With Christmas around the corner I was scrambling around trying to figure out what to get for my extended family. Being a recent college graduate, it can be financially difficult to get a gift for everyone. That is, until I figured out a brilliant solution to my dilemma. Gift Baskets! While purchasing gift baskets for everyone might seem like a daunting and possibly expensive task, it can actually be pretty easy and inexpensive.
Now there are websites that allow you to purchase and customize gift baskets through their company; I have found that these baskets, although beautiful and nice, are not cheap since you are paying for convenience.
My preferred method is to create my own gift basket because it feels more personal and fun. You can purchase the baskets from your local hardware store, online, or even at a thrift store. Each has its pros and cons and if you want many of the same basket you will probably want to go to the store or shop online. However, if you do not mind different shapes and sizes of baskets, I would suggest going thrift store shopping because you can find beautiful baskets at a much cheaper price. I recently browsed one of my local thrift shops and found 5 sturdy baskets with a price range of $0.50 to $1.50 per basket.
Unless you wish to give a plain basket you will now need some decorations. Once again I chose to check what was available at the thrift shop before I looked at other stores and I found some amazing deals. I found some beautiful ribbon for only $0.75 as well as couple of christmas themed necklaces and christmas tree tinsel. This is the best time of the year for these items (at least at my local thrift shop) because all of the christmas stuff has been put out front for easy access. I spent a total of $8.70 for 5 baskets, 3 strands of tinsel, 2 necklaces, a large ziplock bag of wrapping ribbon, and 4 spools of christmas themed fabric ribbon. So in average, each basket + accessories, only cost me $1.74 to purchase and decorate. (I did already have a glue gun, glue sticks, yarn, and other sewing supplies - so that did make this project a bit cheaper than if I had to start from scratch).
Unless you wish to give a plain basket you will now need some decorations. Once again I chose to check what was available at the thrift shop before I looked at other stores and I found some amazing deals. I found some beautiful ribbon for only $0.75 as well as couple of christmas themed necklaces and christmas tree tinsel. This is the best time of the year for these items (at least at my local thrift shop) because all of the christmas stuff has been put out front for easy access. I spent a total of $8.70 for 5 baskets, 3 strands of tinsel, 2 necklaces, a large ziplock bag of wrapping ribbon, and 4 spools of christmas themed fabric ribbon. So in average, each basket + accessories, only cost me $1.74 to purchase and decorate. (I did already have a glue gun, glue sticks, yarn, and other sewing supplies - so that did make this project a bit cheaper than if I had to start from scratch).
So now I had 5 undecorated baskets and a pile of things to decorate them with. Now what?
I have to just go for it in order to get ideas flowing and so I just grabbed a basket and starting playing around with what could go where. The image to the right shows the result of my first basket design. The basket was already green and so I first took a spool of red plastic ribbon and wrapped the handle of the basket. After I did this I had no idea what I was thinking but I didn't want to just start over and so I kept going. Next I was thinking maybe by making bvsomething to the rim of the basket so the handle didn't stand out so much. I went ahead and added the red tinsel and attached it with yarn in order to tie the tinsel to the rim of the basket. Next I wanted to add a bow and so I found a velvet red ribbon and looked up a tutorial on how to create bows out of ribbon, and I attached the bow using a hot glue gun. It is that simple! Okay..so maybe not super simple, but I believe that anyone can do that.
Next all I need to do is add gifts and decorative filler to fill in the gaps in between the gifts. You can choose anything you want to fill your gift baskets. I haven't added anything yet but my plan is to give a basket to each of my cousin's family and that basket will contain little goodies for each one of their family members. That way I don't have to worry about spending a great deal on each person, but at the same time it looks like a lot because of the decorative basket and the layout of the gifts inside.
Some great gift ideas for baskets:
Thanks for reading,
Stephanie
Next all I need to do is add gifts and decorative filler to fill in the gaps in between the gifts. You can choose anything you want to fill your gift baskets. I haven't added anything yet but my plan is to give a basket to each of my cousin's family and that basket will contain little goodies for each one of their family members. That way I don't have to worry about spending a great deal on each person, but at the same time it looks like a lot because of the decorative basket and the layout of the gifts inside.
Some great gift ideas for baskets:
- Basket Theme Ideas
- Movie Night
- Movie Ticket Vouchers or a Gift Card
- Popcorn
- DVDs
- Chocolate Lovers
- Gift card to a candy store
- Assortment of chocolates and candies
- Wine Lovers (could also easily work for other alcohol beverages)
- Bottle of wine
- Cheese
- Crackers
- Wine tasting voucher
- You can also throw in gadgets or other odds and ends that fit inside the basket as well.
The possibilities are endless and you can spend a lot of money or you can spend on a budget. The best part is that anyone can do this. I hope you have fun creating your gift baskets and I would love to see your creations in the comments section below.
Thanks for reading,
Stephanie
