14 Hostess Gift Ideas

By Lorene Troyer 

It's a nice gesture to take a small gift for the host and hostess when visiting or having dinner with them. It does not have to cost a lot. Just put some thought into what they may like. Here are some ideas:

A small plant- this can be a potted herb or a nice houseplant.

Fresh flowers- you can either buy them or get them from your yard or garden. It's a good idea to put them in a vase, so your hostess doesn't have to take the time to do it.

Chocolate- it's easy and fairly inexpensive to pick up a gift box of chocolates (truffles, chocolate covered nuts etc.)

Cookies- you can either bake them yourself (which makes them extra special) or buy them. If you make them yourself, consider putting them on an attractive paper plate so the hostess won't need to be concerned about returning your container.

Sparking grape juice-this is one of my favorite items to give (and recieve). Easy, inexpensive, and tasteful (excuse the pun). 
  
Scented candle- there are many varieties, brands, scents and price ranges to pick from- depending on your budget and how well you know the hostess.

Potpourri or a reed fragrance diffuser- these usually come in beautiful packaging. It's recommended that you stay with neutral scents (such as clean cotton) if you don't know what the hostess likes in the way of scents.     

Homemade bread- something like banana or zucchini bread. If you don't want to bake it from scratch, you can always buy a box of bread mix. It's especially nice to take it when it's fresh out of the oven.

Cupcakes- You can buy them or bake them yourself. It's fairly easy (though a bit time consuming) to make cupcakes from a cake mix.

Fruit basket- you can arrange some fruits, mixed nuts or other items in a basket or other container.

Coffee or tea- if your hostess is a coffee or tea drinker, you can pick up a coffee or tea specialty or sampler box.  You could take it a step further and make a gift basket, adding items such as a mug, gourmet cookies, biscotti, and chocolate.

Handmade soaps-these can be found in health food stores or bought online. Add a washcloth or two and a hand towel. Wrap it up in tulle, tie with a ribbon and you are good to go.

Photo album or quality photo frame-unless you are familiar with the recipient's decor, stay with something neutral- no purple and yellow polka dot design :)

Flavored popcorn- there are many different popcorn recipes to pick from- cinnamon, chocolate, caramel etc. After it's made, put it in an attractive but inexpensive container that can stay with the hostess. (Maybe a bowl from the dollar store.)

I'm sure there are tons of other ideas- leave a comment and tell us yours.

Funny Thinking of You Cards from Greeting Card Universe

Funny Wedding Anniversary Quotes

*A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. - Paul Sweeney

*Marriage requires a person to prepare 4 types of "Rings": Engagement Ring Wedding Ring, Suffering, Enduring. -Author Unknown

*Scientists have discovered that the longer people stay married, the more they begin to look alike. After 25 years you better start putting name tags in your underwear. Happy Anniversary. -Author Unknown

*One advantage of marriage is that, when you fall out of love with him or he falls out of love with you, it keeps you together until you fall in again. -Judith Viorst

*We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love. - Robert Fulghum

*Love is not blind - It sees more and not less, but because it sees more it is willing to see less. -Will Moss

*You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. -Dr. Seuss

*Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. -Robert Heinlein

*Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots - Hoosier Farmer

*All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble.
-Raymond Hull

*Look your best -- who said love is blind? -Mae West

*Marriage succeeds only as lifetime commitment with no escape clauses. -Dr. James Dobson
 
*Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
-Martin Luther

Father's Day Cards from Daughter at Greeting Card Universe

15 Father's Day Quotes from Daughter

• To her the name of father was another name for love. -Fanny Fern

• Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad. -Anne Geddes

•  It's only when you grow up, and step back from him, or leave him for your own career and your own home -- it's only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it. Pride reinforces love. -Margaret Truman

•  He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.  -Clarence Budington Kelland                              

• Dad, you're someone to look up to no matter how tall I've grown.  -Author Unknown

• Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance. -Ruth E. Renkel

•  My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. - Jim Valvano 
• Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever.  -Author Unknown

• My dad so convinced me that I was a wonderful woman. I would never be able to stay with a guy who continually mistreated me. 
  

• A dad is someone who wants to catch you before you fall but instead picks you up, brushes you off, and lets you try again. -Anonymous
   
• My dad laid down his life for us ... working 60 plus hours a week just so we could have a roof over our heads, food to eat and a car to drive.
   
