Flowers make the absolutely the best hostess gift. Everyone brings wine. I also like candles and tea towels…but flowers rock. The reason is that they can (and will) be enjoyed right then and there and leaves nothing that the hostess might not think goes her home. However if you bring flowers in a vase, you run into that problem. If you bring flowers without a vase, you need to have her stop attending to her guests and see to the flowers. I found a workaround. Digging through the recycling bin, found an oatmeal tin. It wasn’t water proof, so I added a red plastic “party” cup to the inside.
She liked it. Score one for the MD team.