Gift Baskets

Gift baskets make ideal gifts for almost any occasion – be it the celebration of a new born, or to welcome a new person into your family or at your workplace or to commemorate your anniversary. More often than not these gift baskets can be as inexpensive as a homemade card. What is making gift baskets such a hit with the people is that they are elegant and there is almost always a personal touch to them.

Decorating a gift basket is what could make all the difference. Even if you are giving a bottle of wine that you wouldn’t have necessarily made (hopefully!), you could give the host a “For you only” feeling by adding a special something that you have made to the gift basket – maybe you could try and grow a little grape looking plant and place it in the basket. If you want to be less adventurous, then a more commonly grown climber plant could do.

Before you start on the gift basket’s decoration understand the person’s interests, hobbies etc. Maybe a set of carpenter tools for your woodworker friend would be great in a wooden box. Plan the entire gift basket to be within your budget; you cannot spend more on beautifying the basket than on the actual contents. Also, the way the gift basket should look would depend on the person receiving it – a woman wouldn’t mind flowers but you can’t be too sure about them when your male boss is the recipient.

Remember, a gift basket could be any container. You could even take an empty milk or sugar container, cover it with some exotic looking paper and add your gifts to it. There, you have your very own gift basket – a totally customized gift to make that person feel all the more special.

Decide if you want to have a theme for your gift basket – your sports crazy brother may like it that your gift basket has a couple of sports cards, tickets for the Super Bowl game and finally a logo of his favorite team on the basket. Or you could have no theme and say that variety is the essence of life! You could’ve a platter for a container or maybe even a colander. See if your gift basket could be used even after the joyous occasion. For example, if you want to give a basket containing bath salts, lotions, candles then the container could be a wicker basket which is lined inside with plastic wrap or straw. This would make the basket less susceptible to moisture. You could have a card that says “Do not disturb” to go along with this bath themed gift basket. There are any number of containers that come in as many shapes and sizes. A flower gift basket is an all year gift. Similarly a square shaped basket could be used in the kitchen to hold cutlery, serviettes. A big enough container could be used for putting away the kid’s toys.

There are also professionals who do their bit to help your gift basket look ornate. There are origami craftsmen who make special paper artworks for gift baskets. And then there are things that you could do as well. Get a pair of scissors, some bright shiny paper and glue. Cut the paper in myriad shapes and glue it onto the container. Or you could make clay flowers. Tie a ribbon around the basket and it is done. You just need to take some time off to know your recipient and gift wrap according to that person’s tastes.

All in all, make sure that you pay enough attention to the wrapping of the gift as well. After all the first impression is the best impression. Let not your host be misled into thinking that you put no thought into the gift. Gift baskets blend the right mix of professionalism with your personal touch. Get creative and save some money is the credo behind the idea of a gift basket. Most important of them all – the look on that person is seen to be believed. It would definitely make you feel that it was all worth your effort.