You’ve got sports-viewing parties and tailgates, barbecues and brunches, happy hours and birthdays. Sure, fun lies ahead, but first, there comes the stress of what to bring. Regifting that bottle of wine or weird ice cube tray won’t do. Instead, impress your host with any of these stellar gifts. From canned cocktails to top-of-the-line cookware, with some blankets, bags, and BBQ swag thrown in the mix, you’re sure to find the best hosting gifts for every event on your calendar.
The Best Hosting Gifts for Birthdays, Barbecues, and Everything in Between
1. Tip Top Proper Cocktails
Your pitmaster for the evening already spent the whole day prepping the feast. Give ‘em the night off bartending duties with any of these six canned renditions of classic low-ball cocktails. In the “stirred” category, they’ve got the negroni, Manhattan, and old fashioned, while the “shaken” offerings give you mouth-watering takes on the margarita, daiquiri, and Bee’s Knees.
Treat the Chef de Cuisine to an engraved Great Jones best-seller, like the Big Deal Pot or Deep Cut Sauté Pan. You can add their name, monogram, or that signature dish they love making on the lid. When the night’s over, they’ll be glad they can pop these pots and pans in the dishwasher for easy cleanup.
Your buddy loves beer. He loves being a barbecue wizard. Here’s the best of both worlds in one amazing marinade, that also doubles as a sauce. Flavors on offer are Japanese Miso BBQ, Mexican Tres Chiles, and Szechuan Black Vinegar. As the name implies, you simply add your favorite beer when cooking up your next marinade, stir fry, or snack dip. Ingredients like kombu (a type of seaweed), tomatoes, and miso give the condiment depth of flavor. Just Add Beer works just as well on a grilled steak as it does on roasted veggies.
A practical gift that anyone who invites you into their home will surely appreciate, these cozy blankets come in an array of patterns and neutral colors, and all are machine washable to boot. We recommend the Cape and Islands Ocean Blue Blanket ($135), with maps designed on the exterior, to evoke the bliss of summer all year round.
Enhance your host’s cheeseboard spread with these lip-smacking jams that also work atop sandwiches, burgers, or mixed into marinades. The set includes the original Tommy Jam, Hot Tommy (made with fresh habaneros for some heat), and Tommy en Provence (which offers herbaceous notes).
Keep drinks and snacks cold all day long with this best-in-class soft cooler, now available in new fall colors. Or, spring for an MLB hard cooler for the baseball superfan in your life with the logo of their favorite sports team emblazoned on top. Either way, bottoms up to a good, good time with this over-the-top splurge people wouldn’t likely buy for themselves, but will be so happy to own.
For the home-cooking aficionado, this lineup of seven olive oils and vinegar will be their new partner in crime in the kitchen, and a design-forward ode to accouterments they can proudly display. The set also includes a spout made with brush gold and stainless steel for drizzly perfection with each flip of the bottle. For something easier on the wallet, try The Mini Essentials ($70)—a collection of the brand’s best-selling products.
What better way to celebrate the purchase of a new home than with this charming personalized portrait of their digs? We’re also fans of Minted’s custom map art (from $65, framed) to transform a special map of their former stomping grounds or new environs into visually pleasing wall art.
Help anoint your buddy’s new backyard with this beautiful hammock, perfect for post-game power naps or evening reading sessions. What’s more, by purchasing a handwoven hammock through Yellow Leaf, you’re helping Thai craftspeople and their families build a better future for themselves. For $299, you can design your own pattern.
You know sauce is serious business when it was meticulously created by acclaimed chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi. The tomato-based sauce set includes two jars of marinara, and a jar each of Arrabbiata and tomato basil. With sauces made in small batches and featuring a medley of fresh ingredients like Italian-grown tomatoes and whole onions and garlic, expect a quality product that elevates any pasta dish. Bring it to your next family dinner to jazz up Dad’s famous eggplant parm. P.S. A roasted garlic version of the sauce launches soon.
