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I always send (and receive) food gifts along with other things from family and friends...just nothing I've personally made.

A typical gift box from me to family/friends any time of year would be what I just mailed my parents for our year-end gift exchange (at least a gist of what I tend to get, with the exception of the calendar): 3 bottles of dipping oils, nozzles for the oils, and train and flower sandwich cutters from Williams Sonoma; Lindt chili chocolate and wasabi kettle chips from Target; pickled garlic cloves from somewhere (forgot); pickles from a recent trip to Tennessee; a box of Lacey's thin toffee cookies from World Market; garlic plantain chips from the market; Japanese woodblock print calendar from Borders; plus their own personal gifts unrelated to food.

Gifts I give to people at work this time of year typically come from Trader Joe. I bought one of my bosses 3 different tapenade bottles and a box of crackers. My other boss will be getting a tin of yogurt pretzels. The rest of the people will be getting a box of their dark chocolate stars or candy cane Joe-Joe's. I usually buy 3-4 boxes extra in the event someone I didn't expect gives me something. It's saved me from having to go out at the last minute. When everyone is covered, they're great for me to eat. I never give gifts I personally won't eat, with the exception of the pickled garlic cloves and pickled onions.

I usually try to send some fudge or bread (banana bread, typically) to my relatives up north, as well as to my friends overseas. I try to use a recipe like fudge, just because it's seasonal and easy to ship, and doesn't result in crumbs when the recipient gets it (crucial when sending it to China, that's for sure).

I have always enjoyed baking for people and giving food as gifts. Not just because it is sometimes cheaper, but because it really comes from the heart. I have a relative who is diabetic, so I make something tailored just for him. And I have friends that have different likes and dislikes, so I trry to develop a list in my address book and find their favorites to send to them when I can. I just love doing that so much more than sending a gift card or something else. It just seems to mean more. And if they don't like it, chances are that they can take it to their work or friends and someone else will inevitably eat it.

Ive sent out 40 lbs of different types of spiced nuts (savory and sweet) about 6 lbs of pumpkin seed brittle
7 lbs of peanut brittle
17 lbs of breads and cookies
I always send things early (day after T day if I can)
that way people have a whole month to snack before the dreaded forst of the year and "diet season".

I send out homemade jam, cookies, and candy. Usually, I package things in butcher paper with string and hand-stamped gift tags. I have a lot of fun making holiday treats for friends, and I think that adds to the fun they have eating the treats.

@ddv, my inlaws get a lot of food gifts from far-flung children (we're the only ones nearby) and at some point, it's just too much or too weird. Fruit is nice, but it doesn't keep forever, and if there are 2 of them trying to eat a crate of pears and a crate of tangerines before they go bad, it stops being as fun. One year she got three hams and I ended up storing two in my freezer because she had no space.

As for the cheese and sausage things, those are nice nibbles, but some of the selections are always odd, and if you don't know what they are, you're opening these little packages without a clue as to what you'll do with it when it's opened. A chunk of cheddar, you can figure out. Multiple tiny snippets of cheese can be fun if you're adventurous, but some people aren't.

Once year, someone gave MIL a basket with caviar. She mixed it with mayo and something else, and made a faux tuna salad out of it and tried to get guests to finish it off, because she hates throwing food away. When your hosts feed you mysterious stuff on crackers, stare at you while you're eating it, and refuse to eat it themselves, it's not a good sign.

Not saying that the people you've sent food baskets to are like my in-laws, but food is a personal prefernce, and what one person thinks is a divine gift, another would be clueless about.

And of course there's that whole need to eat it up before it goes bad or before diets start. That's always a struggle. Unless of course, we're talking about things that can handle long storage like jams and rice and dried pastas of the gourmet variety.

Me, I'd be tickled pink with a big box full of exotic rices and grains and different kinds of flours. Most normal people would be left scratching their heads.

I make and and give out lemoncello. It's a huge production. I buy a case of 100 proof vodka, zest 120 lemons, and my kitchen looks and smells like a distillery for weeks. That said, that, along with just making a simple syrup with a little lemon juice in it, is really all the work I have to do. It just takes a little time. It makes about 20 bottles.

Every year, after I send/give it all out, I think, "maybe next year I'll do something different," but honestly, my friends kind of count on it. Homemade is so much better (by, like, a thousand percent) than what you buy at the liquor store and it's totally worth every single lemon's painstakingly removed pith.

And I really love painting the bottles up, making them pretty and fun, You know, nail polish is an awesome arts and crafts tool!

Peppermint bark I've been making for so many years. A recipe from Epicurious - made with Lindt white chocolate and Valhrona. It's far superior to any store bought or Williams-Sonoma peppermink bark and everyone now expects it from me. Also make a mixed nut spiced bark from Epicurious and is a wonderful compliment to the peppermint bark

For those that need recipes, we have an article of Mailable Holiday Food Gifts that might help!

I'm giving Douglas Fir bitters.