The gifts for the friend who always hosts.

A host is always short of small bowls. These hold 2 ounces each, which is right for flaky salt at each end of the table, a spoonful of mustard with the charcuterie, lemon wedges at the bar or the olive pits nobody knows where to put.

They are Le Creuset's high-fired stoneware with a glaze that resists chips, stains and flavors. Le Creuset rates them from minus 9 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and safe in the freezer, oven, microwave and dishwasher, so they also work as prep bowls in the kitchen on the nights nobody is coming.

White goes with everything. Skip them for a host whose kitchen is already full of Le Creuset in a single color, and buy them in that color instead.

Ann Wärff designed the Snowball for Kosta Boda in 1973, and it has stayed in production since. It is a heavy, lead-free crystal votive about 3.7 inches across, with folds and bumps in the glass that throw the light of a single tealight in every direction.

One on a side table is a small, pretty thing. Three or four down the middle of a dinner table give far more light than their size suggests, without the height that blocks guests' view of each other. Unscented tealights are the right fuel, since a scent competes with the food.

It is a single votive, so a proper gift is two or three. Skip it for a host whose style is spare and modern; the Snowball is frankly decorative.

The Boston shaker, two tins that fit one inside the other, is what bartenders use because it is fast, does not jam and makes enough for two drinks at once. This one is from Crafthouse, the barware line Fortessa makes with Charles Joly, a world champion bartender. It is heavy-gauge polished stainless steel with a footed base that gives the hand somewhere to hold.

There are measure marks at 2, 4 and 6 ounces inside, it seals tightly without spilling, and it goes in the dishwasher. For a host who makes a round of drinks when people arrive, it is the tool that turns that into a small performance.

A Boston shaker needs a separate strainer. Anyone who makes only the occasional drink might prefer a three-piece cobbler shaker with the strainer built in.

Nambé began in 1951 near Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is best known for its own alloy of eight metals, which looks like silver but does not tarnish. This server, designed by Keeley Traae, pairs a curved dish of that alloy with a matching one in acacia wood, fitted together in a yin yang shape 12 inches long.

The two halves solve a real problem: something wet and something dry, side by side, without the crackers going soft. Olives and almonds, hummus and pita chips, a dip and crudités. Nambé says its alloy holds temperature well and can be chilled first to keep a cold dish cool.

Both halves must be washed by hand. Nambé warns that the alloy is damaged by the dishwasher and should not hold wet or acidic food for more than about three hours.

Most ice buckets are either plain steel pails or party tubs. Wei Young's Scoop for Nambé is a low, wide stainless steel bowl, 9 inches across and 5.7 inches high, with a solid acacia wood lid and a matching scoop that is part of the design rather than an afterthought.

The wide mouth makes it easy to fill a glass quickly, and the lid keeps the ice from melting as fast on a long evening. It is the kind of object a host leaves out on the bar cart between parties, which is the best sign of a good gift.

Skip it for someone who serves wine more than cocktails; a wine bucket suits them better.

Juliska's Puro glass has a hammered, rippled surface that catches light and scatters it. The 7 inch hurricane is 9 inches tall and 5.5 inches across, mouth-blown by hand and individually signed, and it takes a pillar candle, which it shields from drafts on a terrace or near an open door.

A pair on a long table, or one on a sideboard beside the bar, does more for an evening than any amount of overhead lighting. Juliska says each piece varies slightly in bubbles, color and size, which is the mark of handmade glass.

It is not a vase for hot contents or the freezer. Juliska says it can go in the dishwasher on a warm, gentle cycle, but a candle-smoked hurricane cleans easily enough by hand.