How to Create Themed Holiday Gift Baskets Your Friends and Family Will Love

Do you hate the holiday rush? Does the thought of going into the malls in December cause you to break out in a cold sweat? Are you one of those people who waits until December 24th and then goes on a mad shopping spree? I used to be, that is until I discovered the wonderful idea of giving a themed gift basket instead. I'm not speaking of the traditional holiday basket full of fruit and candy, (although if you know your person would enjoy this then by all means make such a basket for them) but rather a themed gift basket that has a series of gifts which contain a theme, and which you know the recipient will enjoy. You may think that creating a themed gift basket on your own will be time consuming and expensive, but in truth if you choose the themes for your gift baskets early, you can shop for items for your themed gift baskets in the months before the holidays, which spreads out the cost. It also allows you to shop when you want to, utilizing sales, and bargain stores.

Getting Started

The first step to creating themed gift baskets is to make a list of who you will be buying gifts for. Leave some space between the names so you can write down things like what each person's hobbies are, what they like to do in their free time, and just items you know they will like. This is your opportunity to brainstorm, and to call your friends and relatives and ask questions if you are not sure about something. Once you've written down all you can for each person on your list, then come up with a theme for each person for their. Then comes the hard part, what fits in the theme? Think about this for a while and create a separate list for each individual around their theme. That way when you go shopping you can take the lists with you, and when you see things on sale or for a bargain that fit a theme or area on your list, you can add an item or cross one off as necessary.

Choosing a Container

You might think you only have the choice of a basket for your container, but the truth is you can use just about anything. Some examples might be things such as the following: gift bags, boxes (you can decorate yourself!), and large metal tins to name a few.

You can also use things which match your theme. For example, an overnight bag for someone that likes to travel, or a large camera bag for a photographer. The ideas are endless.

To wrap or Not to Wrap

Just to give you some ideas, you can wrap the whole container in clear cellophane and put a beautiful bow on it. Another idea is to wrap each item individually before filling the basket, although if you decide to do this, make sure you've chosen a large enough container to account for the extra space of adding the wrapping paper so nothing gets squashed. If you don't want to wrap the basket in clear cellophane because you want everything to be a surprise, but you don't want to wrap each item individually either, you could consider choosing an opaque wrapping paper and wrapping the whole container up and giving it a pretty bow when done as well. Each of these works fine and I have done all three at one time or another.

Packing the Basket

Packing the themed gift basket sounds easy, right? Well…actually packing the themed gift basket so everything fits and is arranged nicely takes a bit of doing, particularly if you've decided to wrap each item individually. As mentioned before if you do decide to do this, make sure you have a large enough container to account for the extra space of the wrapped gifts.

Find the largest and tallest gifts for the basket and stand them up in the back of your container. This forms a wall for the other gifts to lean up against and helps to arrange them nicely. Next find the medium sized items and stack them against the large and tall gifts. Do this until the very smallest gifts are in the front of the container, and you have filled your themed gift basket to capacity.

Some Gift Basket Ideas

Here are some ideas for complete gift baskets that I have used in the past.

For the Traveler (female)
A medium sized overnight bag (container)
Travel sized shampoos
Travel sized conditioners
Travel sized soaps
Travel sized mouthwash
Travel sized toothbrush
Travel sized toothpaste
Travel sized brush/comb set
Travel sized hand sanitizer
Small pillow
Small package of baby wipes
A book or two by favorite authors
CD's with relaxing music
A small CD player with headphones

Note: For a male traveler, you can include a small shaving kit with razors, and travel sized shaving cream.

For the Photographer

A large camera bag, although if you can't find one large enough, any bag with lots of pockets and space will do. (container)
An empty photo album or two
An empty picture frame or two
A book with pictures by his/her favorite photographer
Rolls of film
A small digital camera
A gift certificate to the place he/she likes to have their film developed
A framed photo or two of a favorite picture he/she has taken in the past
CD with software to edit photos

For the Writer

A large messenger bag in a pleasing color (container)
A copy of the next year's Writer's Market
Ink cartridges for his/her printer
A ream of copy paper
A ream of cardstock (to print business cards, post cards, and bookmarks on)
A copy of The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
A copy of Grass Roots Marketing: Almost 300 Ways to Promote Your E-books and PODS by Rusty Fischer

For the Baker

A large baking pan (container)
A cookbook for breads, cookies and cakes
A small muffin pan
A small bread pan
A cookie sheet
A mixing bowl
Two or three large plastic spoons
A large measuring cup
A set of small measuring cups
A set of measuring spoons
A package of muffin/cupcake papers
A box or two of cake, muffin, and bread mixes

These are just a few ideas for themed gift baskets that you can create. The ideas are limitless. By creating your gift buying around themes, you cut down on the work of trying to figure out what to buy for your friends and family. Also, by creating themed gift baskets you can search during the year even if you like for gifts, thereby cutting down on having to do as much shopping during the busy holiday season.