I’m convinced that the same bottle of Whispering Angel and box of Lindor chocolates have been doing the rounds among my friends for two or three years now. It’s not that we don’t like them (what’s not to like?); it’s that they are such easy gifts. Every host saves them for when they’re next a guest, in an unspoken game of Pass the Provençal Rose.
Yet the reason wine and chocolates are such popular dinner party gifts is the same reason they get passed around: they’re often generic. They’re not thoughtless per se, but they rarely suggest a huge amount of thought for the personality or taste of the host.
