We accept 
VIOLET-approved offerings for this holiday season’s hosts and hostesses.
Written By Christine Whitney
Market By Cynthia Cook Smith
— PHOTOGRAPHY BY OLIVIA MALONE FOR THE VIOLET FILES
“Let’s have lunch after the holidays,” is about to become your professional refrain. Indeed, from Thanksgiving straight on through New Year’s, your social calendar is booked. From dinner at the in-laws’ to swanky Penthouse cocktails to a weekend at your best friend’s ski cabin, you’ll be wearing lots of hats—and delivering lots of presents to your hosts. Here, an assortment of favorites to ensure you’ll be invited back.
HOSTESS
GIFTS
1
/10
Before packing up the car and driving off to spend the weekend with your most design-savvy friends, be a gold-star guest and pick up one of these beautiful objets as an offering.
2
/10
Wish them a very Lacroix Christmas with the designer’s enchanting 3-D advent calendar, an elegant pop-up featuring a menagerie of whimsical illustrated creatures.
3
/10
Perfect for jazzing up your martini (or any cocktail in which something can be speared), these glass picks are the definition of festive.
4
/10
If the party lives up to expectations—and it most likely will—your hostess will appreciate nothing more than these post–late night beauty-reviving essentials.
5
/10
The detail-oriented hostess will take great pleasure in Mrs. John L. Strong’s rich, linen-bound entertaining journal. No ordinary guest book, its pages are designed to catalog plans for menus, guest lists, and seating charts.
6
/10
When paying a visit to your family’s Ojai retreat, it’s always nice to come bearing fruit. Or, even better, a live lemon tree.
7
/10
Whether the invite is for a night at the country house or elsewhere, a luxe luminary is a hostess gift classic. There’s none more opulent than Rodin’s Olio Lusso scented pillar candle, which promises to set a relaxed, cozy mood.
8
/10
Any oenophile will be delighted with this 2012 Special Selection
Cabernet from Napa’s Caymus Vineyards. And with any luck, they’ll uncork it on the
spot.
9
/10
A gorgeous folio of botanical illustrations from the 1800s, The Book of Palms is perfect for passing around the living room post dinner and adorning the coffee table long afterward.
10
/10
A tin of cookies that look as good as they taste, these Japanese delights are equally appropriate for a large dinner party or a casual visit with a few close friends.
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