Oenophiles will rejoice in this curated selection of natural wines delivered to their door on a monthly basis (choose a three-, six-, or 12-month membership). Red, white, mixed, rosé, and sparkling wines are up for the choosing, and all vinos are organically grown and independently tested for purity, so you can ensure they live up to the “natural” moniker, meaning they’re made following strict criteria and free of a long list of FDA-approved additives.
Help your host upgrade their tablescape with a delivery of potted plants or flowers. You can either do a one-off order or, if you have a subscription and know you have an event that month, you can have your delivery shipped directly to the recipient. Some current favorites are Monstera Magic ($99), the Farmer’s Market Gift Trio ($114), and Gold Rush ($49).
[From $38 à la carte or memberships from $36; bouqs.com]
This grilling apron was designed for ‘cue enthusiasts to practice their craft with ease, featuring 10 pockets, a carabiner, and five D-ring clips to keep accessories at the ready. It’s made of a durable, washable fabric, and crafted under the guidance of barbecue pitmasters and chefs to ensure it’s the applewood of anyone’s eye.
Speaking of grilling aficionados, up the ante on a BBQ with these chips sourced from 100 percent Minnesota white oak barrels used to age Tattersall Whiskey for more than two years. Flavor-wise, the whiskey-ed white oak provides notes of mild sweetness and vanilla to coax nuanced layers of sapor from every dish on the grill. These suckers are sublime for smoking.
Home team driving the crew crazy or just pull off an epic play? Time for a shot. Gathering to celebrate someone’s birthday? Ditto. Six thick, textured glass shooters arrive in this attractive, mission-style wrought iron stand with a garnish tray for victuals like salt, limes, lemons, and perhaps some electrolyte powder packets for all the damage you’re about to do.
Bring wine or other small items like napkin rings, a framed photo, and the like for a party or birthday in this elegant leather tote, then gift the bag as part of the plunder. Available in brown, black, and olive, every purchase of this bag creates two hours of employment to the brand’s Ethiopian team.
Eat, sip an apéritif, and be merry with this delightful assortment of beverages available in flavors like Lemon Lavender, Grapefruit Jalapeño, Citrus Flower, and more. You can add to spirits and wine (grape brandy and Chardonnay grapes play nice in all the flavor profiles), or imbibe it straight on the rocks, We’re partial to Ginger Yuzu with its namesake ingredients: lemongrass, orange peel, dried cherries, rooibos tea, ginger tea, and organic cane sugar.
Help your pal set the mood with this handsome candle, fragranced with notes of bergamot, vetiver, leather, and spices. Crafted with a soy-coconut wax blend, the candles are hand-poured by refugee women in Western Massachusetts, so you can feel good about empowering these talented makers with every purchase.
Got a beer trade on the horizon? The organizer will be thrilled to be on the receiving end of this trio of two pint glasses and a 64-ounce growler. Choose the colors for each in the bundle, and rest assured the lifetime warranty means these products are engineered for the long haul. For wine clubs, opt for the wine gift set.
20. Claude Dozorme Thiers Mixed Wood Handle Stainless Steel Steak Knife Set
Steak night made better. Made in France, this set includes knives made with wood grips from different trees (ebony, olive, tulip, rose, juniper, and boxwood), all presented in a beechwood box. FYI: They’re easy to re-sharpen and last for years. If you’re in the market for some steak knives, too, go ahead and treat yourself.
Every good get-together deserves a fun card game. Wow your amigos with this quick-to-learn game that lasts for around 30 minutes and works with four to 12+ players. Expect a lot of laughs—and to learn a thing or two about your friends’ creativity.
There’s no doubt when the weather turns colder as we settle into winter, stouts take center stage. And while we enjoy all its iterations: standard stout, imperial stout, and robust barrel-aged stouts, we think this malty, chocolate-filled beer’s close cousin deserves a little respect as well. Of course, we’re talking about the oft-overlooked porter. And the best porters, oh buddy, they’ll have you rethinking your seasonal bevvie of choice.
For those uninitiated, the porter style had its genesis in England like many other iconic beer styles. It first appeared in the 1700s and is (you guessed it) named after porters—individuals tasked with transporting luggage.
