Food makes tasty gift-giving proposition

At The HoneyBaked Ham Co., 1416 E. Battlefield, www.honeybakedonline.com, hams are the key gift for the holiday season, said Amy Bryant, catering and gifting specialist.

Hams are, sliced, glazed and ready to eat, and can be gift-boxed. On the average, a 9-pound half-ham costs about $49.95, Bryant said.

Gift certificates range from $10 to $75. A popular gift certificate amount covers a 7-pound half ham for $41.95.

The HoneyBaked Ham Co. also carries a variety of mustards, ham-bone soup mix, turkeys, cake, coffee items and popcorn tins. According to Bryant, Hickory Honey mustard, which sells for $3.29, is most popular. Items and hams can be used to make custom gift baskets.

“Most people tend to spend anywhere from $60 to $100 on a basket, depending on what they want. It comes down to customer wants and needs,” Bryant said.

Popcorn tins are new this year and contain Honeynutt Krunch popcorn. They sell for $9.99, Bryant said.

Bryant said The Honeybaked Ham Co.’s shipping is done through its Web site.

A honey of a present

Lena Meyer, owner of Honey Heaven, 2516 S. Campbell, looks forward to the holidays and expects a boost in business.

“Our product is mainly our honey and the gift baskets which we make up,” Meyer said.

Samplers and gift baskets are the most popular items for gift giving, and gift baskets cost $10 and up, Meyer said.

For instance, the A Little Bit of Heaven Sampler with clover and wildflower honey, is about $28.95. A large sampler is $38.95.

“We make up homemade honey butter popcorn with fresh butter and honey. We’ve got different size bags of that, from $2.95 to $5.95 a bag,” Meyer said.

Honey Heaven plans to have honey fudge this year, as well as the new popcorn products.

Honey at Honey Heaven isn’t just plain honey. Choices include Cordially Cherry chocolate honey and peanut butter fudge honey. This year two new flavors – eucalyptus and lavendar – are available for the holidays.

For an additional charge, the store will take care of shipping and handling.

Get a little saucy

While some like it sweet, others like things hot, which is just fine with Springfield Sauce Co. LLC, a home-based business at 808 W. University St.

The company, owned by Jane Peterson, has a spicy Kickin’ Kocktail sauce and a new I Like It Hot Sauce, each selling for $4.

Peterson added that her dipping oils, which come in Italian Wedding, Pesto Primavera and Peppered Port, make great stocking stuffers because they come in long, narrow jars.

The dipping oils cost $18.50 each.

Peterson said Happy Noodle sauce is her most popular product.

“It runs $8. You can use it for spaghetti or Asian-style pasta, stir fries, or as a marinade for meat and fish. If you like salmon, you’ll like what it does to it,” Peterson said.

A standard gift basket from Springfield Sauce Co., with four to five products, would be between $40 and $50, Peterson said. Also, a small basket could be as inexpensive as $18.

An apple a day

Sunshine Valley Farm Market and Bakery Café closes Nov. 28, but is available for phone orders, said co-owner Jan Wooten. She said, “We’re a destination, not a good drive-by location when the weather gets bad.”

Goodies available for gift-giving at Sunshine Valley Farm range from apples to all kinds of bakery items.

“We do gift baskets that could include apples, apple butter, local honey, note cards and cooking supplies like pastry cutters. We can do baked goods like turnovers, and we have a variety of jams and jellies,” Wooten said.

In addition to turnovers, Sunshine Valley also offers different flavors of breads, pies and cakes. Prices begin at $10.89 for pies, and $20 for cakes.

Typical cost for a small gift basket with jam or honey and apples would range from $12 to $15, Wooten said. A basket with about 5 pounds of apples costs about $8, she said. Shipping is available for apples at an additional charge of $8.50, which covers handling plus the UPS charge, Wooten said.

Don’t forget the candy

This is the third season for the Springfield location of Richardson’s Candy House, 3857 S. Campbell.

“Most of our business is found in the deluxe assortment,” owner Terry Hicklin said.

Hicklin said the 1.5-pound deluxe assortment, combined with a box of English toffee, and caramel corn in a tower is popular. The cost ranges from $29 to $89, prepacked, Hicklin said.

Deluxe caramel apples, 17 types of fudge, divinity, flavored coffees and holiday teas are all items customers can select for gift giving.

Smaller gifts typically start between $5 and $6.

“We ship all over the country. It runs about $8.50 to ship a pound box for packaging and UPS charges. We cover our costs,” Hicklin said.

New this year, Hicklin said, something different has been added. Hicklin said Richardson’s products will be available in Sam’s Club in Springfield and Joplin and online at www.samsclub.com. The company’s Web site is at www.candyhouse.net.

Holiday gifts are important to the bottom lines of these businesses.

The HoneyBaked Ham Co. manager Kim Gebhardt said, “We do about 60 percent of our overall revenue at the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it’s huge for us.”

Owners of the other businesses echoed Gebhardt’s sentiments.

Pack it up

For shoppers who prefer to take care of their own shipping arrangements, help is available at stores including The UPS Store, 334 E. Kearney.

Jennifer Stratton, customer service representative, said, “We would suggest that anything breakable and fragile like glass be put into the center of the basket, with the solid and nonbreakable items around the outside.”

Besides bubble wrap, The UPS Store also has a special plastic wrap that adheres to the glass so that if any mishap occurs during shipping, shards of glass won’t scatter.

Stratton also said that at least 2 inches of filler material is placed in the bottom of the packaging box and around the sides of the item being shipped.