My college daughter is staying with her boyfriend's family for about 10 days over Spring break. We are nearly 10 hours away - they are only about 2 hours away. The boyfriend is very sweet & kind we like him alot and his family seems really nice too. They have 5 kids and they are comfortably middle class from what I can tell.
I'd like to send a gift to arrive just as the college kids go back to thank them for their hospitalitiy. I have a few ideas and would like your thoughts on them or better suggestions. I'm looking to spend a total of about $100. They are like me and almost never drink - so wine & liquor isn't an option. Here are my thoughts:
1 - nice gift basket of gourmet stuff - Costco has well priced, high quality packages - they include treats for kids as well as things adults like.
2 - a box of NY themed souvineers - nice NY made handcream for mom, t-shirts and cute stuff for the kids, geared to their ages, a nice NY pen for dad
3 - bagel and lox - I can get warm bagels in the early morning, freeze them and send them overnight service with good nova lox for an authetic NY treat.
Oh - these folks are mid-Atlantic but they're originally from the south & midwest. I'm especially interested to hear from southerners.
So we went into the city and got NYC themed gifts - a subway map mug, a grand central station mousepad, a subway map makeup bag (teenage sister), NYPD t-shirt for a little brother, etc. Nothing tacky, everything useful. We spent about $110 which is much less than if we had bought a round trip train ticket for our girl kto come home for spring break and about what a gift basket would have cost. I will be including some NY specific bakery items from an amazing local bakery too. thanks for your opinions mamas!
Go to stewleonards.com. They make amazing baskets with local foods. And very reasonable priced. There are only 3 stores in the country. They ship anywhere. They started as "world largest dairy store" in the 70s. It am amazing place. You cannot go wrong.
Google Stew Leonard's. You should see Gift Center
I vote for #2. I'm from Texas and love receiving things from other parts of the country, or the world. A friend once sent my son a box of stuff from Alaska and it was so fun going through all of it! When I had my second child, a family friend from Norway sent me a gift of things from there, and that was fabulous! Another friend from Jerusalem sent me lotions made with minerals from the Dead Sea and a book by a local author. I loved it!
I've often sent people from other places traditional "Texas" gifts, and they love it. The NY themed gifts sound perfect to me. :)
how nice!
i'd go with #1. costco really does have some great gift baskets. harry and david's are stupidly expensive, but oh, my! those pears are divine!
the NY themed basket would be cool if there aren't any tchotchkes in 'em. and i would not do the bagels and lox- you don't know if they've acquired the taste. i'm not a lox fan myself.
what might be even nicer would be for your daughter to take the money and take everyone out to dinner. although that might not actually work, now that i think about it. $100 for 7 people would be pretty tight.
i'm glad you're not thinking about gift cards. this is one of the situations where it would be decidedly wrong.
khairete
S.
My mom always told me for a hostess gift or really a gift for anyone you don't know all that well should be "disposable". Like food, wine, lotion, candles, that kind of thing. And they may really love the NY stuff, they may not be their style but feel obligated to keep it b/c its a gift.
Since you want to gear this towards a family gift, could you do a movie night in or night out? Put together a cute basket with fun snacks, Redbox giftcard or dinner at a pizza place and movie passes maybe. You could also ask your daughter what one of their favorite restaurants is or favorite things to do and get specific for them.
I think whatever you do will be appreciated. They sound like lovely people. I kind of like the idea of your daughter buying dinner one night. I'd also make sure she remembers to help with meals and cleanup. That is a LONG time to be a guest.
When some friends stayed with my parents in MA they gave them a set of 4 Tervis tumblers that came with covers. 2 had a Boston picture and 2 had a crab so both a MA theme of sorts. Those cups are super expensive and my parents would never spend the money on them themselves but they absolutely love them and use them all the time. To me that is the perfect sort of gift.
I would steer away from baskets you order online, etc.
