DP. Do you know the OP’s boss? She could be serving Barefoot wine and a bowl of Cheetos for all we know. |
| Flowers |
If OP knows her hostess well enough to go to her house and presumably eat food there, the hostess should likewise feel comfortable accepting a dish that OP prepared. |
| A women only happy hour? I would bring a classic, inoffensive hostess gift. Some decent options are: 1. Box of truffles 2. Box of sea salt caramels 3. Nice Olive oil (like the kind a store like Olio sells), honey, or similar 4. Nice flowers. |
| Unless she asked people to bring food potluck style to share or assigned you something to bring, a hostess gift like you’d bring to anyone’s house is a better idea than bringing a dish or drink. |
OP said the boss is a bit of a wine snob. Those women are definitely going to be judgmental towards an underling making a faux pas at ladies night. |
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Maybe Cheetos pair great with wine, they are cheesy!
People who really know their caviar often prefer it served on plain old potato chips. |
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This probably doesn't fit the etiquette. But I wanted to say that I recently tried these cheeses at a wine happy hour at a conference and was very impressed.
Sage Derby https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sage_Derby Port Wine Derby https://www.reddit.com/r/Cheese/comments/nbxzd2/port_wine_derby_beautiful_and_tasty/ They taste great but are pretty mainstream flavors. The sage one has a faint smell of marigold or tomato plants that's very pleasant. And the wine one just blends the flavors you get from sipping wine while eating cheese. They look gorgeous on a fruit and cheese tray. |
You don’t know what you’re missing. |
There are lots of threads on here for hostess gifts that are not food or wine and I've liked getting cocktail napkins and wine stoppers. |
| Box of nice chocolate truffles. The host can accept them as a hostess gift or set them out to share if she wants to. |