Here’s, a batch of items that are sure to get you invited back to Christmas parties, and your pal’s beach house, year after year.
After all, there’s one thing better than owning your own weekend home: being a welcome, and frequent, guest at somebody else’s. You reap all the rewards — a great tan, plenty of lazy Sundays and the perfect excuse to R.S.V.P. no to city soirees — without any of the upkeep anxiety. The trick is becoming one quickly and with grace. A good gift, one that has been picked to delight, can go a long way.
When choosing a present for the host or hostess, it should be something he or she would love, that fits into his or her style, that they can use right now, but that’s also a bit extravagant. Chocolates are safe, but unoriginal.
Wine is always acceptable but think beyond the usual red or white. Good champagne or that latest gin will always strike the right note.
A fail-safe strategy: Keep your host, merry. Bring a bottle, of the latest gin, tequila, good champange, and let the good times roll. Try www.fourpillarsgin.com.au or www.danmurphys.com.au
Not everyone chills out with a glass of wine. Health nuts and New Agers will be grateful for a spritz from Mecca’s vast array of magnesium and essential oil sprays, which deliver relaxation, in all kinds of dreamy blends of lavender and arnica oil. Try www.mecca.com.au
Give the aesthete a chance to show off with the latest books on interior design, gardens, or travel, for their coffee table. Check out hot publishers, Taschen, Assouline, Vendome or Rizzoli for new releases. City guides are a fun gift, too.
If you’re being entertained by your host all weekend, the least you do is provide some timeless rattan placemats, a tray, basket or gesture towards the tablescape. It doesn’t get any better than the new wicker arrivals at Orient House, www.orienthouse.com.au
You won’t go wrong with a pretty plant to enliven your host’s house. Seek out mini topiary, clipped lavender, rosemary or succulents, that don’t take up too much space.
Other host gift ideas include things that add to a collection, whether its glass cake-stands, ceramic milk jug or a wicker sun hat. French, Italian or English soaps or bath oils. Quality extra-virgin oil or sea-salt flakes. A box of seasonal fruit. Scented beeswax candles.
A teapot that pours beautifully like Le Crueset’s in a classic pot-bellied shape with a handle that never heats up. Never trust a pot made in a country where tea is not a tradition. No dribbles allowed. Lead image via @brooketestoni Instagram.