Why? While we appreciate the thought of our vendors when they send us baskets for the holidays, the part I like the most is the basket itself. I actually have things in the original box that are leftover from 12/13 and 12/14 in my pantry that I will never use.
The baskets look beautiful in the catalogs and they do not look like that when received. Just a thought.
I personally, like the basket you can do yourself with things from your home state. I have often sent a basket or some type of container filled with Texas Treasures... pralines, bluebonnets, hot sauces, TX pasta, TX Rio Grand Grapefruit, etc. anything TX goes.
I also LOVE gifts from other states filled with things that state is famous for and what not.
We do love and collect fine wines so that hits the spot when it comes to a gift for us. I also love Bath and Body candles and such.
I'd stick with the NY basket. You can make $100 go a long way and make a nice basket. Don't forget about shipping charges..
It is thoughtful of you to send something. So many times, that would not cross the mind of some people.
I think your gift ideas are thoughtful, but simply do not appeal to me at all.
#1 would be my 1st choice, but do you know them well enough to pick for them?
#2 is....eh.
#3 is out. I cannot do lox.
Sooo, if I were the recipient, I would appreciate your daughter taking us out for a special treat...or sending me a gift basket of products she saw used during her stay. & honestly, your daughter should be the "giver" ...even if you provide the funds to do so. :)
I like all of your ideas. As long as you're not talking crappy trinkets like spastic statues of liberty, you're talking a locally made hand cream and tee shirts for kids. Don't give mass produced dust catchers - give local handcrafted wares. I guess I'm in the minority - I adore lox and bagels (even though I can't eat bagels any more).
Please do not give them cash or gift cards! How rude and insulting! "you can't afford to have an extra mouth to feed, so here you go!" That's not what a hostess gift is meant to be. And I doubt they will allow your daughter to pay for dinner one night, so I like the idea, but it would put her in an awkward position.
We always treat our hosts to a meal out or if they have a big family, pizza or whatever food they like. I love when our house guests do that for us - it means a night I don't have to cook, and it's a lovely way to get out and enjoy time together. And it's easy :)
Although I like baskets too - I never use all the stuff in them, and some people really do not like souvenirs. You either do or you don't.
Good luck :) Really thoughtful gesture!
Very nice of you to think about this.
You could give your daughter the money and have her take them all out for dinner.
New York themes - great idea. Remember that bagels don't keep too well, and lox is an acquired taste. So think about that if you don't know for sure that they love it. NY style cheesecake, yes. Maybe a Zabar's assortment?
It has nothing to do with NYC or LI, but Harry & David do outstanding shipments of fresh pears as well as other fruits. They are bigger and juicier than any pears in the supermarket. We have a relative who sends them about once a year, and they are fantastic. You can get into the other things too - sausage & cheese, etc. - or stick with the fruit.
Not sure of the ages of the other kids, but NY style tee shirts or baseball caps are fun - think Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building
You are thoughtful. If you want to do NY themed, but don't want to do bagels & lox, how about a Jr.s cheesecake, or some sort of deli thing.
If I got tchotchkes, I'd appreciate your effort, but would soon have to be rid of them. anti-clutter.
F. B.
I'm not a southerner but I would probably send a nice floral basket of plants/annuals or perennials that they could plant in their yard this spring.
And some good decadent candy.
I think your ideas are nice, but wouldn't really appeal to me, honestly. Why not a nice gift card so they can all go out to eat? Or if your daughter notices something they like or use a lot, maybe some of that?
I think the box of NY-themed souvenirs is very thoughtful and more original than food baskets. With food gifts, you never know what the recipients will like.....
As for bagels and lox, though I'm sure they taste different in NY, I'm in the mid-Atlantic and believe me there are many bagel shops everywhere down here, even some selling lox, so I wouldn't go to the effort of freezing, shipping, etc. Go with the NY gear. They'll appreciate it!
I don't really like the specified ideas. What about $100 to grocery store near them?
