I like something around a theme, e.g. if they went on a vacation, cook book or recipes of that area and ingredients, wine. Or reading book, tea, cookies, various jams. Or gourmet chocolates.

Lox, variety of hams. I saw a huge Spanish ham at Costco.

I'm addicted to these crackers. I like that they don't have a lot of salt and are light and crispy. You can find them at many grocery stores.

http://lapanzanella.com/products/mini-croccantini/

If Trader Joe's has their honey wardrobe again this year, it's a great value for people who like to try different flavors. Also, this cheese is a little sweet from the fruits so it makes a nice addition to a dessert cheese plate.

TJ has a lot of really good crackers and various spreads.

My parents like the Popcornopolis packages. They have sweet and savory versions. It's something they wouldn't buy for themselves. I buy it from Costco. Not sure if they would be considered a gourmet choice.

I love the Marcona Almonds from TJ's. They have a truffle salt flavor or a rosemary flavor - both are excellent.

I find Fortnum & Mason to provide the best gift basket inspiration. They are not practical to order from and ship here, but may be worth perusing for ideas to crib. I and sending this after dinner hamper to friends in the UK hosting two of my children for a long weekend.

https://www.fortnumandmason.com/t/categories/hampers

(I am also sending a case of California wine. They'll have two of my boys for five days.)

At any rate I love the after dinner theme. Maybe a tin of special tea like Marriage Freres and some home made madeleines, with a bottle of port and some pretty cups from Anthro? This is their Tea for Two set.

Thanks for the ideas so far!

Oh, should have mentioned they don't like tea. How annoying.

I like Cherchies. They have a large selection of items, but I buy the dried soup mixes. They are water based soups that you can keep on hand. Each soup has different add in, like milk or onion.

They have mustards, jams etc as well.

One year I gave a selection of soups, and everyone like them.

Mmmm...soups. That’s making me think I might do a “cold winter day” theme and/or “game day” theme (like for watching football on tv — chili mixes and spices/dips, etc...).

How about an Italian themed gift basket: packaged pasta, marinara sauce, packaged bread sticks, a nice cheese or two, a bottle of Italian wine, some cookies, coffee and maybe a dvd.

Does she use candles? I like the scented candles from Trader Joe’s. I’m burning their vanilla pumpkin candle now. It has a nice low key scent. They probably have a different scent now for Christmas. Just a little something to add if you are making a food basket. I also like the mini-rosemary “trees” they often sell around the holidays.

What kind of coffee do they like? Get a special holiday blend, beans or ground or pods. The holiday blends tend to be more aromatic, and really smell wonderful.

Check out Stonewall Kitchen and King Arthur Flour.

For midterms I made up a basket to send to my son, I included some spice blends from Penzey’s, a cured chorizo, arborio rice, homemade jam, and locally roasted coffee. Oh and lots of dark chocolate!

< THAT is the best care package ever!

Oh, forgot about King Arthur Flour! Just ordered a few things, including a couple of “baking boxes” for DS’ GF and a neighbor.

Localeater, wow! For a college student? My son just graduated from college and he still wouldn’t know what to do with spice blends and Arborio rice...

Keeping the Vermont theme going, Lake Champlain Chocolates and Dakin Farm (ham, bacon, specialty mustards, maple syrup, etc.) both have excellent, quality treats in fun holiday packaging.

I recently discovered Awake chocolate, love it.

Do they cook? Penzeys has nice gift boxes for their spices, or you could select some that you like.

I had never been to the Kind Arthur Flour website- such awesome gift baskets. Thank you for the great tip.

I'm doing well on my (new theme) Winter Survival Basket. I've ordered scone mixes and some other goodies from KA Flour, went to a craft show and found "Herd Nerd" spice mix as well as an all natural product similar to Vicks Vaporub, added a variety pack of medicinal teas including Throat Coat and Echinacea Plus (my two sisters in law aren't tea fans but I figure most people will drink tea if they're feeling icky). I'll add coffee and red wine and some other fancy snack items, and a winter-themed candle.

I am also doing a "self care" package for my two BFFs as we have all had our own stresses this year and we keep talking about the importance of taking time for ourselves. Their bags will include face masks (I ordered a big assortment package of face masks from Sephora that I can split up), chamomile teas, good chocolates, silly t-shirts from Gap (one says NAP and the other says Saturday. Sunday. Repeat.), and a manicure gift certificate.

I'll probably end up doing some kind of assortment basket for my 83 yo dad, who is impossible to shop for. But he likes red wine, and snacks, and I can usually get him gas gift cards and grocery gift cards that he'll use.

Dh loves TJ's Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels. They're soft caramels, not chewy.

https://www.clubtraderjoes.com/2011/12/trader-joes-dark-chocolate-sea-salt-caramels.html

They make a few diff kinds, but this is the best toffee in the universe.

Speaking of face masks, Costco has a mixed pack of Korean face masks.

https://www.costco.com/Lapcos-Variety-Sheet-Mask-Set---Variety-8-pack-%2b-2-Bonus-Exfoliating-Pads.product.100417467.html

Love the Korean sheet masks! DD and I bought some with animal faces in CVS last summer when she had a sleepover with friends. We first saw them during a trip to South Korea but the cosmetic stores there are kind of unpleasant to shop in (IME) as the salespeople follow you around within inches, staring you down. So we didn't buy any there, but a few months later happened to find them in a Korean owned shop in Baltimore and bought them there. Now, they're everywhere.

Now I want sea salt caramels and toffee. For myself.

For my friends' self-care bags, I also added an Annie LaMott book for each. Love her.

My local organic grocer has the most gorgeous and delicious, fabulous produce. Heirloom tomatoes in January, baby lettuces straight out of a Peter Rabbit book, beautiful fresh fruits, some with stem and leaf attached. Last month, they had this item below (caulini). It was so gorgeous that it inspired me to give a friend a produce basket with caulini and other assorted produce as her birthday gift. (she is a foodie and a vegetarian)

All that said, one of my other favorite things about this place? THEY turned me on to that toffee, by sneakily selling it in this size by the register. Evil!

For Dad, when he no longer wanted "things", I'd give him restaurant gift certificates to places in his area that he would like. (For him, anything spicy - his taste buds were only triggered by that point with spice, and the assisted living place only served generic food that he - and the rest of us - found to be bland.) One year I made a calendar with photos of family and places he liked from his past.