Budget Friendly Corporate Christmas Basket

Do you want to make a big impression in the office, but don't have a lot of cash to spend? Don't despair! Here are some easy ways to make your own budget friendly corporate Christmas basket. First, remember the old equation: Time = Money. If you want to spend less money, you need to be willing to spend a little more time.

Just because you didn't spend a lot on your corporate Christmas basket, doesn't mean that it has to look cheap. You can create a great Christmas basket, and no one will even notice that you didn't shell out $100 for the professional one. One key is to focus on more inexpensive elements, such as nuts and chocolates, and leave out the pricier cheeses, meats, and wines. Another trick is to use fruit, which seems exotic and luxurious in the middle of winter. Finally, hand-dipping treats in chocolate, such as nuts, strawberries, or pretzels, adds to the professional allure of your corporate Christmas basket. Now that we have these basic steps out of the way, let's get started.

The Basket

Most craft stores, such as Michael's, sell inexpensive baskets. But you might be surprised at the price of quality handmade baskets in online stores. Fair Trade websites such as Serrv.org offer hand woven baskets direct from their indigenous crafters. Their new Bamboo Cane Baskets come in sets of four for $24. Their set of 3 Aster Nesting Baskets are on sale for just $10. The set of 3 Oval Nest Baskets are on sale for $8.40. That's a mere $2.80 for a one-of-a-kind, handmade basket. The key to remember with baskets is to not be tempted to get ones that are too large. The bigger they are, the more you're going to have to put in them! Any of the baskets listed here would make an excellent base for your budget friendly corporate Christmas basket.

Decorations

Line the basket with waxed paper, tissue paper, or colorful plastic wrap. Towels, cloth placemats, or cloth napkins with a Christmas theme also make an excellent base lining and can be reused by the recipient after all the goodies are eaten. Wrapping paper is another Christmas time alternative. You can also add ribbons and bows, but these will also add to the price, and are unnecessary. Let your goodies also be your decoration in your budget friendly corporate Christmas basket.

Fruit

As I said, fruit, especially citrus fruits, seem like a luxury in the winter, even though we can all go to the grocery store to get them whenever we like. I suggest you by from your local grocery. Oranges, grapefruits, and kiwis are all excellent choices. Buy strawberries if you can find good ones this time of year; you can use them for chocolate dipping later. Apples, pears and bananas are also good, inexpensive fruits you can add to your corporate Christmas basket. Be diligent about quality; buy only the best that you can find at the store.

If you'd rather order online, Hale Groves.com has good prices on bulk fruit orders. Their "Four by Four" package includes four each of navel oranges, nova tangelos, D'Anjou pears, and Fuji apples. The total cost is $29.98, giving you a price of less than $2 a fruit. You can also purchase oranges and grapefruits by the ½ tray. For $19.98, you get 10 oranges and 4 grapefruits for just less than $1.50 each.

Candy

The most obvious candy for a budget friendly corporate Christmas basket is the classic candy cane. It's very inexpensive and also very appropriate for the Christmas season. You can buy a package of 80 peppermint sticks from Target for $14.99. Yes, that's about $0.20 a stick.

If you're looking do your own chocolate dipping, you can buy bulk chocolate for that purpose at bulkfoods.com. Nine pounds of Kinzie milk light bar chunks sells there for $23.25, and will give you more chocolate than you could ever possibly dip. Dark and white chocolate is also available.

Nuts

Again, the best deals probably await you at your local grocery store. The Super Nut Store.com also has a good sampler deal. For $25.95, you receive a 1 pound bag of salted giant whole cashews, salted colossal California pistachios, and salted jumbo California almonds. That's three pounds of nuts for $8.65 each. Whether you buy online or at the store, I suggest you mix the expensive cashews with less expensive nuts like almonds.

Now let's put your budget friendly corporate Christmas basket together. Obviously you want to begin with your basket. Line your basket with whatever you've decided to use. Now, we're going to build it from back to front. Line three or four fruits along the back of the basket. If your basket is tall enough, add another two or three fruits on the top of that. In front of the fruits, make a carpet of nuts. Along the sides of the basket is where you want your packaged or tall goodies: Bags of nuts, candy, chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. In the center-front, place your showcase treat. Chocolate dipped strawberries would be perfect here. You may also use this place for your card.

Here are some other budget friendly Christmas baskets you might try for your office.

The Bread Basket

If you can bake, try baking 2 or 3 small loaves of bread of different kinds. Try whole grain, pumpernickel, corn bread, and others. The ingredients are inexpensive and make several loaves. If you have a bread machine, cut the large loaves in halves or thirds to make multiple baskets. Add honey, apple butter, or jars of jams to the basket, and you have the perfect budget friendly corporate Christmas treat.

Hot Drinks

Christmas is a time to give the gift of warmth. Get a variety of hot drink mixes together. Premium select flavored cocoa mixes were just on sale at Kroger for $0.50. Mix these with Tazo herbal tea bags; a box of 20 is just $4. Add in some gourmet coffee and a holiday-themed mug, and you're set! If you're not over budget yet, make your own coffee cake, or buy or bake bagels to complete this easy, budget friendly basket.