Food Gifts Simplify My Life

I have to admit, I am not a great shopping enthusiast! Except around the Christmas and Channukah holidays, I hate the parking problems, I don’t enjoy browsing aisle after aisle looking for something that would be just perfect for Grandma or Uncle Arthur. I certainly do not like standing on line with frustrated people killing time for the lone employee to handle a complicated exchange. During the holidays, I enjoy meandering through stores simply people watching, without being weighted down with bulky packages. The experience for some reason gets me into a holiday mood, but I do my actual shopping and buying almost entirely online. That’s a practice I developed in the very early years of the Web.

While online shopping keeps me from being pushed around in a busy department store or standing in line at a little boutique, it doesn’t keep me from the most dreaded part of any gift giving event; choosing the right gift for a birthday, a holiday, a sick friend or whomever. Then about five years ago, I discovered food.

Of course, I actually discovered food when I was still an infant, but it didn’t occur to me as a great gift until I had suffered through many rounds of birthdays, baby showers, and countless other events that seem to always pop up. I received a gift basket of little sausages, spreadable cheeses and plain crackers. It was terrible! At the same time, though, I thought what a great gift this could have been. All they had to change in the gift was the quality of the contents!

Since then, I have been busy conducting research (that’s just my word for “sampling”). I have found online vendors who offer genuine quality for about the same price that you can get that synthetic stuff at the mall. (You know the one I mean, but I’m not about to open myself to a libel or slander charge by naming the brand.) Just like the mall kiosks, the online shops handle all the shipping, gift cards, everything. I know that my gifts will be exceptionally pleasant surprises for all of my gift recipients.

These Internet shops offer everything from gourmet fruit baskets to live lobster dinners (well, they won’t be alive when they are actually eaten), from wine gift baskets to cookie bouquets. The array of gift foods is really quite amazing.

For those on my gift list who live nearby, I usually assemble my own gift baskets. Even in those cases, the Internet comes to my rescue with helpful suggestions about how to make my self-assembled gift foods more interesting. The available articles also have great gift ideas for special people who often happen to be especially difficult when it comes to choosing a gift.

So join me in thanking the Internet for teaching me how to walk through an aisle of a store, empty handed, with a huge smile. I can do that, now, just to soak up the spirit of the season. I’m a tourist when I’m there instead of a frantic shopper.

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Tough Times Gift Ideas

A few days ago, I talked with a family friend who recently learned that his huge manufacturing company was closing his plant. He is actually luckier than most of the people working for that company. He very recently reached the magic age at which he qualifies for early retirement, so he will continue to have a steady income. Those who did not reach that milestone of the specified number of years with the company will get a small severance package and be left to search for a job in that difficult market. That got me thinking about giving gifts for special occasions to those people who are experiencing difficult economic situations. I came up with a few suggestions that make more sense than a piece of home decor or a new tie. Here are some of them:

A fruit basket is healthy, beautiful, yummy and always enjoyed. If you live near your gift recipient, you can find a lovely basket or other attractive container and fill it with fruit that is in season in your region of the country, obtained at a farmers market, and then fill it out with a few exotic fruits picked up at your neighborhood specialty store. If your loved one is farther away, you can arrange for any of a large range of beautiful fruit gift baskets to be delivered directly to the person’s home. It will help them to reduce their grocery bill that month.

A special meal is another way to remember a special occasion or holiday. One possibility might be to take the friend or family member to a popular local restaurant. If price is no object to you, be sure to recommend a couple of the more expensive entrees on the menu, so that your guests know that they should not worry about ordering what they want. For example, you might say something like, “The crab legs are wonderful here, but, if you don’t like seafood, try the tender and tasty filet mignon.” If they live too far away for that, you can actually find delicious, gourmet, chef-prepared meals online that arrive frozen and can be heated in almost no time. (I actually keep my freezer stocked with these.)

A final recommendation is a scrumptious dessert. Now, lets face it, nobody should indluge in too many desserts, but on a birthday, anniversary or holiday, everyone deserves a chance to feel a little pampered. Bake cookies, if that is a skill of yours, and hand deliver or have them delivered. For something a little more special consider giving them a delicious pie or a New York cheesecake. Whether you make it yourself or have others do the work for you doesn’t matter. It will be appreciated and definitely enjoyed either way.

You’ll notice a common feature in these suggestions. They all involve food. Someone who is going through a difficult time may not want to accept charity, but nobody can reject a genuinely special gift. If it reduces the grocery bill by a bit, so much the better.

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Choosing Among Food Gift Alternatives

Gift baskets are soooo last year!  Or is it last decade?  Actually, I hope the correct response is neither.  (Lock it in; that’s my final answer.)  You see, I make my living by selling gift baskets (among other food gifts).  Granted, it may be less significant that solving the global warming problem or removing a pesky mouse from under your kitchen cabinet, but it’s an honest way to pay for the roof over my family’s head.

I know what you’re thinking: “All of his gift problems are solved; he just gives the same boring baskets year after year to everyone.”  I want to disabuse you of your smug attitude!  In fact, I face the same dilemmas that you face during any gift giving, decision making crisis.

I don’t give only baskets of joy to my loved ones.  However, even if I did, the choice would still not be easy.  My company alone offers scores of fruit baskets, wine gift baskets, gourmet food options and far more.  (I know what you’re thinking right now, “Please, oh please, just tell me where this wonderful paradise is located so that I can go there to buy your most expensive offerings for everyone on my gift list!”  Please be patient.

Before you coerce me into giving away my store location, I want to share my own decision making strategy with you.

First, I decide on an appropriate category of gift.  If Uncle Milton has his drinking problem under control for the first time in ten years, then the wine gift baskets are out of the running.  Instead, I’ll opt for a gourmet fruit basket with something seasonal.  After years of ignoring the nutritional value of what he consumed, he could use a few extra servings of fruit in solid form.

Aunt Millie, on the other hand, is a great wine sipper.  Frankly, I don’t know if she really enjoys the wine, but she sure enjoys talking about it.  She loves to let everyone know the best vintage years, the kinds of grapes that are used in various blends and, most of all, how much she spent on the wine you just spilled all over her new carpeting ($95 a square yard).  She’ll get a simple wine gift basket, but I’m not going to spring for the champagne!  (I’m also not going to pay for the carpet cleaning; not after what that cat of hers did to my new coat.)

My nephew, Alfred, recently married his long time girlfriend.  Frankly, it’s about time.  It took him eight years to decide that she was worth parting with enough money to pay for a diamond and another five when he found out that it is customary to pay the minister who performs the ceremony.  What he wants is a check.  Well, he’s not getting that from me.  I’m sending them a chef-prepared gourmet meal for two.  I figure it’s the only way to get that cheap guy’s new bride out of the kitchen for an evening.  (They honeymooned by visiting me!)

Second, I decide how much I’m willing to spend on these losers.

My grandson is getting the latest video game system and whatever else he wants.  Let’s face it; he is truly special.  I’d get him a sports car if you would visit my store and buy a lot more gift baskets!  Come on, do your part.  He really wants one.  Please?

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