A confusing origin story
“Stout is the direct descendant of porter. In the 1700s, it was common to use the word ‘stout’ to refer to a bolder, higher-alcohol version of any beer style, much in the same way we use the word ‘imperial’ today,” says Zach Fowle, advanced cicerone and head of marketing for Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. in Phoenix, AZ. “Porter was the most popular beer of the day, and over time, “stout porter” became a popular variant. But by the late 1800s, demand for regular porters evaporated, and stout porter shortened simply to stout.”
But more has changed between the 1800s and today than just our penchant for wearing top hats. “Today, most brewers seem to market beers as either stout or porter based on vibes, rather than on any notable stylistic differences,” he says.
Specifically, porters are known for their dark, almost pitch-black color and rich, sweet flavor profile. If you were to drink a porter and a stout side by side, you might even have difficulty discerning the differences between the two.
Stout versus porter is an enduring topic of discussion in the brewing industry. “While there’s no debating the porter came first—and stout used to be called stout porter, so it was a stronger version of a porter—the lines have become very blurred over the years,” says Rob Lightner, co-founder of East Brother Brewing in Richmond, CA.
“I would venture that even among professionals, a blind taste test would often yield inconclusive results,” says Lightner.
The difference between porters and stouts
Porters tend to be on the milder, more chocolatey end of the spectrum, Lightner says, whereas stouts are typically a little stronger and more roasty. Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule
Fowle agrees, “Porters tend to be fruitier, sweeter, and less bitter than stouts, with cocoa and caramel flavors in balance with dark malt bitterness. And stouts are usually hoppier, drier, maltier, and more coffee-forward—and may even have a touch of acidity.”
Whether or not they fit neatly into boxes, one thing’s for sure: both make for incredible cold-weather brews.
“As the nights grow longer, drinking a light, summery beer just doesn’t seem right,” says Fowle. “Porter is the perfect style for the transition to winter: warming and toasty yet not too heavy, with flavors of coffee, chocolate, and pie crust that correspond with autumn weather and holidays.”
It’s the perfect time to broaden your repretoire. Sweet, robust, warming, and well-suited to the season, here are the best porters to drink now.
Courtesy image
1. Deschutes Black Butte Porter
There are few porters more well-respected than Deschutes’ iconic Black Butte Porter. It’s brewed with Cascade and Tettnang hops as well as 2-row, Chocolate, Crystal, and Carapils malts as well as wheat. This 5.5% ABV year-round offering is great for cold-weather drinking because of its mix of roasted malts, coffee, and chocolate. It’s a robust, subtly sweet beer perfect for imbibing on a crisp fall night.
The key to 360-degree muscle: 90-degree eccentric isometrics. It might seem like we’re throwing a lot of geometry at you, but the concept behind time under tension (TUT) is simple, says Joel Seedman, PhD, owner of Advanced Human Performance: “Perform the lowering phase of a movement in a slow, controlled fashion, usually 3 to 5 seconds; pause in the stretched position, typically around 90 degrees; then perform the lifting phase in a powerful yet controlled fashion.” Believe us, a time-under-tension workout can humble even seasoned lifters…Eccentric isometrics are like the pressure cooker of training.
“Rather than mindlessly performing slow-tempo reps, you’re using the increased time under tension as a means to fine-tune your body mechanics and alignment, which requires more mental engagement and focus,” Seedman adds.
If you want to forge functional muscle mass and strength while simultaneously bulletproofing the joints and connective tissue, give this 10-move, full-body eccentric isometrics workout a go.
Directions
Perform the following moves as 90-degree eccentric isometrics following the above protocol. Use heavy weight, but not at the detriment of proper form. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets and 2 minutes between circuits. Perform once every 2 to 4 days for optimal results.
