Something I like to do is come up with creative gifts to give. I don’t want the receiver of my gift to think that I didn’t put a lot of thought into a gift by just purchasing a giftcard, although I do love being the recipient of a gift card. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding on a gift for the recipient hoping I am able to give them something that they will use. Gift baskets are perfect for the occasion where it is difficult to decide what the recipient would like.

I struggled one weekend a few years ago about a gift I wanted to give to a family friend. We stayed the night at our friends house so that we could go to Six Flags on Saturday morning without a three hour car trip before arriving. I remembered that she loved Italian food (I mean who doesn’t) and gathered up some ingredients to make the basket.  I of course had the basket, and in this I put a loaf of fresh bread from the store (picked this up on the way out of town), spaghetti sauce, pasta, garlic, and olive oil.  She loved the basket and the thoughtfulness behind the gift.  I had so much fun doing this that I wanted to incorporate it into my gift giving in the future as it seemed easy to do. 

First of course you will need a basket. These can be purchased affordably at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. I actually look for baskets when I’m shopping at thrift stores or garage sales and have found some great looking baskets. The basket can be given as is or can be dressed up with ribbon. Ribbon can be thread through the weaves on the basket or wrapped around the handle of the basket to give it an extra special touch. I look for ribbon after a holiday at our craft store Michael’s and save it for future projects like this.

One of the things I do as I’m shopping throughout the year is to pick-up items that are deeply discounted to add to my stash of gifts that will later go in someones gift basket. Make it fun, and don’t stress. I’m sure the recipient will love the time you spent to create the basket. Here are some ideas on gift baskets to give, but really the list is endless on what type of basket to create and what to put in the basket: 

Gardeners basket  -  packets of seeds, small plant, potted plants (think herbs or flowers), gardening tools, gloves, possibly a small tree. The gift can be given in a flower pot instead of a basket.

Chocolate lovers  - chocolate candy, homemade brownie mix or cookie mix with all the dry ingredients and instructions, hot cocoa (depending on the time of year), chocolate covered pretzels, homemade bon bons   

Spa retreat – fingernail polish, polish remover, lotion, candles, cotton balls, nail clippers, pumice stone

Movie night – a movie of course, theatre boxed candy, microwave popcorn, 2 liter of pop.

Baby Basket – wipes, baby wash, diaper cream, diapers, baby wash cloths, onesis, rattlers, pacifier, toy, baby bottle

Get Well Basket – homemade soup (or canned soup) with crackers, a movie, puzzle book, a book (maybe inspirational or funny)

Tags: crafts, creative

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 6:40 am and is filed under Simple Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.