I wish I had seen the thread earlier since I have a cheap and easy recipe for a delicious sangria that's always a hit at our parties. The kicker is that you need a way to store it chilled a few days in advance. The longer the fruit soaks in the alcohol and juice the better it tastes. For one batch you need:
1 bottle of cheap sweet red or white wine
1 large bottle of sweet fruit juice such as apple juice
1 package of frozen tropical fruit from Costco
Pour all of it into a large open mouth vessel or bowl. Once the fruit has started to thaw start smashing the fruit with a potato masher or some other mashing implement. Stir the fruit into the liquid. Periodically take the vessel out and smash and stir. Your goal is to mash the fruit into a pulp. Before the party use a fine mesh strainer to remove the fruit pulp. You can serve it in pitchers, drink dispensers, or in fancy glasses garnished with wedges of pineapple or little umbrellas. Bonus: the leftover fruit tastes great on vanilla ice cream. We make it for all of our huge summer parties which usually have at least 40 adults and kids and it's always a huge hit. I'm always asked for the recipe.
As for gifts I gave my cousin a
Vera Bradley Woman's ID Zip Lanyard with her school logo on it and a Target gift card in it. I used something similar in college for carrying my school ID and keys around campus when I was meeting friends or going to the cafeteria instead of carrying my entire purse or backpack. It's a very practical gift and was a huge hit. It turns out she was eyeing it and was about it buy it.
