A bottle of wine and a clutch of flowers might suffice when you’re headed to a dinner party, but when the invites get more elaborate (like, say…a weekend at friend’s lake house for swimming, imbibing, and just general relaxing), the hostess gift should get kicked up a notch (or two).

In situations such as these (which, sadly, don’t occur enough in my world), I’m partial to gifting a few pretty but functional soaps and the like. Several weeks ago, a bottle of Molton Brown’s Rox Mint liquid hand wash landed on my desk, and it smells so insanely good that I’ve been washing my hands within an inch of their lives.

Your lake house friends would be psyched to get a bottle of this goodness. Trust me.

(You can nab some locally at Barneys, Neimans, or Saks — i.e. your friendly local purveyors of luxury soap.)