Gifts are all about warmth, caring and expressing your feelings — and for almost any occasion, you can’t go wrong with a gift of food. There are so many items that adults of every age enjoy that you’ll find it easy to create the perfect one.

One of the best gifts you can give is providing a basket of key ingredients — and even some gourmet items — for a special meal. Consider these two:

• Italiano: Line a basket with a big red-and-white checked cloth napkin. Fill it with packages of dry pastas in different shapes like farfalle (bow ties), fusilli (corkscrews), orecchiette (little ears) and ruote (wagon wheels). Include a few that are made of spinach or tomato to add color, and add a jar of sauce and a container of grated Parmesan cheese. Include one of your favorite recipes as an especially thoughtful touch!
• Country French: To eat as a picnic inside or out, the ingredients include a “baguette,” or loaf, of French bread, a chunk of cheese, container of pâté, some ripe apples and pears and a bottle of wine. Put it all in a basket along with a corkscrew for the wine and decorative knives to cut the cheese and spread the pâté. Add a package of freshly baked cookies, and voila! — a delicious gift.

A good way to choose a gift for someone is to think about what they would buy as a treat for themselves. Following are suggestions for several that might be just right:

• Cakes and cookies
  Purchase or bake a cake — such as a ring-shaped chocolate Bundt cake sprinkled with coconut, a feather-light angel food cake with lemon sauce or frosted chocolate brownies.
  
  As for cookies, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin are always great. Or be different: Personalize sugar cookies with names in bright icing, or give melt-in-your-mouth chocolate meringues or rich English shortbread.
  
  
• Coffees and teas
  There are so many kinds of coffee — each with a different aroma and taste. Top favorites include Kona blends, hazelnut and Italian espresso. And don’t forget there are also organic and decaffeinated varieties.
  
  Teas are similar; there are dozens. Some are best for breakfast, while others are preferred later in the day or right before going to sleep. Among the most popular are Earl Grey, Darjeeling, oolong and herbal teas like chamomile and mint.
  
  Once you’ve chosen the coffee or tea, add some extras: a decorative cup or mug, tea strainer, crystallized sugar or a jar of farm-fresh honey.
  
  
• Cheeses
  Cheese makes a great gift because there’s at least one variety for every taste. Take your time before deciding. For starters, look at all the different shapes there are — logs, pyramids, blocks, balls — then check out these different types:
  • Fresh: goat cheese, mozzarella
  • Creamy: Brie, St. André
  • Semisoft: fontina, Gouda
  • Firm: Cheddar, feta, Gruyère
  • Blue: Gorgonzola, Roquefort
• Other possibilities
  The simplest things can be nice presents, too:
  • Salt and pepper: chunky sea salt; multicolored pepper — whole, cracked and ground
  • Honey: orange blossom, clover, wildflower
  • Nuts: almonds, cashews, macadamias, pecans, pistachios

If you’re mailing your gift, pack it carefully so it arrives safely. Follow these guidelines:

• Do not mail highly perishable foods like cheese or meat. Cookies, nuts, bread and jellies are fine.
• Be sure bottled or canned items are tightly sealed in nonbreakable containers or put in resealable plastic bags and then enclose in bubble wrap.
• Seal food in airtight wrap before putting into a gift box and the final shipping box.
• Pack cakes snugly in tins. Keep pound cakes in their disposable foil pans and seal in plastic wrap.
• Use sturdy cartons for shipping. Put the heaviest items on the bottom, and lots of packing material around glass items. Before closing, put in a card with your shipping and return addresses (in case the outer labels fall off or become hard to read).
• Write address labels with a waterproof marker.

Nothing shows how much you care than a well-thought-out gift — and a gift of food doesn’t have to be the right size and won’t need to be exchanged! There are so many wonderful gifts of food you can give for birthdays, anniversaries and holidays — the list goes on and on. Just think about the types of food the recipient likes and it will be easy to plan the perfect, heartfelt gift.