Host gifts for the friend who feeds everybody and gets wine
Everybody who hosts has a rack of bottles from people who did not know what else to bring, and about half of them are wrong. A box gets round it because it is not a guess at their taste, it is something for the table itself, or for the ten minutes before anybody arrives, or for the wreckage afterwards. I pack every box myself here in Canada and write your message onto the card by hand before the lid goes on.
Everybody who hosts has a rack of bottles they did not choose. This is the other thing to bring. I pack every box by hand here in Canada.
Ten boxes for whoever does the hosting, at $99, $119 and $189, and seven of the ten come in two sizes.
Send it ahead of the dinner rather than carrying it, and they get to use it on the night.
Ines. Fourth dinner this year. Enough. Let us feed you.
Love, the Ramirezes
The boxes I would send a host
These are filed under housewarmings and congratulations in my catalogue. They are on this page because every one of them contains something that goes onto a table and stays in the house afterwards.
Showing all 10
The Gourmet Send-Off Box
From$99A small wooden board and the things to put on it. This one goes straight onto a table.
The Charcuterie Congratulations Box
From$99The same idea on slate. The name on it says congratulations, but it is the charcuterie one.
The Kitchen Welcome Box
From$99For the sink rather than the table: dish soap, a brush, two towels and something to graze on.
The Celebration Toast Box
From$99Two glasses to keep and chocolates to pass around. The bottle is your part of it.
The Celebration Spark Box
From$99Proper glasses, popcorn and chocolates, for a host who thinks stemware matters. It does.
The Sweet Scent Home Box
From$99A candle and something sweet to spread, for the morning after rather than the night itself.The Gourmet Treats Box
From$119Nuts, crisps, a good oil and a dish to pour it into, and the largest size on this page.
The Premium Welcome Home Box
A board, good things to put on it, two kitchen towels and something for the hands that wash up.
The Grand Celebration Box
$119A pair of glasses to keep and a proper fuss, with nothing alcoholic anywhere in it.
The Sweet & Savory Gourmet Box
$119Sweet and salty things and a dish to put them out in, for grazing rather than sitting down.
Which one, then
Three different gifts get called a host gift and they arrive at three different moments. Something for the table on the night, something for the kitchen afterwards, and glasses they keep for the next time. Decide which of those you are, then pick. The amount is the other question, and how much to spend on a gift in Canada has its own page.
For the table on the night
Four boxes from $99 to $189: the Gourmet Send-Off Box, the Charcuterie Congratulations Box, the Gourmet Treats Box and the Sweet & Savory Gourmet Box. Boards and the things to put on them. Send one of these ahead of the dinner and it goes out with everything else rather than sitting in the hall behind the coats.
Glasses they keep
Three boxes from $99 to $119: the Celebration Toast Box, the Celebration Spark Box and the Grand Celebration Box. Every one of these has real glassware in it that is still in the cupboard next year, which is the part of a host gift that outlives the evening. The last of them has nothing alcoholic in it anywhere.
For the part nobody thanks them for
Two boxes from $99 to $119: the Kitchen Welcome Box and the Premium Welcome Home Box. Hosting is two hours of being pleased and ninety minutes at a sink. One of these is aimed squarely at the second half, and it is the least obvious and most used gift on this page.
Two sizes on a box, and where the bigger ones are
The boxes on this page run $99, $119 and $189, and seven of the ten come in two sizes. The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. On this page the larger size usually means more to put on the board rather than a second board.
Eight boxes on the site run a ladder of three sizes instead, and the luxury boxes at the top of it are the fullest things I pack. If you came here meaning to spend more than this page asks for, the links under this are the shortest way there.
Send it ahead and the card does the arriving.
You type the message when you order, up to 280 characters, and I write it out in pen on a real card. A host gift handed over at the door gets put down and forgotten in the noise. One that turns up two days before gets opened properly, and the card is read twice.
If you are stuck, people write things like:
"Not another bottle.""For the table, before we ruin it.""You always feed us."
The card, the tissue, the tape and the rest of what happens to a box before it leaves.
Something for the table on Saturday, so you are not doing all of it yourself.
Love, the Ramirezes
Other things they might be into
A host is usually a cook or a baker as well, and both of those have their own shelf here.
If the pleasure is the eating rather than the having people round, the page for somebody who cares what they eat is the closer one.
If they are the one who turns up with a cake, the baker shelf is written about feeding the person who feeds everybody else.
And if the hosting is really four people on a sofa rather than twelve at a table, the boxes for a night in are the ones to look at.
Questions people ask me
Should I bring this to the dinner or send it ahead?
Send it ahead, two or three days out, and say so in the card. A gift handed over at the door lands in the middle of somebody plating six things at once, gets put on a side table and is opened at midnight. A box that arrives beforehand gets opened properly and half the time ends up on the table on the night.
Is there alcohol in any of these?
No. Nothing on this page contains alcohol, which means these ship anywhere in Canada without a licence problem and they suit a host who does not drink. Three of the boxes here have glasses in them and the bottle, if there is going to be one, stays your decision.
What is actually a good host gift, if not wine?
Something that goes onto the table on the night or stays in the cupboard afterwards. On this page that is a board and the things to go on it, a pair of glasses they keep, or the unglamorous kitchen half that nobody ever buys anybody. All three beat a bottle they will put in the rack behind the other bottles.
What are the two sizes?
The larger size of a box is everything in the smaller one and about two more things, picked the way the rest of it was picked. The boxes here run $99, $119 and $189, and seven of the ten come in two sizes, and one of them carries the largest second size of any box I pack. Each box has its own page, and that page says what is in it, so you can check that it really is what this one claims.
How does delivery work?
Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. There is no same-day option and no arrival date on this page, which is the reason to order with room around a dinner rather than up against it. There is a field at checkout where you pick the delivery date you would prefer. All sales are final, so check the address before you order.
Why the wine rack is full and nobody is drinking it
A host gift is the most reflexive purchase in the whole category. Somebody feeds twelve people, everybody arrives holding a bottle chosen in four minutes at a shop near the house, and the rack fills up with things nobody at the table would have picked. It is not a bad gesture. It is just the same gesture from eleven people at once.
The thing a host is actually short of is anything that helps on the night or exists afterwards. A board, because they are always one short. Glasses, because six of the good ones broke. The kitchen half of it, because two hours of being charming ends in ninety minutes at a sink and nobody has ever bought anybody a gift for that.
Every box here is packed by hand in Canada and sent with a card written out by hand. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada and a box is 1 to 7 days in transit. If you want the rest of the catalogue, every box on the site sits in one grid sorted by price.
While you are here
- Housewarming Gift IdeasThe shelf next door, for a house rather than a dinner.
- Gifts for New HomeownersHalf the host gifts on this page started there.
- All the boxesThe whole catalogue in one grid, by price.
If you are not sure which box to send a host, tell me who it is for and roughly what you want to spend and I will tell you what I would pack. I read every message myself, at team@swipegifts.com.