Give guests holiday party gifts to remember

SHNS photo courtesy Bob Greenspan/The Gerson Companies This holiday season spoil your dinner guests by treating them to a special gift at their place. Gifts can be silly or sentimental, reflecting the relationship with each guest. Consider antique collectibles, Mardi Gras masks, framed photographs, candles or tea towels. Gifts need not be expensive.

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Time to send that little black party dress to the cleaner's, because the holiday party season is almost upon us. I love this hurly-burly time of year, with all its receptions, open houses and dinner parties, because I relish the chance to spend time with dear friends I just don't see often enough.

I'm always so honored when people join us at our home for a gathering during the holidays - or any time of the year - that I can't resist spoiling them with a small gift. I'm a romantic at heart, so I hope that whenever they see this little token of our friendship, they will remember our evening together with fondness.

When I select a take-home remembrance for a party, I expect this small gift to play two big roles. First, it has to look smashing on my table. Not only must it fit the theme of the event, but it has to be a perfect accent to each place setting. Second, I want my party favors to be personal enough to delight my guests.

Last winter, when some friends and I threw a surprise birthday party for my friend Merilee, we opted for favors that were silly and sentimental. Since Merilee gets weak-kneed at the sight of actor Matthew McConaughey, we decided to have some fun with her schoolgirl crush. As a joke, each guest was given a life-sized headshot of the Hollywood hunk to don when Merilee walked into my house. Merilee screamed with delight when she saw the sea of Matthews!

The next surprise came in the dining room. At each of the women's place setting, I rested a beautiful saltcellar spoon, used to scoop salt out of antique saltcellars. I adore saltcellars and wanted to share one of my favorite collectibles with my dear friends, helping them start a collection of their own. The men received a small bottle of liquor and a cigar.

My friend Marsee always seems to pick perfect party favors for her events. For a New Year's Eve dinner, she tucked handmade noisemakers, fashioned from old sheet music and prints, at each guest's place setting. These whimsical keepsake gifts carried on the black, cream and gold palette of Marsee's table.

But she didn't stop there. Marsee's family sets off fireworks at the stroke of midnight, so she placed a bundle of sparklers into each guest's empty water goblet so they could join in the fun. The sparklers repeated the look of her imaginative centerpiece, which included bouquets of sparklers, white feathers and golden fern fronds displayed in black iron urns.

At her annual Mardi Gras bash, my friend Ann infused her table with loads of razzle-dazzle by placing glittering Mardi Gras masks on each guest's plate. The masks were theirs to enjoy during the Fat Tuesday fete and to take home as a souvenir.

Like Marsee and Ann, try to come up with favors that add to your seasonal celebrations. For instance, if you're hosting Thanksgiving dinner, serve your guests soup in lidded ceramic tureens shaped like gourds. Then, insert a packet of homemade instant soup mix into tureens just like the ones you featured on your table and give them as gifts to each guest.

Or, if you're hosting a Christmas party, brighten each guest's place with a cellophane packet holding sugar cookies inscribed with their names, or rest an inexpensive candy dish filled with sugarplums on their dessert plate.

I love to find party favors that commemorate the bond that connects me with my guests. If you've invited a group of old college friends for dinner, dig through your photo albums for crazy shots of each one. Copy and frame the snapshots, display them at the top of each friend's place setting, and get ready for a raucous stroll down memory lane.

Need more ideas? These great party favors all cost $5 or less: mini creamers, tea towels, paper white bulbs for forcing, birch bark candles, bath products, wine stops, truffles, tree ornaments, notepads, kitchen gadgets and demitasse spoons.

No matter what you select, your guests are sure to love their favors simply because you went to so much trouble to celebrate their presence in your home.

Write to Mary Carol at nell hills@mail.lvnworth.com.