Review: Hickory Farms

MomCentral recently asked me if I wanted to be a part of the Hickory Farms Blog Tour.


Nothing says holiday nostalgia like Hickory Farms to me. When I was a little girl, my mother would always order a gift box for our family from them, and we would share it on Christmas Eve before Midnight Mass. It was probably her way of cutting down on the holiday cooking, but us kids loved it. To this day, I still can't resist those little jars of jam and jellies, mustards, and of course, cheese! I've carried the same tradition on with my family now - we always break out the cheeses, sausages, and crackers on Christmas Eve.

Hickory Farms sent on over one of their Signature Offerings boxes, the Home For The Holidays Gift Box to me:


Look at all that snacking holiday goodness! It includes the Signature Beef as well as Italian Recipe Summer Sausage "rolls", 4 different kinds of cheeses, two kinds of mustards: Sweet Hot, Honey Pineapple; and two boxes of Cracked Wheat crackers. There is also four little strawberry flavored hard candies. The total weight of the foods is 3.6 lbs, and it retails for $50.

It ended up being perfect timing on one hand, because everything you see in the box is shelf stable until opened. When we didn't have power earlier this week, guess what was gobbled up? ;) I've always been a big fan of their Honey Pineapple mustard, so I was thrilled that it was included in this box! As you can see in the photo up above, it's presented really well. The box that it comes in is super sturdy, and you can easily reuse it to store holiday related items in if you need to. I stuck all the crinkle paper into a ziplock bag as I will be reusing it for a gift basket. (Waste not, want not, right?) You could also use it as "stuffing" in packages you are shipping. If you have a fireplace, a bit of it stuck into an empty toilet paper roll would probably make a great firestarter, too. (See? My mind is weird. I reuse everything I can. lol)

To get back to Hickory Farms, the Home For The Holidays Gift Box, as well as many of their popular assortments, ship free to any APO/FO military address, no matter where your loved one is stationed. I truly wish all companies would do this for our brave men and women. For the rest of us in search of a deal, right now through November 29th, they have free shipping on all orders over $35 using promo code SHIP10 at checkout. Gifts start at around $16, so there's something in most folks price range.

I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention that from a frugal standpoint, $50 may seem high for what's in the box like what I received. Yes, you probably could make your own gourmet treats gift basket in the same style for a little bit cheaper. However, you'd be hard pressed to find shelf stable cheeses appropriate to stick in the basket, which is important especially if you are shipping a gift vs giving it in person. Many of Hickory Farms' higher priced gifts also arrive in re-usable baskets which make the value even better. (I'm seriously foaming at the mouth over the awesome perfect picnic gift basket!)

By the way, if you're looking for a gift that gives back, Hickory Farms will donate $5 from each Party Planner Gift Box sold (up to $500,000) to Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry Campaign, a national nonprofit that is ending childhood hunger in America.

This post is part of my Holiday Gift Guide 2010. To see more great gift ideas, just click it.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Hickory Farms and received a signature gift box from Hickory Farms to thank me for taking the time to participate.