Gift Baskets have always been a popular gift giving idea for Christmas. But the downside is that they can be quite expensive! Creating your own homemade Christmas Gift Baskets is not only fun and easy to do, but it can also cost you significantly less than those so called professionally packaged ones! Plus you can also give your homemade Christmas Holiday Gift Basket the exact look you want to achieve! Below are a few theme ideas that you can use to make your own customized homemade Christmas Gift Basket, including step by step instructions on how to organize and package them! To do any of these gifts baskets you will need to visit a craft store and purchase a craft basket of your choosing that will accommodate all the items, some ribbon to tie a bow, and some straw or colored tinsel to use to pad the basket. Also you will need cellophane wrap. This can also usually be found at a craft store, but usually it is easily obtainable from just about any office supply store.
Romance Christmas Gift Basket - This is a great homemade Christmas Gift Basket for your special someone. And the great thing is that the price is also fully customizable for your pocketbook as well since you have a wide selection of brands you can go with! Get a bottle of champagne (Or Non Alcoholic Sparking White Grape Juice), a small box of chocolates (Such as Godiva or Sees), and a tub of fresh strawberries. What I recommend is consider spray painting the basket a color such as red, then filling it with green colored tinsel. That way it will have Christmas colors and will still look romantic as the tinsel will resemble a bed of grass with all the goodies nestled in as though you two were having a romantic picnic! You could even do silver and blue for a New Year's Gift Basket!
Once you have all the romantic snacks available for your basket, now it is time to simply arrange it! First fill the basket with the straw or tinsel. First, place the champagne at the back of the basket, in a corner with the label facing front. Next, place the box of chocolates in the opposite back corner next to the champagne. Lastly, seat the tub of strawberries directly in front of both the champagne and box of chocolates in the middle of the basket. You can also add a few Hershey's Kisses to cover up any open spaces. Now just wrap it up with the cellophane per the tips below!
Toy Themed Christmas Gift Basket - Here is a perfect homemade Christmas Gift basket for a young person! I'm going to explain how to do a Disney Cars Themed basket as an example. But you could do one up from just about any toy brand! I'll list some alternatives at the end of this segment.
For the Disney Cars themed Christmas Gift Basket you will need a visit to the craft store to get a craft basket, a red or yellow ribbon, and enough straw or colored tinsel to fill it. I recommend a grey colored tinsel since it'll look like a road! Then get a can of red spray paint and one small bottle of black and yellow acrylic paint while you're at it. They are only about a dollar or two a piece and you'll only need one of each. Then of course you'll need some cellophane wrap from the craft or office supply store.
First we are going to paint the basket. Paint the basket red inside and out with the spray paint and allow it to dry. Now paint along the front side of the basket Lightning McQueen's number logo with the black and yellow paint! You can find this online easy through a Google image search, and even print it out to trace onto the basket. Allow that paint to dry then fill it with the straw or tinsel!
Now it is time to fill the basket with goodies!
Over at Amazon.com you can get this perfect sized Mater toy plush which will fit in most craft baskets for only $10.99! You don't have to use this exact plush. You could find a Lightning McQueen plush or any other similar sized toy that you chose to. But getting a decent sized toy like the above example is important as it will be the centerpiece of your gift basket!
Now get a Disney Cars book or two! A great resource is Barnes & Nobles whom carries a wide assortment of Disney Cars Books. These will be placed at the sides of the centerpiece plush Mater toy in your Homemade Christmas Gift Basket.
For the final gift basket item, at Toys R Us you can get something like this pack of Disney Cars toy figures for $17.99. You can keep them in the box and place in your homemade Christmas gift basket, or take them out and line them up or around in it! Your choice!
Okay so let's put this homemade Christmas gift basket together! Get your basket and place the centerpiece toy in the rear middle of the gift basket, facing sideways. To each side of that in the rear corners set a book! And then take your little toy cars and line them up at the front of the basket! Wrap it up via the tip below! Tie it off with the red or yellow ribbon! And you are done with this very impressive looking homemade Christmas Gift Basket!
Now as I mentioned at the beginning of this segment. You don't have to do a Disney Cars theme! You could do a Bratz theme for a girl by using some Bratz figures, books, and an accessory or play set for the centerpiece. Or how about a Disney Wall-E and Eve version by getting an appropriately sized toy figure of each to place in the center of the basket, with a book or the DVD set in a corner or the front of the basket? It's up to you! But as you can see, it's not too hard to do as long as you have some good ideas!
Sports Lovers Basket - For the sports lover you can do up this homemade Christmas Gift Basket theme! Go to a craft store and get a craft basket, a can of spray paint in the main color of the recipient's favorite team, and then some colored tinsel in the team's secondary color to fill it with. Last but not least, you'll need some cellophane wrap and a ribbon (In the team's main color) to tie it off.
To pre the basket for the gifts, first spray paint the basket inside and out with the team's main color! Allow it to completely dry then add the colored tinsel as the filler. To cap it off you could hand paint the Team's logo on the front of the basket, or even just find and add a sticker of it!
You can look online or at any sports enthusiast store in your neighborhood to find plenty of options for filling this Sports Lover Themed Homemade Christmas Gift Basket! Get an appropriately sized replica helmet as the centerpiece! Then place a book or DVD about the team along the side. You can also add other team themed trinkets to place elsewhere about the gift basket such as glassware, bobble-heads, etc! Wrap it up via the tip below, and tie it off with the ribbon!
Tips for Homemade Christmas Gift Basket Packaging:
- Make sure that you push each gift item down so that they are securely seated in the basket so that they are not tipping over.
- The final step will be to wrap your gift basket with the cellophane wrap. Measure and cut a sheet of cellophane from the roll you bought so that it will completely cover the basket. And remember that more is better! You can always cut off excess wrap from the top after you tie the ribbon on to seal it!
- You can add a bit of decorative flair to your wrap by giving it a twist! Place the basket onto the middle of the wrap, pull the wrap up over the basket and grasp the bunch in one hand. Then simply rotate the basket one way until a little swirl pattern appears! Then tie it off with the ribbon right above the basket's handle to seal it up!
- When considering gifts for your homemade Christmas Gift Basket, ask yourself if this is a gift basket that you'll be giving in person or mailing off! You won't want to use perishables or very fragile items for gift baskets going through the mail system!