• Bring a Thanksgiving hostess gift that incorporates seasonal produce.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  An invitation to Thanksgiving dinner is often an especially thoughtful gesture, an invitation to share family, tradition and friendship as well as food. Bring a gift for the host or hostess to recognize the gesture and the work that goes into the meal and the entertainment. Gifts to enjoy after the event are especially appropriate, says Roxi Phillips in "Party Favors and Hostess Gifts." Thoughtful and creative hostess gifts fit any budget.
  
  

Pumpkin Centerpiece

• Bring flowers with flair by taking advantage of seasonal produce and flower deals at the supermarket. Pack a scooped-out pumpkin with floral foam and anchor a tall stalk of dried corn slightly off center. Add a few stems of colored leaves plucked from your backyard and fill in the arrangement with autumn mums, either purchased in the flower department or cut from your garden. Finish the arrangement off with the pumpkin cap, held in place with wooden toothpicks or skewers.
  
  

Bread and Butter Basket

• Food gifts are inherently frugal, as long as you avoid the high-priced gourmet gift shops. Surprise your hostess with an assortment of miniature homemade fruit breads -- banana-nut bread, cranberry bread and chili-cornbread, for example -- wrapped in foil and presented in a basket. Line the basket with a pair of checkered napkins and add a small crock of flavored butter to complete the gift. Your hostess can choose to serve the breads with dessert or tuck them away for breakfast.
  
  

Gourmet Oils

• Flavored oils turn simple stir fry dinners and salads into gourmet meals, but infused oils can cost a fortune on your grocer's shelf. Instead, pick up glass cruets or decorative glass bottles at the discount store for a dollar or two apiece. Drop two to three peeled cloves of garlic, a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme or lavender or several dried chilies into one of the bottles. Fill the bottle with safflower or canola oil, leaving half an inch or so at the top. Cork the bottle and let it sit for about two weeks. If it's already too late for that, heat the herbs or spices in oil until the herbs are sizzling, let it cool and bottle it, adding a sprig or two of herbs for appearance. Give one bottle with a ribbon tied around the neck, or wrap up an assortment of flavors in a basket.
  
  

Last Minute Take-alongs

• A last-minute Thanksgiving dinner invitation may leave you in the position of needing an inexpensive hostess gift on the quick. If you don't have time to shop for a thank-you gift, raid your cupboards, garden or hard drive. For the tea-lover, tuck an assortment of individually-wrapped flavored teas into a teacup, wrap with cellophane wrap and tie with a ribbon. Take advantage of your green thumb by potting up spider plant babies or herb cuttings from your own plants. Wrap the pot in foil and finish it off with a ribbon. Surprise music-loving hosts with a mix CD of favorite tunes, or print appropriate photos from your hard drive and tuck them into one of your own frames.