What Martha Stewart Brings to Parties

Searching for any kind of advice or ideas on hosting and home entertaining? It’s highly likely that Martha Stewart was the first source you turned to — and for good reason.

The culinary icon and businesswoman began her career in food by starting a catering business, and for years, she has shared cooking and decorating tips on her shows, Martha Stewart Living and The Martha Stewart Show. Even after decades of sharing entertaining wisdom, Stewart continues to surprise us, and her latest tip is simple, unexpected, and genius.

In a previous interview with Food & Wine last November, discussing her holiday plans, Stewart pointed out that her preferred host gift when attending someone else’s party isn’t the typical bottle of wine. Instead, she says, “I'll take them a couple dozen eggs from the chickens.”

A couple dozen eggs? In this economy? It might sound like an inaccessible gift to give, considering how high egg prices have been in recent months, but when you break down the details, a carton of eggs is actually the perfect little luxury to deliver to a friend. Plus, it might even save you a couple of bucks.

Martha Stewart has a whole host of chickens

Besides giving eggs as gifts to others, Stewart loves breakfast food herself. In a recent interview discussing her new cooking competition show with José Andrés —Yes, Chef! — she tells Food & Wine, “I cook breakfast a lot because I like breakfast. I cooked on Sunday for my farm. So I invite everybody to come in at nine o’clock… And they have eggs and biscuits and cappuccinos.”

When she says “my farm,” she means it. At her primary residence in Bedford, New York, Stewart has more than 150 acres of land. In addition to extensive gardens and a greenhouse, this property is home to quite a few chickens, ensuring she always has a source of eggs when hosting breakfast or brunch.

Stewart explains that she recognizes how fortunate she is to own chickens, stating, “It is such an opportune time to have your own chickens.” She continues, “I have 200 chickens. They take a little bit of a rest during the winter. Not everybody stops laying, but they slow down. But now the eggs are coming 50 a day, something like that. And so everybody has fresh eggs that works on the farm. My daughter and her kids get the fresh eggs. It's great to have them.”

If you don’t have chickens — which is likely true for the overwhelming majority of us — bringing a dozen eggs when you go to a dinner party or gathering at someone’s home is still a great idea. Just hear me and Martha out.

How to give eggs as a host gift

Eggs are expensive right now. However, while their price has increased dramatically compared to what a dozen would cost a few months or a year ago, eggs remain more affordable than most bottles of good wine. In short, this is bad news for your weekly grocery budget, but it does turn a staple commodity into a thoughtful gift idea.

Let’s say I want to snag a dozen organic, extra-large, cage-free eggs from Wegmans, the grocery store I frequent the most. At my nearest location in New York City, this currently costs me $5.59. Or, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price for a dozen grade A large eggs in March was about $6.23.

If you want eggs that are either slightly more or less premium than these options, you can expect the price to go up or down by about one to two dollars. I don’t know about you, but there are very few bottles of $6 wine available, let alone ones that I’m willing to gift to someone else.

Everyone’s budget will look different, but for me I’m usually comfortable spending about $15 to $20 on a bottle of wine for a host gift. Even if I opt for the lower end of that range, I would potentially save $9 by getting a carton of eggs instead.

If you’re not too worried about saving a few dollars and have some time to spare, you could grab some local eggs from your farmers market. At the Brooklyn greenmarket where I shop on Saturdays, eggs are priced at $12–$13 per dozen. That’s still less than a $15 bottle of wine, and your friends will feel like you really splurged for them.

In addition to being a cost-effective alternative to buying wine, eggs make a thoughtful gift for those who do not consume alcohol. As long as the recipient is not vegan or allergic to eggs, they are likely to find a dozen eggs far more useful in the kitchen than yet another bottle of liquor.

The best part about gifting eggs is that they feel like a little piece of luxury these days. The recent surge in egg prices is very real and is being felt in households across the country, where the ingredient is considered a core grocery item. If people aren’t able to buy eggs for themselves every week or are trying to make each carton last longer, they’ll deeply appreciate the gesture of bringing a dozen.

I’m not suggesting that you give a carton of eggs every week, but when you want to bring something special at a price lower than fancy candles or wine, this is a thoughtful and creative option that everyone will enjoy right now.