How to put together a homemade gift basket

How to put together a homemade gift basket

Found this article that teaches one how to put together a homemade gift basket. 

Making your own gift basket as presents for your family and friends is fun and a very rewarding experience.   With a little bit of imagination you can achieve amazing results for just a small investment.  Putting a gift basket together is approprite for any any occasion – be it birthdays, Christmas, or get well presents.


All you will need is a basket, clear wrapping paper, ribbons, and the items that goes into the baskets.  Before you start making the gift basket, you need to shop for the contents.  You should get  items of various sizes. Don’t forget to buy filler materials, such as styrofoam, hard cardboard or paper straws, and cellophane tape.   You may need a gift card as well.


Let’s say you want to make an all-occassion gift basket.  Then you won’t go wrong with a food basket. Gifting a basketful  of chocolates, chocolate candies, gourmet biscuits, and other goodies is always appreciated.   

You will need to visualize how the items will fit into the basket before you start the actual assembly.  You may want to get ideas for gift baskets arrangement  before you start assemblying your homemade gift basket.

There is a arrangement technique which is applicable for all gift baskets. 
Put the filler material in the bottom of the basket to support the other contents.  You can also use, say, a tin of chocolates  as the base in the basket. 

If your basket arrangement is such that it is best seen from the front only, then arrange the items on top of the filler so that the tallest and biggest items are in the back with progressively smaller items in front.  
If your arrangement is such that the basket can be seen from all sides, then make sure the biggest items are in the center, and arrange the smaller items round the centrepiece.  This way, your basket will look attractive from all sides.  Be sure to arrange each item where it is seen through the clear wrap.

Move the items around until your gift basket looks balanced from all sides. 
Fill any empty spots with small items like candy or nuts.  Pack the filler material around the gifts to hold them in place.  You might have to use fillers like wadded  wrap paper and paper straws to help things stand up.  You can also use small pieces of double sided tape if necessary to hold one item to another.   If you are having a hard time keeping everything in place, put a small piece of styrofoam in the bottom of the basket.  Attach floral picks to the items in the basket and push them into the Styrofoam.
Once you like the arrangement, then you need to wrap the basket with the clear wrapping paper.   I find it easiest to lay the clear wrap on the table, and put the basket in the centre of the clear wrap.  Then fold the clear wrap upwards, covering all the items, before sealing with a ribbon on the top.  You may need cellophane tape to hold the wrapping in its place.   You can place the gift card inside the basket before you ‘seal’ it, or stick it somewhere on the basket.  Gather at the top of the basket and tie with a ribbon if using a bag. Above the ribbon, leave some of the plastic fluffed out. Add a matching trinket or a pretty bow. Be sure to tape the bottom of the bag tight to the basket so none of the plastic is sticking out.

Actually, I have had the experience of putting together 10 or so food gift  baskets for clients.  The fun part was shopping for the contents.  The not so fun part was wrapping it all up. It was not easy to make a beautifully wrapped gift basket, if you are not the creative sort of person.   We didn’t do a good job in wrapping the entire basket, and some of the gift baskets looked very messy, and amateurish.   We didn’t get  a consistent wrapped basket, though the contents were similar.  Were we tired?  I don’t know.   In the end we went shopping again, this time for professionally wrapped gift baskets which we were proud to deliver to our clients for Chinese New Year.    

Homemade gift baskets are good as presents between family and friends.  If you prefer beautifully wrapped gift baskets as compared to homemade gift basket, there are professionals whose main business it is to craft beautiful gift baskets for any occasion.  You can pay a visit to your local gift store or visit the online website for  ideas for gift baskets where you can choose to buy professionally and creatively crafted gift baskets for any association.