Homemade Thank You Presents in Japan?

[prasantrin]

I'm getting ready to leave Japan after 6 (sometimes very long) years. I want to give little "thank you presents" to some people whom I have come to appreciate. These include people like the owners of my favourite local restaurant, my dry cleaners, the security guards at my workplace, etc. etc.

I wanted to make them something, but don't know what's appropriate. I was thinking of my lemon pound cake (always very popular) or mango pudding (I have a lot of mango puree to use up). I could also do brownies--I have a lot of unsweetened chocolate to use, too. There's also an option of caramels or buttercrunch toffee.

Any suggestions? When I bake I usually lessen the sugar to accommodate Japanese tastes, so I'm not so worried about finding things they'll like (although specific suggestions for the security guards might be helpful--I don't know how keen they are about sweets).

Or would it be very inappropriate to give this type of present in Japan?

[helenjp]

I think that the acceptability of home-made gifts is about the same in Japan as elsewhere, but that people make more effort in wrapping. The packaging somehow has to scream "I prepared this box just for you, I didn't pull it out of the closet and dump my socks out of it".

Gifts of home-made baking that I've seen have mostly had each portion separately wrapped - probably partly because food gifts are often shared around, and it's a kindness to have stuff already divided up. E.g. 2 cookies back to back or 1 slice of pound cake in a small cellophane pack with a pretty sticker to close it, all sitting on a small nest of paper wool or wood shavings to stop them rattling round, in a wrapped box and presented in a bag. Pretty much a more homey and cuter/cooler version of what you might get from a shop. So it might not matter if you wrapped the box in advertising supplements, if you made it look cool enough...

Good luck with your new life!

[Lior]

An end is also a beginning. I think it may be curious to express this along with your gift.

Make whatever, say a lemon cake, wrapped and packaged according to Japanese culture, but it should be something from your culture-like a brownie or lemon pound cake. Then I would neatly wrap up all the necessary ingredients required to prepare it according to the recipe, and include a recipe card. A new beginning for them. That way they will always remember you if they ever make it.

To me it would be very meaningful anyhow...and true to "an end but also a beginning..."

Best of luck

Edited February 13, 2010 by Lior (log)

[Kerry Beal]

An end is also a beginning. I think it may be curious to express this along with your gift.

Make whatever, say a lemon cake, wrapped and packaged according to Japanese culture, but it should be something from your culture-like a brownie or lemon pound cake. Then I would neatly wrap up all the necessary ingredients required to prepare it according to the recipe, and include a recipe card. A new beginning for them. That way they will always remember you if they ever make it.

To me it would be very meaningful anyhow...and true to "an end but also a beginning..."

Best of luck

What a lovely idea!

I love your mango pudding - I'd be interested to know how you would package that up for giving? Maybe in fancy little jars?

[prasantrin]

An end is also a beginning. I think it may be curious to express this along with your gift.

Make whatever, say a lemon cake, wrapped and packaged according to Japanese culture, but it should be something from your culture-like a brownie or lemon pound cake. Then I would neatly wrap up all the necessary ingredients required to prepare it according to the recipe, and include a recipe card. A new beginning for them. That way they will always remember you if they ever make it.

To me it would be very meaningful anyhow...and true to "an end but also a beginning..."

Best of luck

What a lovely idea!

I love your mango pudding - I'd be interested to know how you would package that up for giving? Maybe in fancy little jars?

Why, pudding cups of course! They come complete with lids! If I go that route, I'd probably use aluminium ones. Not as pretty, but more environmentally friendly (since I know people won't be re-using the cups the way I do, but they'll just throw them out).

Giving the ingredients along with the final product is a great idea. I did something similar once with the ingredients for sangria, and it went over smashingly. But I'm quite sure none of the planned recipients will be making whatever I give them. None of them bake except the Italian restaurant folks! Not even my neighbour! The women in the office at school might, though, so perhaps I'll cobble something together for them, depending on what I make. They'd appreciate it, I'm sure!

About packaging--I'm not too good at making things look pretty. That's usually when I pull out my "I'm a foreigner even though I don't look like one" card, and people usually give me a pass. It helps that I actually make things they like and enjoy eating (unlike the other furrener baker in my workplace). But I will definitely be wrapping whatever I made somehow. I have a lot of cake boxes, etc. leftover from the baking classes I took, so it'll be a good way to get rid of some of them.

Helen--do you think the restaurant owners and dry-cleaners might think it's a little weird that I'm giving them gifts? I'm a regular, and they're quite friendly with me. I just don't want to cross any lines or anything.

[helenjp]

Yesterday at the bookstore I was flipping through a book called Guimauves and Marshmallow (or maybe Marshmallow and Guimauve...). At the back of the book were several pages of ideas on packaging marshmallows to give away.

One I liked was to pop a one-person serving of marshmallows into a paper cup, fold the top sharply in half, and simply close the top with fancy tape (especially the pretty paper tape you can buy). She had also taped a skewer (wrapped in paper, natch) to the side of the paper cup.

There were also repurposed glass jars with circles of fabric tied over the lids, and paper egg cartons with (wrapped, of course) individual confections in each depression, a thank-you card laid on top, and the whole thing tied with raffia.

[Blether]

... the restaurant owners and dry-cleaners might think it's a little weird that I'm giving them gifts? I'm a regular, and they're quite friendly with me. I just don't want to cross any lines or anything.

You certainly won't be thought badly of for not giving them anything (unless they've done some exceptional service that you haven't yet acknowledged). As long as your comfortable with it, though, no sweat.

I would try to make the present on the second-last visit or the one before. That way, you don't leave them feeling obligated - if they want to give something in return, they can do that without a lot of trouble.

Edited February 14, 2010 by Blether (log)