By Franki Hanke

Are you guilty of last-minute grabbing a bottle of wine at the grocery store on the way to the dinner party? This time, browse our affordable hostess gifts ahead of time that is thoughtful and impressive even without spending much. 

Hostess gifts don’t need to be wrapped, but adding a simple velvet ribbon and tag with a note about why you picked a gift can elevate an affordable hostess gift. 

If you have a flexible budget, shop for more hostess gifts in our full guide. You can also combine a variety of these items to build your own gift basket at a larger budget to create personalized gifts based on your host’s tastes. 

Food Gifts

When you’re coming over for a meal, gifting food fits right in. Plus, food doesn’t require the same details about their style as more permanent gifts, which makes it one of the best hostess gifts. 

Maldon Salts – $7 – 14

Maldon is the best name for finishing salt, which makes it a great housewarming gift! Their packaging is recognizable, and even if your hostess has some on hand already, they’ll need more eventually. Make your gift set with both the Smoked and Original variations. 

Shop Maldon Salt: Smoked Sea Salt Box | Original Box

See’s Candies Little Pops Assortment – $10

While you can spend a lot of money on their truffle and chocolate gift boxes, I’m a fan of the See’s sleeper hit: their lollipops! They have rich flavors that are a bit lighter than chocolate. Plus, these are perfect for enjoying during clean-up post-party. 

Shop See’s Candies: Little Pops Sampler

Harney & Sons Tea – ~$15

Tea is an easy, affordable hostess gift that can be made more appropriate by fitting the tea to the season. As an avid tea drinker, Harney & Sons is one of my favorite teas with attractive packaging even under $20. Choose from a variety of seasonal teas:

• For a fall gathering, capture the season with the herbal tea African Autumn which blends seasonal cranberry with orange, and hibiscus. 
• For a general holiday gathering, reflect that with Holiday Heritage black tea with cinnamon and apple flavors or Williamsburg Ginger Cake tea for a deeper, more spiced flavor. 
• For a Christmas gathering, reference the season with White Christmas, a white tea with almond and vanilla flavors. 
• For a wintery gathering, evoke snow with Celebration’s white and blue packaging. 

Shop Harney & Sons Tea: African Autumn | White Christmas Tea | Williamsburg Ginger Cake | Holiday Heritage Tea | Celebration Tea

Graza Olive Oil – $14

Graza has been a best-selling olive oil for months now. The brand offers high-quality, extra virgin olive oil in attractive, convenient squeeze bottles that are recognizable to anyone in the online home-cook sphere. It’s been raved about by everyone from Food & Wine editors to Wirecutter reviewers. When you’re on a tight budget, buy just the Sizzle bottle which is both larger and cheaper than the finer finishing oil. 

Shop Graza Oils: Sizzle

Entertainment Gifts

For a laid-back hostess or the game night host gift, these offer a new activity in their arsenal and may even work to pull out that same night! 

Bananagrams – $14

For anyone who plays Scrabble Go with you, here’s your next hostess gift! Bananagrams is a portable spin on word-building games. It’s quicker and easier to jump into than Scrabble though.

Shop Bananagrams: Classic 

If: Questions for the Game of Life – $9

For under $10, you can gift something that becomes a hallmark of the household’s dinner parties, if you give the gift some context. Tab a few of your favorite questions and add a note that you hope this sparks conversations for you all someday. 

This book used to ride along in my parent’s car as a holdover from their early relationship and often inspired some genuine conversations for all of us. 

Shop If

Home Decor & Kitchen Gifts

Unless you’re best friends, home decor can be a bit of a risk, so they require extra insight into your hostess and their interior design. Plus, when you’re shopping on a budget, cheeseboards or charcuterie boards, reusable napkins, wine glasses, or quality coasters can be out of budget. 

Swedish Dishcloth Set – $15

If you want something you know they’ll use, look no further. Swedish dishcloths are ultra-absorbent, reusable kitchen cloths perfect for a variety of clean-up tasks. For Earth By Us offers them in so many designs, they manage to be super useful and cute for gifting to a party host. 

Shop Swedish Dishcloths: Neutral Pattern Pack | Floral Pack

Printed Dish Towels – $10

Another alternative to single-use kitchen towels is these Japanese printed cloths. Featuring a range of unique illustrations, these fabrics have a soft, open weave that softens with use and allows for fast drying compared to other tea towels. 

Shop Nawrap Cloths: Strawberry | Radish | Vegetables 

La Roche-Posay Hand Lotion – $11

When you’re cooking for a holiday party, you’re washing your hands a lot. Show a little extra love to your loved ones’ hands by gifting a hand cream. As one of my go-to travel hand creams, this one is thick and nourishing without leaving an oily finish. It’s perfectly sized to tuck into an apron pocket for frequent use. Small gifts like this become great hostess gifts with the DIY step of adding a ribbon and note. 

Shop La Roche-Posay Hand Cream

Capri Blue Volcano Hand Soap – $15

I recommended a Capri Blue candle and diffuser in our no-budget hostess gift guide because this signature scent (best known for burning in Anthropologie) is a no-fail favorite, but if you’re on a budget, you’d be stuck with a small, tin candle. Instead, opt for the hand soap which has the same great scent, popular name recognition, and is useful for their kitchen. 

Shop Capri Blue Soap

Even on a budget, you can pick a lovely, affordable hostess gift! I hope one of our hostess gift ideas caught your own for the host in your mind this holiday season. Remember, the perfect gift is just a thoughtful gift! 

If you’re doing more gift shopping this holiday season, keep reading more gift guides. Gift-giving is made stressful by the rush and the pressure, but when you can see more ideas quickly, with some help curating, it can be enjoyable! 

The above content may contain affiliate links. When you click and shop with our links, we receive a small commission to support our writers. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.