Grocery Gifts

Hooray!  We are TEN DAYS away from Christmas Day!!  

And for today's Ten on Tuesday, Carole wanted us to list 10 Gifts You Can Pick Up at Your Grocery Store.

I've already seen a few posts, and they all have lovely suggestions.  But I'm gonna take a slightly different tack.  As you may or may not know, I live in Center City Philadelphia.  I mean, right in the city.  There are a lot of lovely grocery stores, like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Wegman's, to name a few, that are anywhere from walking distance to a 20-minute drive from our house.  But we have a grocery store that is right around the corner as well.  It's a nice little market, with fairly reasonable prices, considering what it is and where it is.  But it does not have an overly large selection, nor the most premium of products.  (For instance, fruit.  Nice fruit, but not great fruit - the suburban stores have the great fruit.)

So, for my list, I'm saying that I have to get some gifts, and I do not have a lot of time or access to the car to really go anywhere but around the corner.  Keep in mind that in Philadelphia, grocery stores do not sell wine or beer, so that's out.  (Which is a shame because not only are they lovely gifts, but it would also be really convenient ...)

Here we go.

1.  Coffee and tea.  Fortunately, there is enough variety that you could put together a nice package of either or both of these.

2.  Cheeses.  The market has a decent selection of cheeses, and some nice breads and crackers that you could buy to go with them.

3.  Platters.  There is a nice deli, so if you were so inclined, you could get a cheese and/or meat platter to take to someone.

4.  Greenery.  Since a lot of people in the neighborhood do not have a car, they actually have some lovely wreaths, swags, and other holiday greenery.  (They also sell trees, but I for one would never be likely to buy someone a Christmas tree as a gift ...)

5.  Plants.  They have some Christmas cactuses (cacti?), and poinsettias.  Not very elaborate, and you have to choose carefully, cut you could find something nice.

6.  Candies.  At Christmastime, they have a section where they sell all kinds of candy, from things like hard ribbon candy, to packages of Ghirardelli chocolates.  You could pick and choose and come up with a pretty yummy gift.

7.  Spices.  For such a small store, the spice section is actually pretty extensive.  If you know a cook or a baker, you could pick up a few things and package them nicely as a gift.

8.  Eggnog. It's not packaged all that glamorously, but if you know an eggnog lover, they have a few different brands and sized containers.

9.  Packaged cookies.  If you don't have time or the desire to bake your own, you can find some holiday-themed packaged cookies, such as Pepperidge Farm varieties.

10.  Gift cards.  Again, not a huge selection, but at a minimum, they have Visa and American Express ones, so if you know someone who would love a gift card, those two would allow them to use it pretty much anywhere.

So, not necessarily a lot of exotic choices, but certainly items that you could give as a gift (most of them with a little work from you to make the presentation nice), without feeling that they scream "I got this at the market."

And even if it does scream that, if you give it with a genuine feeling and a happy heart, it's not your problem to worry about how it's received, right?