favorite Big Island gift

[DanielP]

hands down; Tuberose Leis. Can be hard to find, gotta call around, Choke Ono fragrance!!! Often mixed with orchids at the airport shops, but our favorites are the straight Tuberose. Unforgetably Hawaiian.

[Rob Tucker]

There are some excellent photographers in the area. A nice photo of/from Hawaii can be a very nice gift and supports a local talent.

Jim Nolan is my favorite. Takes some amazing shots. Has done some of them up as magnets - for example a shot of hot lava or a tide pool done as four fridge magnets can be rearranged as you prefer like a kaleidoscope. Pretty cool. Not too expensive.

[Obie]

We give our friends Christmas Berry honey that came from the beehives in our yard.The hives are gone now because of virroa mite,but we still about a dozen pints of honey!

[TonyB]

Aloha,
We bring gifts back often. Oils of Aloha lotion is great for the elderly especially in the fall and winter. Passion fruit butter is another big favorite. Easy to send by mail or bring on plane.

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by csgray

My family love getting the Hawaii versions of reusable shopping bags, the spam musabi one I got my daughter at Foodland is always a big hit at the checkout lines. They fold flat, are light, and fit really well in those "one price for everything you can fit into it" mailers. Even people who don't do the reusable bag thing like them for lunches and picnics.

Carol

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These are a big hit! I sent 2 members of the Republican side of my family a couple with a note that said "you might be blue but you can be green too!" (Also had Big Island Candy in bag too though! )

[Susan]

I have a KTA reusable bag that I have carried back and forth for a couple of years. It's already packed for our upcoming trip. It has history now and is suitably soft and faded like the most perfect pair of sneakers.

@kapohocat, ha ha the rethuglican side of your family is RED. Don't get me started...
See you soon.

[nana valley]

Two groups of friends: one group wants Mac Nut Farm 16 oz bag of broken up mac nuts. They make mac. roca! The other group is coffee, coffee, coffee. I might try the vender at Macuu Mkt this time after reading these posts. One insists on the nuts and coffee both.
Hmmmm, so easy to please! I love the idea of the KTA reusable bags. Great idea filled with the standard nuts and coffee.

What a great topic before the holidays.

@Susan, if you go back in time, the Republicans were blue and the Demmies were red (for liberal, socialist, far-left). Don't know why they changed! So kapohocat is partially correct...just depends on the decade. And what color are Independents? Mix red and blue and get green.

[Kapohocat]

Would worked either way - "you can be red and green"! LOL

Next choice after BIC is any of the lillikoi jellies my friends make!

[Carey]

Speaking of red & green, one of MY favorite Christmas gifts to send are those Hawaii calendars that are under 90 cents (with shipping envelope!) now with a number of venues (including Walmart, Walgreens, Long & KTA) selling them with at least a couple of different publishers, it is possible to send our whole family a different looking Hawaii ones (there are several different Hawaii themes)

Hawaiian Heritage also has some lovely canvas bags with nice Hawaii themed prints, have picked them up on sale at Longs & used them as gifts....

If you really want to go extravagant, there are some spectacular quilts at the markets & the quilt shop (though for my mother-in-law, the quilter, we have gotten some wonderful fabrics -there are quilt fabrics produced in Hawaii)

[Lee M-S]

I like to send fresh flowers. Either from the E sisters (though I hear they're closing) or from the farmers market. Dolly Handicrafts has boxes, the flower vendors will pack them, then take the box to USDA for approval, then the PO. Both orchids and anthurium ship well.

We've painted our own coconuts, too; make sure they are dry, with no slosh, and have no loose bits on the outside (PO rules). Acrylic paints worked well, and we shipped them priority (naked, no box) for about $6.