Ask the Editor: What Is A Good Gift For an Amish Hostess?

Hi Kevin,  I enjoy reading Amish 365.  I love reading Amish books and have visited Lancaster, Pa several times.  In June my sister's and I will be going to Berlin, ohio and Shipshewanna, In.  We are eating a meal in an Amish home.  What would be an appropriate hostess gift to take. - Barbara

Okay, good question.

Honestly, you’d want to just treat them like any other hostess. I don’t think I would bring them a bottle of wine.  While wine in enjoyed in some Amish homes, it’s usually a private thing and that might make for an awkward moment.  So, no wine. Um, and food as a gift is just generally too iffy.

Okay, this is going to sound terribly self-serving, but you know what I think would make a great gift?  A cookbook.  And I think my cookbook, Amish Cooks Across America, truly would make a great gift. It gives your Amish hostess a chance to see Amish communities she'd probably never get to go to, or she'll have fun reading about the settlements in the book that she has visited.  So I do think that - or someone else's cookbook - would be a "can't-go-wrong" gift.

Otherwise, you can't go wrong with some nice stationary. Amish people write letters frequently.  Or some nice cards.  Nothing too flashy or ostentatious, just classic cream-colored writing paper.  You won't go wrong there.

You could bring a box of chocolates or maybe some gourmet coffee.  Most Amish do drink coffee and it might be kind of fun for them to dry a blend that they'd never try on their own.

So I hope that gives you some good direction, Barbara, sounds like a fun trip.
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You know, if you are going there for a meal…a plant needs to be taken care of for a long, long time