Any pics of stockpile-composed Gift Baskets? Need creative inspiration...

[hcwhcw]

Does anybody have pics of well-presented gift baskets composed of stockpile items, that they would like to share?

I have been reading up on other HCW-ers ideas for gift baskets made with stockpile items.

First, Vacation Lover's "economy survival gift basket," with a very cleverly-worded card. http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums...stockpile.html

Then, Dhunny318's "spa basket," also with a cleverly-worded card. http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums...ml#post1355115

And now I think I am going to start shopping and stockpiling with the aim of making gift baskets in the future. But I could use some more visual and creative inspiration!

So, if anybody has pics, creatively worded cards, brags, etc. about stockpile-composed gift baskets, would you please share? I am also interested in knowing about the approximate total cost of people's gift baskets, as I need to keep costs low but still make it a nice gift.

I would like to do better next year with the gift-giving, and if I have some ideas in mind of possibilities, it will make it easier to shop and stockpile towards those possibilites.

[Bonniem]

THanks for posting this... I would love to see some ideas for baskets, etc. I do not have enough stockpiles of anything yet, but I am just getting started and know with the help of HCW, I will be well on my way in 2009.

I'll be watching to see if anyone posts their creative uses of thier stockpiles!

[hcwhcw]

Link to another good one, a "Health & Wellness" gift basket made by newatthis.

http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums...ml#post1437886

[deeann7]

I only took 1 picture of the ones I made
click each picture for a larger view
100_0963.jpg
front
100_0964.jpg
back
100_0967.jpg
wrapped
I made 4 of these and my total cost was about $10.00 for all 4
Each one had about $30.00 worth of stuff at regular retail.
I use metal cans for the container that I found on clearance for 75 to 59 cents each.
Cellophane on clearance at the 99 cent store 2/99 cents
Garland on clearance any kind is a great way to close the top.
Next year I will do the pine cone ornaments and add it to a bow at the top.

[cuzisaidso]

The Dollar Tree has the gift basket cellophane that shrinks when you use a hair dryer on it. It comes with a bow in the package to finish it off. I don't have any pics but, these gift baskets always come out so nice.

[deeann7]

I went out today and bought
100_0973.jpgclick picture for larger view
Stores- Target, 99 cent only, Dollar tree and CVS
13-baskets
6-tins
4-floral picks
1-garland green
16-ornaments
27-gift tags with string for gift baskets
20-Christmas erasers for next years school gift bags
1-dish towel to line a basket
4- rolls ribbon
1-pack of snowman napkins for lining baskets
1- mini baking cups
1-squiggle paper
5-wire garland
2-sheets window clings
6-rolls wrapping paper
4- rolls cellophane
60-sheets of tissue paper
5-baskets for Valentines Day
Spent $17.00 in CVS ecb's and $22.00 oop

[newatthis]

hcwhcw,

to answer your questions-


What did you write on the card or paper that went with it?

I wrote goofy things (I didn't save it- who knows why??!!??) I wrote,

When you're not well, or feeling swell, you may have a cold or the flu. But never fear, b/c at Christmas this year, you won this basket- lucky you! Inside you'll find...

Did you label it as a "Health & Wellness Gift Basket"? Yes, then listed what was in it.

Where did you get the metal tin and how much did that cost? I did not buy the tin- we have been passing gifts in that thing for years!! One year it had fruit, another office supplies, etc,

Did you end up adding some cellophane paper and ribbon, or leaving as-is?
I added a bow and tissue paper, but no cellophane - I didn't have any and was too cheap to buy it!

And if you don't mind my asking (or if you feel like bragging a little! ;-)) how much do you think your total actual cost was for the whole gift basket, versus the actual value? (Please PM me if you don't want to post publicly, i.e., gift recipient may be reading thread and you're not sure you want them to know exactly how much.)My whole fam received practical gifts this year, so they probably know that it cost next to nothing. I paid nothing for the cough drops, bandaids, hershey kisses, gatorade, well patch, celestial seasonings tea, johnson's buddies soap, toothbrush, toothpaste. The money makers were the excedrin, theraflu, listerine, rolaids (all from CVS) I had to pay for: the handsoap (.30), the travel "hang-man" game (.99 target), kleenex (.10)
I estimated the value to be about $ 50

thanks for the complement! I was excited to give someone a gift that cost me a few dollars!

I stuffed shredded paper (from my shredder and plastic bags from all of my grocery trips in the bottom!!)

[hcwhcw]

deeann7, what a great after-Christmas haul! ...And I love seeing your gift basket pics! It's very pretty the way you pulled it all together, especially with the final touches of the candy-printed cellophane wrap, tied up with the pine twig and silver ribbon. I think little touches like that can make such a difference. And it wouldn't have occured to me to put the lid on its edge inside the tin, so you could get more items inside the tin, and let people see in, i.e., extra visual interest. I would have just assumed, oh, the tin has a lid, so it has to be covered - LOL. Re the contents, it looks like you put makeup & toiletries on one side of the lid, and chocolate and candies on the other side, yes? Btw, I think I can guess what stores some of those items might have come from! Thank you for posting too with so much detail about stuff - I find that very helpful!

newatthis, thank you for answering all my questions that I posted in your thread! I think writing "goofy" or clever things is another one of those nice little touches that can also help pull together a gift basket, as well as having a theme. Seeing the contents of your basket is so helpful too. I'm thinking now of some of the items I didn't buy at all or didn't buy more of this past year because I figured I personally didn't need or didn't want them or any more, but now I realize, how well a lot of those items could go in a gift like this.

One of my concerns about giving a gift basket of items, besides not quite knowing how to package and present it well, was what if these aren't the brands or types that the gift recipient prefers - a problem when the gift recipient is more of an acquaintance, e.g. co-worker, building employee, etc. But now I think when there's a nice variety, or it's a general category of items that anybody could use, e.g., "Health and Wellness", then there's bound to be some items in there that the gift recipient will like or use. And I'm really going to shop and stockpile differently now.

[Bonniem]

These are awesome ideas... Thanks to all who shared! Love it!
Let the stockpiling begin for beautiful gift baskets!!

[newatthis]

I made a gift basket of the Loreal Revitalift, Age Perfect, Pro Clicum stuff(wash, towelettes, cream, wrinkle serum) for my mom and she LOVED it! It is all so expensive and I got most all of it for nothing by shopping the sales and stockpiling that stuff since June. When you start thinking about gifts during the summer and throughout the year, you really only have to wrap and gather your stuff in Dec. Most of the time, you won't have to spend the month before Cmas running around buying things at full price!!!
My uncle got a basket of Orville R All natural popcoirn, soy joy bars, gatorade, a first aid kit to keep in his car, True North almond clusters, cough drops, and a few other little things and he loved it! I honestly paid only tax for all of the items!!! But, I had been making notes and gathering during the year for it.