<p>D has been invited to spend Thanksgiving with a classmate’s family. She is in Pennsylvania. We are in California. This family has already gone out of their way to include her when they visit school or attend the girls" sport matches.</p>
<p>I want to do something to thank them and perhaps contribute to the Thanksgiving weekend. Waffling between restaurant gift card or shipping something local like some wonderful olive oils. </p>
<p>I would love some input from others who may have been on either end of a similar situation.</p>
<p>Our daughter did this for years with a relative when she was in college…and spent the whole thanksgiving week with them. We sent an Omaha Steak package every year…figured we could contribute to the groceries that way. We also sent the thanksgiving flower centerpiece via one of the online florists.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of restaurant gift cards in these situations. I would send something local or homemade, or an actual food item like the Omaha steaks that they can choose to serve at that time or not.</p>
<p>I also would not pick out someone else’s centerpiece. Sending flowers other than that would be nice, though.</p>
<p>It would be even more appropriate, IMHO, for your D to bring a hostess gift.</p>
<p>Consolation, totally agree that daughter should bring a hostess gift, but I also want to thank this family for relieving some of my parental anxiety about sending my baby so far away.</p>
<p>I have given See’s, or to go upscale, the truffle shop in Nevada City, CA is fantastic.
A good local coffee bean, we now send from The Woods coffee, WA based but still west coast and recipients have told me they placed follow up orders online.
Knott’s jams, especially Boysenberry, is hard to find elsewhere.
The Vacaville dried fruit and nut basket via Costco is about $35 including shipping, just sent it to some who said the quality was excellent</p>
<p>There are some great online bakeries that have delicious cakes. Can’t think of the names right now. But a nice sweet treat that could be enjoyed all weekend would be a thoughtful gesture.</p>
<p>Please, in the name of all that’s holy, if you are going to send chocolate don’t make it See’s! See’s candy is mediocre at best. There are great local chocolatiers everywhere. If you want to send something from California try Fran’s or Moonshadow, at least.</p>
<p>I understand, westparent. :)</p>
<p>ETA: I am a chocolatier, which is my excuse for beings so opinionated. :)</p>
<p>Consolation…just FYI…I sent flowers. Almost all of the thanksgiving arrangements can be used as centrrpieces…or not.</p>
<p>We received Sees chocolates as a gift and really enjoyed them. They were not “gourmet” chocolates, but we’re very tasty. If I were from CA and wanted to send CA chocolates, I would send them. Not every chocolate gift needs to be a gourmet treat. We sent had made truffles from a very swanky shop in Santa Fe as a thank you gift once. To be honest…they were over priced…pretty, yes…but really over priced.</p>
<p>I was just looking at Stonewall Kitchen’s website for Christmas gift ideas. They have some nice hostess gifts, salsas, chutneys, jelly, aioli sauces, crackers, pancake mixes, syrups,etc.</p>
<p>My “go to” in situations like this is Gearharts Fine Chocolates operating out Virginia. They put together a really beautiful gift box and will ship anywhere. Their salted brown butter caramels are out of this world, but you can put together a custom box of your choice. We have done the other high end chocolatiers like Maison du Chocolat, Teuscher and Vosges, but always come back to Gearharts. They are a real crowd pleaser.</p>
<p>I have been the recipient of a lovely Thanksgiving centerpiece sent from my D’s future mother-in-law on the occasion of the first holiday the couple spent at my home (two months after their engagement).
I thought it was a wonderful and gracious idea, and took a picture of the couple at the table with the arrangement showing, and sent it to her afterwards. It is one of my favorite pictures, and I will always remember her thoughtfulness to have sent that, when I know she must have been missing her son.
So this is one vote in favor of an arrangement, sent to arrive a couple of days ahead so the hostess skips purchasing other table flowers.</p>
<p>I am thinking I need to order some Gearhart’s and send to…myself! See’s has been a part of holidays in our family for as far back as I can remember, so there are definite emotional ties to it. But it does not seem to have the iconic appeal that regional inaccessibility used to engender.</p>
<p>I am liking the idea of shipping local made to D to take as hostess gift (there are not too many shopping options near school). I can send something more perishable from our family directly to their family.</p>
<p>See’s candy tastes like my childhood Easter baskets, so I am not judging them on just chocolate ;)</p>
<p>[The</a> Truffle Shop - Nevada City, California, chocolate truffles, sandwiches and baked goodies!](<a href=“http://www.thetruffleshop.com/]The”>http://www.thetruffleshop.com/)
Consolation, check them out, my mother has been eating them for 30 years, we still give them for her birthday every year!</p>
<p>Another vote for shipping something that’s your regional specialty. We once hosted a Texan during college years and her family sent us a pecan pie. I can practically still taste it; it was that good. </p>
<p>From California to Pennsylvania, perhaps some Spanish bottled excellent brands of barbecue sauce or salsa, using peach or mango, things hard to find at this season in the Northeast. If they don’t use it at the table, they can enjoy it later on.</p>