal businesses and we are seeing many more of them in the farmers' markets.

No offense to anyone intended-- but i never understood giving soaps! I am so particular about (and sensitive to) scents, I'd never buy anything scented unless I knew for a fact that they liked not only the scent but the line.

I have heard poor reviews of the corksicles. No one I know cared for them or used them... but I'll also add that at home, I put ice in my white wine so consider the source! I have bought the vinago wine thermos from the same company though and I think they are great! I see you can get them personalized now too with an engraved message or initials. It holds a full bottle of wine and keeps it at temperature for many hours.
(I don't really consider this a hostess gift though)

We were invited to a gathering at a friend's the week before Christmas last year. I knew she had grandkids coming to stay so I made up a batch of peppermint marshmallows & packaged them up with a tin of good hot chocolate. I was told they were a big hit.

I like to give edible/consumable gifts, too. I have given homemade biscotti, a small variety box of spices from a local spice shop, peppermint hot cocoa from Williams Sonoma, kitchen soap & lotion sets from Williams Sonoma, good olive oil & balsamic vinegar, etc. In the past, I have given a Christmas music CD when I knew the recipient's musical taste. Although I suppose now, for most people, CD's are no longer used. I recently received a bottle of homemade vanilla in a nice bottle with a really unusual label the giver made on the computer - it looked so professional and pretty. The giver knows I like to bake so it was a good gift for me. I also like seasonal dish or hand towels, and a couple of times I have given cloth napkins I made.

I make orange sugar walnuts as hostess gifts. Quick and easy but also unique and delicious.

I have received countless bottles of wine....I don't drink alcohol....never have. Apparently no one notices that.

Funkyart, I think you could say that about almost anything, not just soaps. People bring us wine; we usually pass it along to neighbors because we so seldom drink it. A neighbor brought us a lovely bottle of port. I have no idea when we would ever open port, neither of us likes it. Someone recently brought me very nice local jams. My kids are weird and don't eat jam. I have it maybe once a month? Probably less Not sure what I'm going to do with those. All very nice gifts though!

My general plan in choosing hostess gifts is a consumable so that the person never has to worry about using it or displaying it in front of me, something that does not need to be served at the event I am attending, something that does not require immediate attention, and something "nice." By nice, I mean it feels a bit posh and is attractively packaged. Soaps tick all those boxes (though I also do olive oil and vinegar and other more personal choices at times). If the hostess doesn't like guest soaps, I figure they are easily donated or passed along to someone else (or used in a bathroom the hostess doesn't use).

Cawaps, will you share the recipe for the walnuts?

I misplaced it last year. I'm going to try to do it from memory this year--if it works, I will come back and post it.

Orchids

Is this the walnut recipe?

That is very similar...mine uses orange zest rather than orange extract and the ratio of coating to nuts is higher. Your recipe gives me more confidence that my memory is right, though. (Edited to say that I made it and yes, this is the right recipe. Yay memory!)

I think my recipe was:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1 Tbs orange zest (I always put in more)

1 tsp corn syrup

2-3 cups walnut halves (2 is IMHO too few; I always used 3)

Cook to soft ball, remove from heat, add walnuts and stir, stir, stir, until the coating goes opaque and starts to set up. Dump onto parchment paper and separate immediately.

It's an interesting recipe. I don't understand the science behind it, and why the candy sets up crunchy even though the coating was only cooked to soft ball. Also, I tried it once with pecans and it didn't set up the way it was supposed to. So I've wondered if there is some chemical reaction going on that I don't understand (maybe I just messed up the recipe in some other way and it wasn't the fault of the pecans).