Gourmet foods like good cheese, beautiful olives and specialty teas make great hostess gifts, especially when you pair them with inexpensive finds from the flea market. You know all those boxes of tarnished silverware you're probably passing up? Well, they're full of great, onsie pieces like teaspoons, olive forks, sugar tongs, butter knives, and spreaders. Polish them up, pair them with a favorite food, and put them in a pretty package for a hostess gift that's memorable, beautiful and best of all, one-of-kind.

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The sugar tongs I picked up at the flea market for a dollar. Then I found a red paper doily at the supermarket, rolled it into the shape of a cone, and filled it with beautiful white sugar cubes. A little cellophane, pretty red ribbon to tie and you're done! How sweet is that?

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And what goes better with beautiful white sugar cubes than a cup of hot tea? In a large antique tea cup I found at the flea market, I placed five bags of pretty English Breakfast tea (my favorite!), then tied it up nicely the same way I did the sugar. I even added a cute little teaspoon for three gifts in one!

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Olives and cocktail onions are essentials at any holiday fΓͺte. Why not give your hostess something to use all year long by pairing them with a beautiful olive fork? All I did was add a circle of linen fabric to the top, then tied it with pretty ric rac. So cute, no?

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Finally, who doesn't love a good gourmet cheese come cocktail time? For three gifts in one, I paired a pretty glass leaf plate from the flea market, together with an antique spreader and a wedge of creamy, walnut-encrusted Saint Andre cheese. Yum!

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And so, as you get ready to hit the holiday party circuit, why not swing by your favorite flea market or thrift shop and do a little digging? Creative combinations are everywhere! And who knows? You might even find a little treasure of your own.