Holiday Gifts for Family: One Food Gift for the Household
Buying for a family one person at a time adds up fast. One gift for the whole household is simpler: a box built around something they already do together, like breakfast, a movie night, a Sunday dinner or hot chocolate after sledding. Everyone in the house gets a share, and nothing needs to be sized or wrapped six times.
Each box below lists what goes in it and the listed price of each item, with a price table at the end. For food gifts to send to several people, see the guide to Christmas food gifts.
The breakfast box
Start with tea. Mariage Frères describes its American Breakfast Tea as a rich, malty black tea with caramel notes and a hint of caramelized chocolate, good with a drop of cold milk. The maker's brewing guide is 2.5 g of leaves for 20 cl of water at 95 °C, steeped for 5 minutes. It comes as 100 g of loose leaves in a sealed black canister (shop Mariage Frères American Breakfast Tea, $32.00).
Add something for the toast. Marchesi di San Giuliano grows its mandarins on its own estate in Sicily and makes its organic marmalade by hand in small batches, with small pieces of peel and pulp and no thickeners or preservatives, according to the listing (shop San Giuliano Mandarin Marmalade, $20.00). For the honey side of the table, Bee Squared Apiaries, a Colorado apiary, sells Orange Blossom honey in a 12-ounce squeeze bottle (shop Bee Squared Orange Blossom Honey, $11.50).
The movie night box
Rancho Gordo's Crimson Popping Corn has red kernels that pop up white. Rancho Gordo suggests popping it the traditional way, in a pan with a lid and some oil; an air popper works too, with fewer fully popped kernels. Popping it together is part of the gift (shop Rancho Gordo Crimson Popping Corn, $5.25).
For a bag that is ready to open, China Live's Peking Duck Fat Popcorn is a sweet and savory popcorn made with duck fat, and the listing notes a Good Food Award (shop China Live Peking Duck Fat Popcorn, $16.00). Add a bag of So Sweet's Swedish Candy Red Mix, with strawberry, raspberry and cherry candies; So Sweet says it packs its candy in an NSF-certified facility near Los Angeles and prints the full ingredient list on every bag (shop So Sweet Red Mix, $16.00).
The Sunday dinner box
Rancho Gordo calls the Rio Zape the bean that started the company. It is a pinto-family heirloom that the maker describes as having suggestions of chocolate and coffee. Rancho Gordo says Rio Zape beans, also called Hopi String beans, were found in Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings of the Zuni Pueblo in 1935, and it suggests them for pot beans, soup and refried beans. They come in a 1-pound bag (shop Rancho Gordo Rio Zape, $10.00).
A pot of beans wants oil and something sharp. De Carlo's Torre di Mossa is 100% Coratina olive oil from a single estate in Puglia, with 721 mg/kg of polyphenols; the producer describes the taste as very strong, with high black pepper and spiciness (shop De Carlo Torre di Mossa, $35.00). Giuseppe Giusti, founded in Modena in 1605, makes an organic IGP balsamic vinegar aged in French oak barrels (shop Giusti Organic Balsamic Vinegar, $24.00).
The hot chocolate night box
Ocelot's Blood Orange drinking chocolate is shavings of its 70% dark chocolate with blood orange, plus a little raw cane sugar. Ocelot says the cocoa beans are grown organically by a regenerative cooperative in the forests of Virunga National Park in eastern Congo. The instructions are on the tin, which can be reused (shop Ocelot Blood Orange Drinking Chocolate, $25.99).
Burlap & Barrel's Royal Cinnamon Hot Chocolate blends cacao from Peru, panela cane sugar, sea salt, vanilla and Royal Cinnamon. Whisk 2 tablespoons into a cup of hot water, or simmer it with milk (shop Royal Cinnamon Hot Chocolate, $23.99). Two tins give the household a choice of fruit or spice.
Packing and keeping the box
Each set fits in a navy gift box with a magnetic flap lid, 14 by 9 by 4.3 inches (shop the navy magnetic gift box, $13.00). Every item above is a sealed tin, bag, jar or bottle meant for the pantry. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service defines shelf-stable foods as those that can be safely stored at room temperature, and its examples include canned and bottled foods, rice, pasta, sugar, spices and oils. It advises keeping them in a cool, dry place, away from the stove and out of a damp garage or basement, with temperatures below 85 °F.
Holiday gifts for family, by box
| Box | What goes in | Total at listed prices | With navy box |
|---|---|---|---|
| Movie night | Crimson Popping Corn, Peking Duck Fat Popcorn, So Sweet Red Mix | $37.25 | $50.25 |
| Hot chocolate night | Ocelot Blood Orange, Royal Cinnamon Hot Chocolate | $49.98 | $62.98 |
| Breakfast | American Breakfast Tea, San Giuliano Mandarin Marmalade, Bee Squared Orange Blossom Honey | $63.50 | $76.50 |
| Sunday dinner | Rio Zape beans, De Carlo Torre di Mossa, Giusti Organic Balsamic | $69.00 | $82.00 |
Prices follow the listed price on each product page. Products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com.
Short answers
What is a good holiday gift for a whole family? One box built around something the household does together, such as breakfast, a movie night, a Sunday dinner or hot chocolate.
What food gift works for a family with kids? The movie night box: popcorn kernels to pop together on the stove, a ready bag of popcorn and Swedish candy, $37.25 at listed prices.
How should a family store a food gift box? The USDA advises a cool, dry place for shelf-stable foods, with temperatures below 85 °F.
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