The art of gift-giving is a skill I desperately want to be good at. It seems like it should be easy, right? Well, that isn’t always the case. The easiest people to buy for are kids. They want anything and everything they see in a store or on an ad. It gets tricky when you want to give a gift to another adult.
Adults generally buy the things they need and want for themselves, which means if you want to give them a gift it needs to be something thoughtful. Now, I’m not a gift-giving expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I found a super cute, super thoughtful gift that at least one person in your life would love to receive.
Keep scrolling to learn how I put together the most adorable and thoughtful cookbook gift basket!
Cookbook Gift Basket
Recently I gifted The Comfortable Kitchen to my sister-in-law. I received a copy as a Christmas gift and have really been enjoying it! So, I bought a copy for my sister-in-law. Now, I could have just popped it in a gift bag and given it to her like that. The book itself is a perfectly nice gift in and of itself. However, I wanted to amp it up a little bit.
In every cookbook, the author has his/her “go-to” ingredients that are used throughout the book. The recipes in this book call for a lot of coconut milk, kosher salt, cassava flour, and avocado oil. I thought it would be fun to pull together a gift basket that included several of the author’s favorite ingredients to go along with the cookbook. Then I added a cookbook holder to make using the cookbook a little easier. I added a little tissue paper, a bow, then voila! The whole thing ended up super cute!
One great thing about gifting a basket is that you can make it fit your budget. Thoughtful doesn’t have to mean expensive. There are plenty of helpful little kitchen gadgets you can find at any price point. Honestly, you can even go a step further and gift a cookbook from your own kitchen or one that has been passed down from a grandmother. What a special bridal shower gift it would be to give a cookbook gift basket with the bride’s grandmother’s recipe book. Cue the tears!!!
Not too great in the kitchen, but still want to gift someone a cookbook gift basket? No worries! Check with a friend or family member who does enjoy cooking and see if he/she has any recommendations. Be sure to note what his/her favorite recipes are so that you can include that with your gift!
Items To Include:
- Cookbook – The entire gift basket centers around the cookbook you choose. It should be one that you use regularly or one you have cooked from a lot in the past. For my sister-in-law, I even went through and added a few notes I’ve made on certain recipes, like “double the spices” or “add more liquid.” You can do this by writing directly on the pages of the cookbook or, what I did, and write the notes on post-its that I stuck to different pages.
- Basket – You definitely need a beautiful basket to accompany this thoughtful gift! However, you probably don’t want to blow your gift budget all on the basket. Craft stores like Hobby Lobby, JoAnn’s, and Michaels have regular sales on baskets, so stock up when you see them on sale. Also, church-wide rummage sales, neighborhood yard sales, and other things like that always have baskets for sale and usually for under $1 each!
- Ingredients – Usually cookbooks use a lot of the same ingredients in the recipes throughout the book. I hate when I want to try a new recipe and have to buy an entire bottle of white wine vinegar or some obscure spice when the recipe only calls for 1 Tablespoon (and I might not even like the recipe!). Try to throw in a few of those types of ingredients, so the gift receiver will already have that kind of stuff on hand when he/she wants to start cooking.
- Kitchen utensils that make life easier. Proper tools make every job more enjoyable. Items to consider:
- Garlic press
- Meat mallet
- Measuring spoons/cups
- Meat thermometer
- Zester
- Rub-A-Way Odor Absorbing Bar
- Oven mitts
- A cookbook holder – I have this one and love it!
- Cute apron
- Wine – Include your favorite bottle of wine or a wine that pairs well with one of your favorite recipes!
- Pretty linens – Seasonal dish towels, pretty linen napkins, or a nice tablecloth would make a great addition!
