Can The Collective help with some gift ideas?

Hostess gifts: nice candles, hand lotion or hand soap, a fruit basket that you make yourself since this would be cheaper and nicer. Candy or cookies that you have made or bought.
I like the idea of movie passes for the family you carpool with.

A nice hostess gift is a special Christmas ornament. If you can afford $30 or so, you can get a Christopher Radko ornament, they are quite precious.

A pretty candle, christmas themed or otherwise. You can find some really nice candles for just a few dollars. Maybe something scented, cinnamon or a holiday theme.
Oh, I see @chyna topped her list with the candle idea, so, never mind.:-P

Organic grape juice, freshly pressed cider, a crate of clementines. My family eats them like M & M’s.

Personally, scented candles make me gag. I like only undyed beeswax ones.

Unpacking @gailcalled‘s gift.

I’m with you and @chyna. I happen to love movies and crazy about movie gift cards. They do come in a variety of designs.

Bring a fruit cake. These things suck so bad. Might be funny just to see her face.

^^ Ha ha ha!

I’m with @gailcalled on the unscented candle idea. Only give scented gifts to people you are absolutely sure would appreciate them.

I LOVE my Pumpkin spice candles…mmmmm good!

So many people said candles, and I was thinking that too as I read it. You get some beautiful ornate candles. Or even a burner, where one can burn a nice scent in it. Like mint for example or lavender. Food stuff is always appreciated, preserves, and jams and biscuits.

If she likes cooking a cook book. Or offer to take photos that day and then frame some.

A poinsettia flower. They come in all sorts of interesting colors these days, not just red, although the red ones are gorgeous too. We have one at our house that is pastel yellow with a wee bit of pink at the tips. I saw some at the store that were red with pink spots that looked like snow. Or These

You can also get Christmas tree-cut potted rosemary plants at the grocery store or local nursery. These Ones are about a foot tall in gallon sized pots, but they have smaller ones that are in pint pots and only about 8 inches tall at the grocery store. The ones at the grocery store are usually decorated, and the ones at the nursery are either plain like the ones in the photo or decorated if you want. We received one of these a few years ago and after it outgrew it’s pot, we planted it in our garden and it’s lovely and thriving.

A loaf of home made quick bread such as gingerbread, banana bread, cranberry orange bread etc. Wrap it up in clear or red cellophane (which I found on rolls at the 99 Cent Only store, love that place!) Here’s an easy recipe that makes 2 Pumpkin Gingerbread Loaves so you could give one as a hostess gift and one to the carpool lady : )

My family always loved it when my Grandma would send us a cheese selection from a company who’s name I’m trying to recall. It was like Hickory Farms, but a different company. I love stuff from Hickory Farms too (and some malls now have kiosks if you don’t have time to order anything online). Some thing like this Cheese Selection would be good. Oh! I just remembered, it was Swiss Colony. Here’s another yummy Cheese Selection

For the carpool lady who is getting presents for your kids, you should probably get presents specifically for her kids, as opposed to the movie tickets which may or may not end up being used for the kids. Just get them something inexpensive and age appropriate. Art supplies are always a good idea. Last year I got all of my nephews a paint by numbers set (I didn’t realize they still made them, but I always liked those) and this year I got them all sets of multi-colored modeling clay. This year I got my 7 year old nephew a set of tempera paints and a decent set of brushes (which I got at Big Lots for $5) As they get older I might get them some oil pastels or an artists set of colored chalks or some charcoal pencils. For younger kids, water color sets are good too.