I tend to do quite a lot of baking and cooking, being the domestic half of this partnership~
one thing I’ve found goes over INCREDIBLY well with new couples and aunties is a cookbook or recipe box made for their tastes. Finding nice card stock and hand-writing or printing 20-30 cards in a decorative box is a wonderful thing to find under the tree. I went the extra mile when I made one for my Mother-in-Law, and even ordered a binder for them to match her kitchen!
I tend to save recipes throughout the year, and the ones I actually try and don’t take longer than 30 minutes of prep time get used.
hot chocolate in a jar, cookies in a jar, bread starter- there’s all sorts of recipes! Homemade sauces; particularly tomato based; are AMAZING to receive, as well~ So much time and effort goes into them, and it’s a time saver for the giftee too.
If your family hunts at all, venison jerky makes good presents. Growing up, it wasn’t uncommon for people to share-farm. If one person butchers a cow, you bet you can trade half your pig for a 1/3 the beef! So around the holidays, you’d be sharing family chili recipes with detailed instructions along with invitations to a circle dinner. {hors d’oeuvres at one house, dinner at the next, dessert, after dinner cocktails, etc. Depending on distance, the first course would be brought along to dinner, etc.}
Along those lines, hostess gifts are always good!
Home made candles, soaps, bath salts, bath bombs have been a recent craze that I totally jumped into… And not terribly hard to make, either. And it’s not hard to make “holiday” scents like mint and juniper berry if you have access to a whole foods essential oil section. Though, if you made your own essential oil, that would be a fun addition!