<p>My S will be doing an overnight visit to a college next week that was arranged by one of the professors in the department he applied to. I was just wondering if we should do something for the student who will be hosting my son. I would never visit someone overnight without bringing some sort of “hostess gift”. Should he bring something for the student (I’m thinking junk food or baked goods), or is that just too weird? Has anyone done a visit or been a host?</p>
<p>I think it would be nice and very much appreciated. Homemade cookies or brownies is what I’d do.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to cook, there’s always a Starbucks card.</p>
<p>Both sons did overnights and brought hometown t-shirts for their hosts.</p>
<p>My daughter hosts overnight guest at her college. She never expects a hostess gift. She is doing this for her school. Personally I would stay away from food items as you don’t know about allergies (e.g. most brownie mixes have peanut products in them). The idea of a Starbucks card is nice…but honestly, students like my daughter do not expect a hostess gift.</p>
<p>Brownies:</p>
<p>Melt two sticks of butter in a large saucepan with four ounces of baking chocolate. After everything is melted, add two cups of sugar, stir and remove from heat. Cool slightly. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, to the pan, stirring well after each addition. Add one cup of flour and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour into greased 9x13 baking pan and bake at 350F for about 35 minutes.</p>
<p>No peanuts. Lots of calories. :-)</p>
<p>There’s no expectation of a gift but I think it’s a lovely idea.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s ever been a leftover brownie in a freshman dorm in the history of the world. If the host is allergic, he’ll stick his head out the door and yell “Free brownies!” and a cloud of locusts will descend.</p>
<p>When my D did her overnight, she brought a small Disney souvenir, as we live near Disneyland. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just a “thank you”.</p>
<p>It’s lovely idea, though not expected. Cookies or brownies are great, especially because he can say “Hey. My mom wants you to have these” with or without an eyeroll. Then he’ll see the locusts referred to above and be glad he brought them.</p>
<p>Who uses brownie mixes? They are so easy to make.</p>
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<p>My aunt, who owns a B&B that started out its life as a bakery, would send me a pan of brownies every couple of months while I was at college. I believe that these brownies were a delicate mixture of butter and crack, with some cocoa for coloring. Butter and crack has a tendency to go straight to my thighs, so I would liberally share.</p>
<p>I was on the elevator once, carrying a Fed-Ex box about the size of a dictionary. Someone I did NOT EVEN KNOW who was riding on the elevator with me got a slightly-insane look in their eye and asked, “Is that those brownies…?”</p>
<p>It was indeed those brownies. I still don’t know who that person was. I still don’t know how they knew that the innocuous-looking Fed-Ex box was brownies. It was well-sealed; I was not wafting delicious aroma.</p>
<p>I recommend brownies. Particularly the kind with butter and crack. It makes college kids go mental.</p>
<p>^^^ Please ask your aunt to share her recipe for Butter and Crack Brownies. Also her source…:D</p>
<p>There is definitely no expectation of gifts on the host’s part. Of course, exceeding expectations is something most people around here like to do. 
Some homemade treat would definitely be much appreciated – like Hanna said, if the host is allergic or doesn’t want them, he can share with his friends. The hometown t-shirt is a nice idea too, or a local treat. Bringing a gift could also be a good icebreaker if conversation is difficult to get started.</p>
<p>OK, I’ll go off on the brownie tangent some more.</p>
<p>I am a big subscriber to the “why not make it from scratch if it doesn’t take longer and tastes better” school of cooking, e.g. mashed potatoes and frosting. However I always use the Duncan Hines brownie mix cuz they’re great and my kids devour them.</p>
<p>I sent cookies to students from my son’s hs who met with us on college visits. It was a joy for me to do it. I assume they were able to eat or give away the cookies. No complaints.</p>
<p>LOL, souproudofkids,</p>
<p>I read your post too quickly and, at first, I thought you were suggesting that the OP’ s son take mashed potatoes and frosting! :D</p>
<p>A few years ago we flew from Wis to Seattle for a vacation and brought brownies from my sister for her college son there. Good excuse to need to visit him.</p>
<p>If you want to stray from home made, you could also give your son cash to buy the traditional late night pizza that us freshman are so fond of. Every campus has a great local late night pizza joint that tends to deliver to dorms, so that could be another fun thing for him to experience.</p>
<p>However, it’s impossible to go wrong with anything home made and sweet, though SBUX wouldn’t be bad either.</p>
<p>As if it hadn’t been said enough…nothing is expected, but anything is welcome! You’re great for thinking of him.</p>
<p>soproudofkids - if you ever make homemade buttercream frosting (basically powdered sugar, butter & a little vanilla extract), you’ll never use the canned frosting again. It’s so easy to make (not all buttercream frosting has to be cooked) & tastes 10x better. Costs a lot less also.</p>
<p>Ummmm . . . . . . butter and sugar. What could be better?</p>