Autumn Host and Hostess Gifts

Choose Halloween or Harvest Themed Items for Fall Giving

Oct 4, 2008 Jamie McIntosh

If you're attending a harvest celebration or Halloween party this fall, bring a hostess gift that celebrates autumn. Hostess gift ideas include food, drinks, and décor.

The holiday entertaining season used to focus on the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but more people are extending the holiday season by throwing Halloween parties and harvest celebrations. If you’re a guest at one of these events, bring your host a gift that complements the crisp air and abundance that characterize fall.

Baked Goods

Everyone loves the aroma and flavor of homemade baked goods, but not everyone has the time or talent for baking. The best of autumn baking isn’t about fancy presentation, it’s about celebrating seasonal foods like apples, pumpkins, and winter squash. Even if you don’t have time to bake from scratch, you can dress up boxed muffin or cake mixes with a can of pumpkin or some diced apples.

Don’t limit your baked offerings to sweet choices. Bring an assortment of savory muffins or rolls that your hostess can serve with soups or use in sandwiches. Another possibility is bread bowls. Many bakeries sell small, round loaves of bread that the hostess can hollow out and use for serving individual bowls of soup.

Wine and Spirits

If your hostess enjoys wine, consider a gift that pairs well with hearty fall fare like chili and stew. Merlot, Chianti, and zinfandel are good wine pairings with rich fall recipes that feature beef, lamb, or veal. For hosts that prefer spirits over wine, provide a bottle of dark rum for making hot buttered rum. You can provide the ingredients for another satisfying but simple fall cocktail that combines cinnamon schnapps with hot apple cider.

Fall Flowers

Typical fall flower arrangements feature sunflowers, berries, chrysanthemums, and miniature gourds. If you bring a fall flower bouquet, consider providing a hollowed out pumpkin or cornucopia basket in which to place the flowers.

For hosts who have a green thumb, a living plant is a thoughtful gift that can bring color to the fall landscape. Suitable choices for fall planting include pansies, asters, ornamental kale, and mums.

Autumn Décor

Although there are several varieties of artificial pumpkins sold in craft stores that you can carve, nothing beats the appeal of giving a real jack-o’-lantern. You can purchase a pumpkin and carve the traditional triangular eyes and nose with a crescent-shaped mouth or you can buy a pumpkin carving kit for an ornate presentation.

If you are staying for an extended weekend with your hostess, consider an extraordinary gift that she can display throughout the fall season. Purchase a hay bale from a local nursery or hardware store, and place it on the front porch. Craft a simple, old-fashioned scarecrow using old clothes stuffed with newspaper. This gift idea is the most fun if you can set it up before the hostess arrives home to find this unexpected guest perched on the bale.

The copyright of the article Autumn Host and Hostess Gifts in Entertaining is owned by Jamie McIntosh. Permission to republish Autumn Host and Hostess Gifts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Fall Baking