When I think gift baskets I think of the saran wrapped huge Easter baskets filled with everything from giant chocolate bunnies and fake eggs, to the school raffle baskets that have themed prizes like a basketball with a mini hoop and basketball gummy candies. And when I think of these things I cringe.
A gift basket can be SO much more!!
Recently I have been into the "basket" theme for gifts that I have given to friends. Here are a few of the baskets I have made recently.
I will share some of my tips and tricks that make the baskets more aesthetically pleasing and super easy to put together!
Show-and-Tell Saturday: Gift Baskets
Haha Yes that is my hubbie playing cards behind the basket. I needed to moral support lol
For this basket one of my sweet friends was having a hard few weeks and was about to go on a camping trip that wouldn't be as relaxing as you would think. Everything ended up going awesome that weekend, but I thought I would make her a little "Weekend Survival Kit". Here is what was in her basket:
Running Socks (She is a big time runner, and I put a note that said "In case you just need a weekend jog."
Tissues (It had been a ROUGH week)
Gum
Nail Polish in her favorite colros
Nutella To-Go Cup (Duh!)
Some caramel candies
Some fitness Magazines
A Drinking Cup ( The nice Plastic kind witht he straw that you can wash and reuse)
A dog bone ( for her pooch, with a little sign that says "A happy Chief is a happy (insert friends name here)"
And her hubbies favorite candy with the same sign as before only with his name.
For this I picked a little basket I found int he basket section next to the laundry things at Wal-Mart. It was like $2 and a cute print so that she can use it in her house after. I stuffed the bottom with lots of tissue paper and then put tissue paper all around the edges so it looked nice and full, ( it was REALLY full actually, I had a hard time fitting everything in there!). Then I arranged everything so that it would 1) Be visable and 2) Help everything sit up right and fit tightly in the basket.
I think it looked great, and she absolutely loved it :) Success!
This basket was for Marquette for her birthday!! My friend Camille and I went on it together and I think is so fun!!
Marquette LOVES pigs so we found this chalk board piggy bank that was just too cute to pass up.
In her basket was:
Chalkboard Pig
Colored Chalk
Her favorite lotion
and her favorite fudge from our local Fudge Shop!
And we wrote happy Birthday on the Pig!
For this one I stuffed the whole caddy with tissue paper to prop up all the little pieces and the pig just fit in nice without much padding. The Happy Birthday Streamer tie I thought was just a nice little add in :)
This is a basket I made for my best friends wedding present. The theme I did for the basket was things people forget to give you at your wedding, or things newlyweds need in their new place. Here's what I put in her basket:
Scentsy Warmer and lots of wax scents
Dish towels
Candle Sticks and Candles
Champagne Glasses
Some bubbly!
Tea Light Candles
Thank You Cards
A Ceramic Party Tray (For sides and Appetizers)
And a Lazy Susan.
The basket I put it all in was HUGE and would be perfect for dirty laundry, or blankets etc.
I had some tiny old boxes that I put on the bottom of the basket, then covered them in tissue paper and put all the gift item on top of all that. This created a stair stepper type of look for all the items and made it easy to display everything. I also put her wedding colored bows ALL over the basket.
A few tips for gift baskets I have learned ( I have done a bunch but only had pictures of these three).
-Put the largest or bulkiest items in the back of the basket.
-Pick a basket or caddy that the person you are giving the gift to will be able to use again, that is kind of the best part of these. When all the gifts inside the basket have been put away you now have a new laundry basket, magazine caddy, makeup box etc.
-Use tissue paper, boxes, packing peanuts bubble wrap etc. to boost up the items so you can see everything.
-There are a million themes for baskets and they are good for any occasion. Get Creative! Camille did one for her hubby for the start of his College Football Training Camp (She put Pedi -lite, Sports Pre-Wrap, Sunscreen, Chapstick, and a few other things and put them all in a new sports draw string bag...he LOVED it!
(i.e. The persons favorite colors, sports, candy, an event like baby shower or wedding, an essentials basket for any number of things etc.
-You can include items for people in that persons family (Like candy for the kids or spouse, or pets even!)
-Use ribbons, bows or tissue paper to decorate around or in the baskets, sometimes it can make it look more put together.
-Write them a little note, maybe tell them why you picked that theme, maybe why you picked certain things to put in there or just a note of encouragement or love is always good :)
-Have fun with it, I loved putting all these together and even more so I loved how much the people I gave them to enjoyed them :)
Happy Saturday!
I LOVED my birthday gift basket and thought it was such a great idea. I loved that I could use everything in there, even the cool orange crate/basket. Em's the best!
ReplyDeleteNice! I'm a big fan of homemade gift baskets. So much thought goes into the good ones!
ReplyDeleteGift baskets are so fun! For a cousin's wedding I put together a basket of kitchen things that they would need to start filling their pantry. I included things like small bags of flour and sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt and pepper. Then I made copies of some of our favorite recipes we ate when we were first married and included any canned goods or spices in the basket that the recipes called for. It was pretty low cost and a lot of fun to put together.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful baskets. My parents once commissioned me to make one for a basket auction they participated in for their bowling league. It's a lot harder than it looks! I couldn't seem to arrange everything in there so you could see everything (so people would bid) and to look nice.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful, but I'm curious - do you then wrap these? If so, how? If not, how do you transport them without everything falling out? And isn't the surprise spoiled a bit if they aren't wrapped (for, say, a birthday or wedding)?
ReplyDeleteI guess my biggest problem is that I'm not very skilled at wrapping odd-shaped packages!
I prepared a basket for a wedding gift this past Spring, and figured a florist might have the big sheets of clear plastic to use to wrap the basket. They did. I only had to pay $2 or $3 to get it wrapped and have bows in the wedding colors added, and I believe they also gave us a little fancy To: From: tag to add to it as well.
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