POO-CHEE what?

PUCCHI gift...pronounced, POO-CHEE gift in Japanese. It means kind of 'mini-gift' and usually consists of tea, cookies, jam or some other small thing as a last token of thanks for guests departing the wedding reception hall.

In addition to that, guests receive a big HIKIDEMONO party favor bag (worth 30-50 dollars, depending on one's budget) next to their assigned seat at the table. Often such a party favor bag includes: some sweets and some name-brand tableware. For our Japanese guests we included a catalogue gift present - they can decide for themselves what they want. For our foreign guests who didn't have that option, Hiro's mother presented them with fancy premium rice crackers freshly delivered from Kyoto!

For our pucchi gift we made banana almond muffins! It took many hours and some experimentation because my oven thermostat is wildly inaccurate. Saturday from around 5pm to 11pm...muffin making, more muffin making...and of course eating them along the way. Ha ha!