Valentine's Crafts for Guys: How to Make a Gift Basket

Guys, put down the remote. You know there's an important day coming up in the month of February. No, not THAT Super Bowl date. I'm talkin' about V-Day. Valentine's Day. You can do something heartwarming, brave, takes skill and initiative, strategy and willingness to possibly take a beating by your peers.

You can make her a gift basket.

Ok, stop laughing now. You're probably thinking "How in the world am I, John Jacob Toughguy, gonna make a gift basket?" I'll tell you. And if you do this, step-by-step, you'll win instant kudos by your woman. Right, honey?

"Right, baby. How did you want your steak again?"

See? That's my wife talkin'. I made her a gift basket 2 years ago. She's loved me more ever since. Ok, here are the steps and supplies:

(At the craft store)

One woven basket with a handle, light-colored and wooden,

big enough to cradle a football

6 Silk flowers, white

Scissors

Tissue paper, pink and white

Plastic grass, pink and white

(At the flower shop/department)

½ a dozen roses, red OR

3 rainbow roses and 3 red roses

Baby's breath

(Anywhere else)

Small-sized gift (gift cards, jewelry she wanted, etc.)

Stuffed animal and a funny card

Lotsa good quality chocolate

Candy hearts

Step 1: Buy all the goods except the real flowers. If you go into a craft store like Michael's or AC Moore's, everything is well organized in those stores. Sometimes around this part of the year they'll have those baskets on sale outside for a dollar or two.

When you get the silk flowers, make sure they have stems on them. DO NOT just use silk flowers for the whole basket! It will make you seem cheap, but they are great filler. Get ones like carnations or mums, but not roses.

When you get the candy, get the good chocolate that won't break your bank account. If you want to splurge on Godiva, go for it, but the key is getting individually wrapped pieces that aren't Snickers or Hershey's. Ritter Sport is a good German-made chocolate that's very, very tasty.

When you get the stuffed animal, it should be easy. If your woman likes stuffed animals, pick one like she already has except make it a Valentine's Day. If she's got 4 stuffed bears, she won't cry over a fifth one, especially if it's from her pooky wooky...ok that was a bit much. Sorry.

Step 2: Arrange the parts. This is just like layering barbecue rubs. Don't be intimidated by the pinks and the flowers. Just focus. Think...." I love her....I need her....She'll really like this...She'll be surprised...I won't have to paint the house for 3 months..."

First, layer the pink tissue paper in the basket. 4 or 5 sheets should do it. It should be enough to bend, but not wrinkle inside the basket. Don't ask why there should be tissue paper. It just works. Put a little bit of the grass on top of that.

Second, lay down the baby's breath. It's almost like a nest of white little flowers and grass. There should be enough to still see the pink tissue paper, but give that nesting look.

Third, lay down the candy. You can stick small pieces here or there, but keep them away from the middle. That's where the gift goes. You only need about 8 pieces or so. Don't get too anal and try to make a perfect circle of candy surrounding the middle. It's not huddling the gift, waiting for the play. It's just surrounding it.

Fourth, insert the silk flowers. You may have to cut the stems, but you just want some fairly evenly-spaced silk flowers. Stick the stems almost parallel to the bottom of the basket, but have the flowers sticking out of the top with most of the stem under the baby's breath. It's like laying out on one of those lawn chairs that you stretch your legs out on. Leave enough space to put the real flowers in.

Fifth (or whenever) attach the stuffed animal to the handle of the basket. It doesn't really matter how, as long as it stays on and does no damage to the animal. In other words, no duct tape or hot glue gun. Use a candy heart necklace if you must.

Step 3: Purchase the real flowers. This is the trickiest part. Normally you'd order the flowers ahead of time and just have them delivered on Valentine's Day. But this flower purchase requires timing. You want to get these flowers only a few days before so that they'll still be alive when you deliver the basket. Do some scouting and find some cold storage place like the beer fridge if it's clean and in the garage.

When you get to the flower store, ask for the baby's breath. That's the easiest way to get it instead of looking for it. You can get good roses, surprisingly, at many of the large supermarkets like Albertson's, Raley's or Food Lion.

Step 4: Add the flowers and the gift. Cut the stems of the real flowers fairly short. Intersperse them with the silk flowers. You can alternate colors with a silk mum, a red rose, a silk mum, red rose, etc. Stick the gift and funny card in that middle hole. Open up a pack of candy hearts and sprinkle them all over the basket. They aren't really for eating; they just make the basket smell good.

What you should have now is a basket with a gift and card surrounded by red and white flowers, candy peaking out. It wasn't even all that difficult, nor did it require Martha Stewart skills. Just a little layering and time. Just think of the gift basket as the best-looking wrapping paper you could get for her present. She deserves it, right? Remember that Best Buy gift card you got from her? Or that day you were almost late and your hot breakfast was downstairs waiting for your belly? Or that last back hair she plucked? Make the basket that day. Make out that night.