In every family and group of friends, there is always at least one person or family who loves to host parties and gatherings. In my group, that’s me. My family hosts Christmas Eve annually and sometimes Thanksgiving. Every year, we also host a “reunion” barbecue for friends, old and new. And throughout the year, we host groups of family members and friends for all sorts of occasions, dinners, sleepovers, and more. Needless to say, I’m well aware of what a hostess needs to successfully throw a party. And beyond the more expensive items, there are actually lots of gifts for the hostess for under $50 that are worth getting. You just have to know how to find them.
How to Find Gifts Under $50 For the Hostess
If you want to browse what might be available to get inspiration or ideas for what to get a hostess on your list, there’s an easy way to do so using the navigation filters on the Best Buy website as well as tools on the product pages.
Under the Shop menu item at the top, left of the homepage, select Home, Furniture & Kitchen, since most of what a hostess would need would fall into the kitchen category, then Explore More under Kitchen and Dining. Once there, you can shop by individual categories like Cookware, Tabletop & Bar, and Kitchen Gadgets & Utensils. Click into a category then use the filters on the right-hand side to look only at items that are on sale or on clearance, and filter even further to see items with the deepest discounts, filtering by discount percentage.
To specifically see products that are $50 or less, filter by Price, selecting only items that are $50-$99.99, $20-$49.99, and so on, right down to items that are less than $2 and would make great stocking stuffers. You can filter by two price points at a time, so choose the ones closest to how much you want to spend then scroll through the many options to see what catches your eye.
When searching for something like board games, which are great for entertaining, you can even filter by Party Games specifically, as well as Recommended Age, Minimum Number of Players, Theme, and even average Playing Time to find ones that fit the group and timeframe.
Depending on the category of items you choose, there are different filters you can apply to narrow down the search. But price is always one of them to help you stay within your set budget.
Gifts Ideas for the Hostess Under $50
To get you started, here are some great gift ideas under $50 that any hostess on your list will appreciate.
Drinkware and Accessories Gifts Under $50 for the Hostess
Serving drinks at a gathering is a given, so a hostess will need a nice some good bar and wine accessories.
Glasses like the set of 6 BODUM Pavina Glasses are perfect for everyday use as well as gatherings. They are microwave- and dishwasher-safe (important for easy clean-up) and have a double wall to keep drinks ice cold or hot. Serve up delicious cocktails or hot cocoa, coffee, or tea.
A cool option for the frequent hostess is the Final Touch Four Bottle Wall Mounted Liquor Dispenser that can hold your four most-commonly used drinks, like vodka, gin, and rum, so guests can pour their own and add whatever mix they want to it. Hostesses are always running around serving others, so anything you can provide them to make it self-serve is a welcome addition to the set-up.
Another neat bar option is the Alpine Cuisine 4-piece Cocktail Maker for making festive drink creations. It comes with an 18 oz. shaker, mixing spoon, strainer, and double-sized jigger.
For wine, there are beautiful decanters that can be had for under $50, like the Brilliant 1L Aerating Decanter that is handmade from high-quality glass with a stainless steel breather that can help ensure you get full flavour and body from your red wine.
Wine glasses are, of course, a must. But for the hostess who entertains a lot of people at once, they might not have enough glasses to accommodate everyone. A handy solution for big gatherings could be plastic wine glasses like the Juvale 12-pack Clear Unbreakable Stemless 16 oz. glasses, which are made from BPA-free and transparent Tritan that won’t break. And they are dishwasher-safe.
Kitchen and Serving Gifts Under $50 for the Hostess
Any good hostess needs kitchen gadgets and accessories like a nice cheese board for putting out a spread before a meal is served, or for finger foods. And you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on a marble one. The Bamboo Cheese Board Set has a flat 
surface for accommodating different types of cheese and crackers, as well as a neat hidden drawer for storing knives and a fork for cutting the cheese and/or picking up cheese cubes. It’s great to use as a small charcuterie board as well.
For the adventurous hostess who likes to try new things, a Sushi Making Kit could be a cool gift. It includes 11 pieces to help you create sushi in fun shapes and sizes along with a non-stick sushi knife and detailed instructions.
Help them serve up dessert in style with a useful gift like the Tannex Round Cake Pedestal so they can display their delicious homemade cake, mini pastries, or cheeses like a professional. Made of porcelain, it is dishwasher- microwave-, and oven-safe.
Before they can serve the dessert, however, they need to bake it! The Norpro Non-Stick Mini Cheesecake Pan is perfect for making tiny cheesecakes to serve on the aforementioned pedestal, but it can also be used for all kinds of desserts like mini cakes or even appetizer quiches. (And hey, if the hostess opts for store-bought, the pedestal still allows for a nice way to display them!)
For sheet cakes, there are options like the Baker’s Tip Oblong Cake Pan, ideal for making large birthday or other occasion cakes.
A popular dish for parties is fondue. And yes, you can get a fondue pot for under $50 like the 3-quart Oster Fondue Pot in brilliant red that is perfect for hosting another couple or two. Cook, melt, and keep fondue warm inside, and use the cool touch handles to move the por around as needed. The non-stick surface makes clean-up easy too, which any hostess will appreciate.
A great stocking stuffer gift is a set of toothpick flags for labeling food. Often when I host parties and offer a selection of different items, or different flavours of the same item (e.g. spicy versus mild wings) I have to find a good way to label them accordingly so guests aren’t always asking what’s what. This is also great if you have friends or family members with allergies so you can clearly label what dishes have peanuts, shellfish, or dairy, or which are the vegan options. This set is simple with white flags on toothpicks that you can use the label different dishes, secure multi-layered mini sandwiches, or add fun sayings or labels to cupcakes, mini quiches, and different cheeses. You get 250 in all.
Home Décor and Entertainment Gifts Under $50 for the Hostess
There are also some great home décor items under $50 that would be great for the hostess, like the Apexan Aromatherapy Essential Oil Diffuser that can fill the home with delicious smells using cool, scented mist, setting the tone for a party. Shaped like an acorn, it also has soft-changing colours and functions as a humidifier. It’s great for a low-key dinner party.
Board games are always a hit at parties, so consider getting the hostess on your list a fun one they might not already have. Opt for a classic yet always popular game like Trivial Pursuit, which comes in a 40th anniversary ruby edition that includes a special bonus deck of questions that cover topics over the last 40 years. Or consider a game guests of all ages can enjoy and play in teams, like classic Taboo or something newer like 5 Second Rule where players must give as many answers to a question as they can within the span of five seconds (e.g. name different breeds of dogs), making for plenty of fun and laughs as players get flustered trying to win.
Bottom Line
When choosing a gift for the hostess on your list, consider what their main concerns are: cooking, clean-up, and entertaining. Then think of what items they might not have, what they could use more of, and what they might get good use out of but never think of buying for themselves.
The robust navigation tools on the Best Buy website will make it easy to get inspiration, and find items that fit specific parameters, including price as well as themes, features, materials, and even what’s currently on sale and will get you the best discount and bang for your buck.
