Personalize Your Christmas Gift Baskets
Bill Wilson

Defined Tag: Christmas Gift Baskets.

If you believe that Christmas gifts should be more personal than an off-the-shelf sale item, than Christmas gift baskets may be just the solution. A gift basket can be tailored to the likes of the recipient and can be as elaborate or simple as you desire.

A Christmas gift basket can use anything that will hold your gift items, and does not necessarily have to be an actual basket. Try to be creative and think of containers, such as, wire containers, ceramic pots, buckets, planters, etc. You get the picture!

Now your next step will be to determine what your friend or family member's interests or hobbies may be. Can you think of gift items that would fit into this theme?

A golfer would appreciate golf balls, tees, a golf towel and a special ball marker. A chocolate lover would crave high quality chocolates, special individual hot chocolate packets, chocolate cookies, or chocolate ice cream topping. These are just a few ideas that can help get your creative juices flowing with your own themed Christmas gift basket. Remember that the more personalized you can make your Christmas basket, the more the person will cherish the thought and effort that went into the making of the gift.

Once you decide on your theme, you will need to start filling your basket or container. Line the bottom of the basket with a decorative holiday tinsel, foil, fabric, or tissue to provide the traditional appearance of the holiday season.

Generally, you should center the biggest or tallest gift items in the middle of the basket and work out from there. Make sure that the lower items all face outward, so the basket will look attractive from every angle. Your items can be secured to the basket and each other using some form of packing tape or skewers, if needed.

Now for the finishing touches! To set off the overall Christmas theme, try enhancing the exterior of the basket using candy canes, wrapped chocolate Santa's, small pine cones, Christmas ornaments, bows or groupings of cinnamon sticks tied with red ribbon. This will give your basket a joyous look of the holiday season.

A nice wrapping of the basket can be accomplished with a red, green, or clear cellophane tied at the top with a bright red or green bow. If you want to add a little something extra to your basket, why not add a small stuffed reindeer, Santa, snowman or angel to the handle of the basket. It is really the icing on the (fruit) cake.

When you set out to make your Christmas gift baskets, remember that a personalized basket will be far more memorable than a generic one. Let your recipient know that you cared enough about them to give gifts based on their hobbies and interests. What better way to say, "Have a Very Merry Christmas"!