Best Time-Under-Tension Workout for Total-Body Strength
Circuit 1
Marius Bugge
A. Barbell Back Squat
Set a squat rack up with heavy weight, then grasp bar and step under it. Squeeze shoulder blades together, then stand to unrack bar and step back with feet shoulder-width apart. Inhale, hinge at hips and slowly bend knees to 90 degrees. Pause, keeping natural arch in low back, then extend through hips to powerfully stand. 3 x 4-6 reps
Marius Bugge
B. Renegade Row
Start in the top position of a pushup with hands shoulder-width apart on moderate-to-heavy dumbbells (shown). Explosively drive right elbow back to row dumbbell toward ribs while balancing on opposite hand and feet. Pause, then slowly lower weight, stopping a few inches above floor. Switch sides after all reps are done. 3 x 5 reps each side
Circuit 2
Marius Bugge
A. Dumbbell Bentover Row
Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding two moderate-to-heavy dumbbells in front of thighs, palms facing you. Push hips back and hinge torso forward so it’s nearly parallel to floor, soft bend in knees. Dumbbells should be near shins. Drive elbows back to row weights toward ribs. Pause, then slowly lower down for 3 to 5 seconds. 3 x 4-5 reps
Marius Bugge
B. Incline Dumbbell Chest Press with Legs Raised
Set an adjustable bench to a 30- to 45-degree angle and lie back with dumbbells in either hand. Engage core and lift legs off floor, flexing feet. Press weights overhead, palms in. Slowly lower to 90 degrees, staying tight and compact. Pause, then drive weights up directly over chest. 3 x 4-5 reps
Circuit 3
Marius Bugge
A. Dumbbell Bulgarian Squat
Stand lunge-length in front of a flat bench, holding heavy dumbbells in each hand by your sides, palms facing in. Rest the ball on top (shoe’s laces) of your right foot behind you on the bench. Slowly lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the floor. Pause, then drive through your heel to stand. Switch sides after all reps are complete. 2 x 3-4 reps each side
Marius Bugge
B. Single-leg Romanian Deadlift
Stand with feet hip-width apart holding dumbbells or kettlebells. Drive right leg up, foot flexed, knee aligned with hip, making a 90-degree angle. Hinge at hips as you slowly lever your torso toward floor, lowering weights and driving right leg back for counterbalance. Hold, then squeeze glutes to reverse. 2 x 3-4 reps each side
Circuit 4
Marius Bugge
A. Pullup
Hang from a pullup bar using an overhand grip with legs extended and feet flexed. Engage lats and draw shoulders down your back, then pull yourself up until chin is higher than hands. Pause at the top, then slowly lower. Pause at bottom, then reset before your next rep. 2-3 x 4-5 reps
Marius Bugge
B. Kneeling Overhead Barbell Press
Hold a bar with moderate-to-heavy load at shoulder level with forearms perpendicular to floor. Kneel at end of bench with feet flexed to grip edge for support. Inhale, engage your core and glutes, then press the bar overhead, pushing your head forward so it passes your face, exhaling at the top. Slowly lower until elbows are at 90 degrees, then hold to maintain tension. Begin your next rep from here. 2-3 x 4-5 reps
Circuit 5
A. Dumbbell Pushup
Place hands on dumbbells (this provides greater range of motion) at shoulder width and feet wider than shoulder width with just toes touching the ground. Keep head neutral and hips high to increase tension on core, chest and tris and reduce stress on spine. Slowly lower to the floor. Stop once elbows hit 90 degrees, pause, then push up to start. 1-2 x 6-8 reps
B. Biceps Curl
Stand with feet hip-width apart with moderate-to-heavy dumbbells in each hand hanging by sides. Engage biceps to curl the weights up, keeping upper arms still. Pause at the top, then lower slowly. Don’t let arms drop all the way down to keep greater time under tension on biceps. 1-2 x 6-8 reps
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If you haven’t picked up a jump rope since elementary school, you’re missing out on a fantastic cardio workout. Not only will you burn a ton of calories in a short amount of time—200 to 300 calories in 15 minutes—but jump ropes can also improve your coordination and agility. Better yet, jumping rope doesn’t require much space, so it’s easy to do at home, and it’s often more mentally stimulating than jogging or swimming.
Choosing a Jump Rope
When deciding which jump rope is best for you, it’s important to determine what your goals are. While lightweight speed ropes are popular for cardio-focused training, weighted or drag ropes will be best for those focused on strength training.
No matter what your training goals are, we’ve got you covered with this roundup of 10 jump ropes from top brands including Crossrope, TRX, Rogue, and more.
The Best Jump Ropes of 2022
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