I'm stumped for a theme for the present we send relatives for Ch******s (too early in the year to mention the name in full!); we like to make each other laugh with our selections. One year we were given a box full of jars of piccalilli from different manufacturers; last year we sent them a box of items all containing chilli in various guises - seeds, chocolate, crisps, paper napkins, sauce, pickled chillis etc. Any ideas of a theme for this year?

What about Lavender Jan?  The list of items containing lavender is endless, Chocolates, little sachets to put in the drawers, massage oil (?) polish, etc.  Not very amusing though!!  :)  :)

That sounds fun, although I'm not sure I'd personally be impressed with piccalilli, it's somewhere on my (thankfully very short) list of things I really really don't like!! I'd have loved the chilli one though :-)

How about a colour theme, red or blue foods for example, or an olympics theme, a food from each of the last 10 nations to host the games or something like that - there'd be a good variety too!!

Claire

When we first moved to Somerset I sent an apple based box of goodies to a friend.  I was reminded of this whilst we were in France a few weeks ago.  We were in the Basse-Normandie region and surrounded by apple and pear products, from cakes and biscuits to cider and Calvados - they have a huge range of locally produced foods.  If you opted for food from that region rather than the apple theme of course you'll get Camembert and Pont l'Evêque cheeses too.  Seriously good!

We did a marmite theme for our stepdad last year; perhaps a mustard theme from Colman's?

What about a honey/bee products theme?

Some great ideas! I like the honey/bee idea very much. :-) Not only are there so many types of honey, there are beeswax candles, beeswax furniture polish (I like to keep things mundane too!), stripey toy bees ... isn't there a cartoony film about bees?

ETA; yes, Bee Movie! *thank google*

Don't forget all the lovely bath and beauty things that have honey in as well :)

I think we're on to a winner here! Thank you!

I saw these at a local garden centre...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BN-Gisela-Graham-Ceramic-Bee-House-Plant-Pot-/290563066128

So you could even put the present into something like that?

>Don't forget all the lovely bath and beauty things that have honey in as well :-)

Totally agree with that one.  I was once given a sensuous, silky, body wash with Honey and something else.  It was years ago, but I still remember the delicate perfume it left on the skin.

Try burts bees for bath stuff and all sorts. I luv the hand cream in a white jar smells like marizpan couldeat it. Do fab lip balms with tints as well, hair stuff list goes on all natural etc.

What about flavoured honies?