Gift ideas for boss
May 20, 2015 12:09 PM   Subscribe

My boss's birthday is coming up and our small team always gives gifts. I am struggling with what to buy her. I know her well, but I don't want something too personal. Here is some background: We work in mental health crisis. She also lives on a hobby farm where she takes in animals who are in crisis (sick, dying, or on their way to the slaughter house) and has a heart of gold. She loves her chickens and horses. She is a soon to be empty nester. She also enjoys cooking and baking. So far, my only thought is a magazine subscription to the Modern Farmer, but I am not 100% on it. Any thoughts or suggestions?
posted by LinneaJC to Work & Money (21 answers total)
 
Would she like seeds or plant starts. If she doesn't actively garden, perhaps wildflower seeds would be easy for her to spread on her property, or if she is more active, then heirloom seeds or plant starts (I think this is the right term for it, where you have a small plant for planting a garden, not sure).

Since she cooks and bakes, there are also a lot of options for gourmet food stuffs, perhaps preserved lemons or lemon curd, fancy olive oils or salts, fancy dusting sugars, jams.
posted by vunder at 12:14 PM on May 20, 2015


Donation to her favorite rescue in her name. The best Christmas gifts I got this year.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 12:18 PM on May 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


I think a magazine subscription is a great gift because it reminds them, for a whole year, that you love them. Maybe give her a couple of packs of catnip seeds too if she takes in cats.
posted by BoscosMom at 12:27 PM on May 20, 2015


A magazine subscription is not a bad idea. There's actually one called "Hobby Farms" which might be more enjoyable than Modern Farmer.
posted by General Tonic at 12:28 PM on May 20, 2015


How about a gift card to the feed store she uses?
posted by summerstorm at 12:41 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I love the gift card idea. You could go to the feed store and get some kind of galvanized steel buckets or feeders and wrap it up with the gift card inside.
posted by ReluctantViking at 12:44 PM on May 20, 2015


I love Short Stack's cookbooks. She might enjoy them if she likes cooking.
posted by ferret branca at 12:51 PM on May 20, 2015


Technically it's a children's book, but she might enjoy Audrey (cow) by Dan Bar-el.

It's "Charlotte's Web" meets "Babe" told in a pseudo-documentary style, about a cow named Audrey who finds out that she is going to be sent to Abbot's War (aka the slaughterhouse) and what she does to prevent it. My husband & I took turns reading it to our daughter and whoever wasn't reading was listening so as not to miss anything.
posted by mogget at 1:44 PM on May 20, 2015


Some small things from King Arthur Flour? They have some hard-to-find baking items like pearl sugar and chocolate extract.
posted by chickenmagazine at 2:00 PM on May 20, 2015


Modern Farmer has closed.

There are other mags in the Hobby Farms stable (sorry, couldn't resist a pun). She may be aware of these already, though, so drop a few hints just in case.

I really like the gift card idea for her favorite feed store.
posted by vickyverky at 2:06 PM on May 20, 2015


I was just on Etsy looking at original art and it makes me think you could buy her a lovely painting of farm life (or chickens, horses, etc.) for a very reasonable cost.
posted by Halo in reverse at 2:07 PM on May 20, 2015


She's at a point in her life that she probably has everything that she needs and too much of it. Get her something disposable like food. My favorite treat can be found at Wilburbuds.com. Triple chocolate coated almonds are the dreamiest coated almonds in the world. You could also get her a 10 pound bar of the best chocolate for dipping strawberries- Bronze Metal Semisweet Chocolate. She would love you forever for that one.
posted by myselfasme at 2:48 PM on May 20, 2015


Horse treats are a thing (like dog biscuits, but carroty) and amazon has some really good* ones for around $10. I can send you a link to some of the best* ones, if you'd like.

*I am not eating them.
posted by jessicapierce at 3:14 PM on May 20, 2015


Treats for chickens!
posted by radioamy at 4:09 PM on May 20, 2015


I live in a hippie enough town that I have seen, no joke, magazines for chicken lovers. Maybe one of those?
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:35 PM on May 20, 2015


There are prints of chickens that are seriously beautiful, and Etsy is a good place but you can also try Getty and get them printed and framed. If she does not have a copy of Extraordinary Chickens, she is missing out - it's a great book for chicken fans.

I think a small gift like this measuring cup from Anthropologie, which is pretty enough to be a jug left on a counter and useful, (you can always use another measuring cup/spoons), with a note that she brightens everyone's days ,and you hope this will brighten her kitchen counter or something sappy, maybe with some candy or coffee beans or paper flowers tucked inside, makes a nice balance between special and practical. It's not something you'd buy for yourself ($24 for a measuring cup!), but you'd happily use it if you were given it because it's so pretty.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:02 PM on May 20, 2015


A Pioneer Woman cookbook?
posted by Yellow Silver Maple at 6:03 PM on May 20, 2015


Timber Press publishes really lovely books on gardening, nature, and horticulture. Maybe a book on foraging or herbs - something that ties the farm together with the cooking interest?
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:17 PM on May 20, 2015


I love that measuring cup dorothyisunderwood links to from Anthropology. Like she says, it's useful and beautiful which makes a pretty good gift (some people would display it, some would put it in the cupboard for use).

I think magazine subscriptions are a bit problematic because she might already be subscribing, or it might not be to her taste, or she might not be a magazine reader. Also sweets are not a great gift for everyone; if someone presented me with ten pounds of chocolate I'd be wondering what in the world to do with it. Just offering a different perspective.

If you don't go with the measuring cup or something similar, a gift card to the feed store is a really good idea.
posted by JenMarie at 9:17 AM on May 21, 2015


I would think her hobby takes a fair amount of both her time and her disposable income. Something to support it would be great - gift certificate to the feed store, organizing some volunteer work for a day (think fence repair, or some such type of labor, shared by your coworkers and maybe even their kids/family), a little bit of social media buzz to help her with fundraising or adopting out rescued animals. I would think something along those lines would have a lot more meaning to her, and would be a memory she would cherish for much longer than any tangible thing you could give her.
posted by vignettist at 12:45 PM on May 21, 2015


Response by poster: Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions! I love the Extraordinary Chickens book and measuring cup. In looking at the book, I also noticed a book called Extraordinary Pigs. How sweet!
posted by LinneaJC at 7:50 AM on May 22, 2015


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