So, do you remember Sunday’s column? Don’t worry about it. I can barely remember it myself.
But as I recall it was a question from some guy who had spent the summer hosting various friends from all around the country, and they had all brought him small gifts from their home states, such as bratwurst and salsa and so on and so forth. Now he is going on some sort of return visit tour to see all of these friends, and he wanted advice on what sort of especially Arizona-ish gifts in the $10 range he might take to give to them.
These I now know, thanks to your calls and messages, seem to be called “hostess gifts.” I didn’t know that before, but then I have not had occasion for some time to deal with a lot of hostesses that I can recall, and besides I like to think that my very presence should be gift enough. Don’t you think?
And besides, what about the host? Shouldn’t he get something? Like a pair of pliers or a saw or something?
Anyway, I had put this matter up to you people and, as always, you did not disappoint. And, as always, many of you didn’t make a whole lot of sense. For example, I don’t think sewer roaches are unique to Arizona. And I don’t see why a bag of genuine Arizona desert sand would make an especially good gift.
People: Your doctors prescribe the medications you need for a reason. You have to take them as directed.
However, I did get a bunch of reasonably reasonable suggestions, and by far the most common one was an Arizona Highways calendar. Doh! I should have thought of that right off the bat. Inexpensive. Handsome. Useful. Sort of like me, now that I think about it.
The next most-common suggestion was Arizona honey, which apparently comes in a bunch of different flavors, such as mesquite and so on. I didn’t know we had so many different flavors of honey particular to our state, but there you have it.
Other suggestions: jalapeno corn bread mix, dream catchers, saguaro salt and pepper shakers, various types of Arizona-grown olive oil and anything involving a Kokopelli, although I think those are almost as kitschy as that howling-coyote-wearing- a-bandana stuff you used to see all the time.
One person suggested Cardinals’ tickets for after the first game, but I don’t think that was a very practical idea as a gift for out-of-towners. Or for anybody else, probably.
Reach Thompson at clay.thompson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8612.
*Clay Thompson writes for The Arizona Republic. You can read his columns by going to www.azcentral.com
Clay Thompson 