Kelly the Culinarian: Food find: Holiday cheer

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Food find: Holiday cheer

I normally don't start thinking about the holidays until after Thanksgiving. I think this is as a result of the trauma I suffered working at a fabric store for three years. By 9 p.m. Oct. 31, all traces of Halloween had been moved to clearance, the holiday trees had been erected and decorated and Christmas music played around the clock. And we sold holiday fabric year round.


I went out to my little suburban oasis at Prince George's Plaza mall in Maryland today and according to them, the holidays are here. Every store is pushing holiday party dresses and boxed sets of stuff. Starbucks is using holiday-themed cups and selling Christmas blends.


So I got in the spirit. I began my holiday shopping today and I'm glad I did. Target has some great items in their value bins, which are usually located in the front of most Target stores. There are some great foodie items for stocking stufffers, office giveaways and package adornment.

First, in the back of the photo, they have little bags of Ghirardelli coffee in double chocolate or chocolate hazelnut. These $1 packages make one pot of coffee. This would be a great gesture for all your office mates, especially if you have a ton of them.


They also have little boxes of Mrs. Fields Chocolates. The peppermint box has three peppermint truffles with little chunks of the candy visible in rounds of chocolate. The other box, the cookie recipe chocolate box, has one piece each of dark coconut macaroon, chocolate chip cookie dough and brownie truffle. I stocked up on these as giveaways for neighbors -- I never want to be empty handed.


The other thing I grabbed were these little bags of five holiday cookie cutters with silicone grips for $2.50. At the very least, I figure when I wrap up gifts I can use these in lieu of bows, tied to packages with ribbon. These are so much more useful than bows.


You may want to get these soon; it's my experience that these items go fast at Target. They also have icing, sprinkles and a variety of hard candies in the value bins too. Get them while they're there!

12 comments:

Desde mi Atalaya said...

Hi Kelly, Im Soraya, and im happy because you visit my blogs, and i love your blog, is very complete.
Please return all the times you want.
A hug,
Soraya
PD Sorry I dont speak English, but i try.

Kim said...

some great treats here Kelly :)
I suppose it is that time of the year.....when all things point to Chrissie shopping :)
the cookie cutters sound like a terrific idea....

Liz said...

Hi Kelly! Congratulations on your G rating ;) Happy Sunday!

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Great ideas, Kelly!

Taylor said...

Gotta love Target!

Homeronica said...

Hi Kelly: I´m Homero from Nicaragua. My english is not good but I¨ll try to write. I´m a friend to Soraya and have kitchen Blog "Recetas de mi abuela" if you want to visit. So I´m a lawyer too. Have a nice day. Homero

url: http://homerocheff.blogspot.com/

Homeronica said...

Hello friend: I put link to your blog in my blog like a friend cheff. Ja...ja...ja... my english is bad. Thaks. We have in touch. H.

Sig said...

Hi Kelly, those are some nice tips! Great blog you have here, thanks for visiting me!

tigerfish said...

Target is one of my fav stores!

bj said...

What a fantastic tip on the Target goodies. Thanks so much...
bj

Tiffany said...

i cant go past the 'bargain bins' as we aussies call em! ive been thinking about christmas cookie cutters, since i saw them given as gifts. instead of wrapped up they had a ribbon each and hanged on the christmas tree.
i know what you mean by the; once haloween passes the shops bring out all the christmas stuff!
the chocs sound yummo!

Tonia said...

Hi Kelly. Those are some great tips for office gifts, which can add up quickly. Target is one of my favorite stores but I always walk right past those bins (but not anymore). Thanks!