I’ll admit it upfront: I love presents. I wish I could be subtle and cool about it all, but the truth is, I get way too excited about receiving a gift. It doesn’t need to be anything extravagant: a perfectly ripe mango, a packet of niche Italian bickies or even a few flowers nabbed from a neighbour’s garden. As EOY approaches, so does the anxiety of trying to find the right gift for the right person. If you’re buying for a kitchen freak or a homebody who loves to cook, host and hoard homewares, then this is the list for you.

A Morinoki Bread Knife from Provider Store, $70

Not all bread is created equal, and this knife knows it. It’s double-bladed with one side for cutting soft bread and another for sourdough. Provider Store has just received a new batch from the makers, Shizu Hamono Co in Japan. These knives are hot property, so you’ll have to be quick now they’re back in stock. Get me one too while you’re there! To complete the glutenous gift, zip to Baker Bleu in Double Bay and pick up a Bread for Sharing bag and a sourdough tin loaf.

Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive from Potts Point Bookshop, $75

Australian-born Richard Christiansen is the owner of LA’s iconic Flamingo Estate. His new book Flamingo Estate: The Guide to Becoming Alive has finally hit the shelves. It’s a hefty bright green coffee-table-sized handbook spilling secrets on how to live well. With words from Jane Fonda, Martha Stewart and Alice Waters, I’m ready to take notes. If a cookbook is more your style, pick up *Fridays From the Garden – Recipes and Stories From a Year at Flamingo Estate * which Christiansen published last year. One of the only places you can find these books on the shelves in Australia is, my favourite place to buy books, the Potts Point Bookshop.

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Ken Done x Josh Niland Food for Everyone poster, $100

When Ken Done was asked to be part of the latest Food for Everyone series, he insisted on doing the collab with Josh Niland; a match made in Sydney Harbour heaven. Food for Everyone is a culinary poster shop that pairs artists and chefs to create collectable art. Each sale contributes the dollar equivalent of 10 meals to Second Bite. It’s a quintessentially Sydney gift and the closest most of us will ever come to hanging a Ken Done on the wall.

Poor Toms Imbroglio Amaro, $47

This bittersweet Amaro Australiano hits two festive sweet spots: one, it’s under 50 bucks and two, it doubles as a post-Chrissy-dinner digestive (you know you’ll need it). It is a botanical and bitter Campari-like liqueur distilled with flavours of Seville orange, beetroot, rhubarb and hibiscus. Sounds like Christmas lunch, right? Personally, I like to either sub it into a Negroni, serve it with soda water, or shake it with a bunch of ice for a frothy, herby Amaro Shakerato (look it up).

The Iris Cake (or potato) Tester from Funkis, $17

If you think this gift seems silly, unnecessary or a bit random – think again. This is my favourite kitchen tool. I was gifted this by a friend who had just visited Sweden. Online at Funkis, they call it a cake tester; I call it a potato tester. Who cares? It does both! Keep it close by and prod anything to see how done anything you’re cooking is – or use it to reset your wi-fi modem. Also, at this time of year, there’s always a call for a sub-$20 gift; save this for that occasion.

An Opinel Oyster Knife and a few dozen unshucked oysters from Marani Deli, from $40

There’s always one member of your family who loves manning the barbeque and insists on grabbing the allen key and assembling any new holiday gift. To keep them busy, this gift combo from Marani Deli is for them. As they learn to shuck the Sydney rocks from the South Coast with their new wooden-handled Opinel, you can be there sampling the rewards with a drop of zingy mignonette. Everyone wins, especially you.

Gemma Plunkett is a Sydney-based dinner party tragic. She works as a food writer, recipe developer and content strategist. Find her (but mostly food) in pictures or fortnightly in your inbox via her free newsletter Ding!