• It was my father who taught me to value myself. He told me that I was uncommonly beautiful and that I was the most precious thing in his life. -Dawn French

•  It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping.-John Sinor

• My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. - Jim Valvano
  
  

             The greatest gift I ever had 
            Came from God; 
           I call him Dad! -Author Unknown

27 Funny Birthday Quotes for Women

*You're not 40, you're eighteen with 22 years experience. (change as appropriate)
-Author Unknown

*Actually, I wanted to get you something super great, super terrific, unique and beautiful for your birthday, but I don’t fit into the envelope. -Author Unknown

*Age is a number and mine is unlisted.-Author Unknown

*Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life. -Daniel Francois Esprit Auber 

*Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.- Jennifer Yane

*Youth is the gift of nature, but age is the work of art. -Garson Kanin

*It's sad to grow old, but nice to ripen. -Bridgitte Bardot

*Nature gives you the face you have at twenty, but it's up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.
-Coco Chanel

*Please don't retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them. -Anna Magnani

*A woman is like a tea bag. It's only when she's in hot water that you realize how strong she is.
-Nancy Reagan

*Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed.  -Charles Schultz 

*Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.- Author Unknown

*Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. -Jack Benny 

*Don't make a big fuss over my birthday-just give me cash and I'll be fine. -Anonymous

*Artificial intelligence is a wonderful thing. I told my computer that today is my birthday, and it said that I need an upgrade.-Author Unknown

*A woman is no older than she looks. -French Proverb

*A well-adjusted woman is one who not only knows what she wants for her birthday, but knows what she's going to exchange it for. -Author Unknown

*They say that age is all in your mind. The trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body.-Author Unknown

*I believe in loyalty. When a woman reaches an age she likes, she should stick with it. -Eva Gabor

*A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.- Author Unknown

*Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts. -Martin Buxbaum

*Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese. - Author Unknown

*Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.- Author Unknown

*When I turned two I was really anxious, because I’d doubled my age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I’m five I’ll be 64. - Author Unknown

*The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there. -Betty Grable

*The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. -Lucille Ball

*You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. -Bob Hope (If these calculations are correct .. you won't be old for many, many years.) 

*Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do about it. -Golda Meir

*A man (or woman) who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. -Muhammad Ali

10 Happy Father's Day Cards

Happy Father's Day Cards from Greeting Cards Universe

20 Father Day Quotes and Sayings

*He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. -Clarence Budington
Kelland

*How true Daddy's words were when he said: 'All children must look after their own
upbringing.' Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final
forming of a person's character lies in their own hands." -Anne Frank, German Jew and
Holocaust Victim

*Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!
-Lydia M. Child, U.S. Author

*My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and
say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're
raising boys." -Harmon Killebrew

*The greatest gift I ever had came from God; I call him Dad! -Author Unknown

*To her the name of father was another name for love." -Fanny Fern

*A Man's children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the
growing season. -Author Unknown

*It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. -Johann Schiller

*Dad, you're someone to look up to no matter how tall I've grown. -Author Unknown

*A father carries pictures where his money used to be. -Author Unknown

*It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.
-Pope John XXIII

*Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers- and fathering is a very
important stage in their development. - David M. Gottesman

*When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the
old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had
learned in seven years. -Author unknown

*The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. -Author
unknown

*A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most
valuable assets in our society." -Billy Graham, Christian Evangelist

*Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
-Anonymous

*One father is more than a hundred Schoolmasters. -George Herbert, Outlandish
Proverbs, 1640

*You know, fathers just have a way of putting everything together. - Erika Cosby

*Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope. -Bill Cosby

*I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. -M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter

Are you looking for some Humorous Fathers Day Cards?

Birthday Wishes for Mother in Law: 14 Birthday Cards

Here are some beautiful birthday greetings for mother-in-law from Greeting Card Universe.

Looking for a special message to put in your card? Go to Birthday Wishes for Mother-in-Law

12 Ideas of What to Give as a Wedding Gift

A friend or acquaintance of the family is getting married and you're wondering what to give as a wedding gift. If they have a gift registry, it's best to stick with that- but you can't or choose not to, here are some other ideas.

Cash- this is a versatile, practical gift that can be used as the newly weds see fit.

Gift card to a nice restaurant in the area where they will be living.

 Plush, soft towels and wascloths- if you know the color of their bathroom, choose a coordinating color, otherwise white will be your best bet.

A nice array of picture frames.  The couple will be able to display their photos, artwork or important documents.







A slow cooker. These are very handy- they make it easy to cook a nutritious meal while saving time and energy.








High quality silverware or flatware set. Many homes use one set for everyday use and another set for special occasions (and in my family, a set to use in the camper).







 Blender or hand mixer. I received a hand mixer as a wedding gift over 20 years ago and am still using it.








Gift basket filled with various items that the couple can use. You could either be practical and fill it with things such as cleaning supplies or you could do something fun like filling it with various kinds of treats and sweets. 





A clock. If the couple is just starting out, they will probably need a couple of these for their home.  If you don't know their decor preferences, keep it in a neutral color.









A quality glass drinkware set. Make sure it's dishwasher safe.   





 
Throw blanket. These are nice to snuggle under while watching a movie or to keep on the foot of the bed when the nights are chilly.









A basic cookbook. (If one of them is a culinary expert, you may want to skip this one.)









Clear stackable storage containers. This is a great way to help keep their favorite foods fresh and organized.








Personalized pillow cases. This is a gift that can be used and treasured for many years.