How to Create a Gift Basket for a College Student

Send a little love and inspiration to a college student by sending them a well stocked gift basket. Gift baskets for college students are a nifty way to send something individualized and specifically designed for their likes and tastes. There are times during the course of a college semester and year that are stressful, and a quick “pick-me-up” gift basket can really do wonders to motivate the student to press on and work hard. Gift baskets for college students can be sent for birthdays, mid-term and final exam study encouragement or just to let them know they are in your thoughts. The fun part about giving a gift basket to a college student is that you can design and choose the contents. Creating a gift basket for a college student is also an easy task to do.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Basket, box or other type of usable container
• Colored tissue paper (the kind used in gift boxes)
• Mouse pad
• Book light
• Pens and pencils
• Stapler
• Coffee mug
• Munchie snacks
• Sweet snacks
• Healthy snacks
• Microwavable non-perishable foods
• Can opener
• Energy drinks
• Gift certificates
• Gift specific to college major
• Clear or tinted cellophane
• Ribbon
• Box to ship it in and packaging filler

1. Plan out what you will be putting into the gift basket. There are many items you can choose to put into a gift basket for a college student, some of which are listed above. But, that is what is so unique about sending a gift basket, you can design it any number of ways. Also, take into account the actual reason or occasion you are creating this gift basket for.
2. Pick sensible items. These items are ones that you know the college student will need and use often like a mouse pad, pens and pencils, stapler and a book light for those late night study sessions.
3. Include a coffee mug. This can be used for coffee, tea or any beverage they choose to fill it with. It may even be a nice way to send a bit of humor. There are so many types of coffee mugs out on the market, some are funny and some are inspirational.
4. Gather the munchie items. Munchie items are your salty items like peanuts, pretzels, crackers and chips or nachos. But remember, choose the nachos and you will definitely have to add a small jar of salsa.
5. Buy some sweet snacks. Sweet snacks are snacks like candy, pudding, cookies and snack sized cakes. You can also send a pre-packaged cupcake and a candle to help them celebrate a birthday when the gift package is for that type of occasion.
6. Pick out health snacks. Yes, you want to remind them that they should think about nutrition. Healthy snacks might be granola bars, energy bars and trail mixes.
7. Add a few microwavable non-perishable foods. Non-perishable foods are items such as cups of soup, microwavable macaroni and cheese, pasta in a can and more. For actual can food items, you will need to remember to include a can opener because the student may not have one. College students often eat on the run, so these types of foods do come in handy.
8. Send a few energy drinks. Give the student a boost of energy to help them pull an all-night study session.
9. Purchase a gift certificate. There are so many gift certificates you can choose to send. Find out what fast food or pizza chains deliver to their campus, and send a gift certificate to one of those establishments. Maybe, you know their favorite clothing store or they are into music.
10. Buy a few gifts that are specifically geared to the student’s college major. For example, you might buy art supplies or an artist book for an art major.
11. Choose the right size basket, box or usable container. This is why it is important to plan out what you would like to put into the gift basket. An actual basket may work nicely for a female student, who might choose to use the basket as a neat way to store things in her dorm room, but remember dorm rooms tend to be small and congested, so you may not want to invest lots of money in a pretty basket that will get tossed out in the trash. A simple box will do fine, and you can dress it up by wrapping the outside in eye-appealing wrapping paper.
12. Place scrunched up pieces of colored tissue paper in the bottom of the basket, box or container. This will add cushion for the items you eventually fill the box with, and give the items a platform to sit on so they will be viewable. You can arrange a few sheets of colored tissue paper to overhang the chosen container, which will create a nice presentation.
13. Arrange all snacks, gifts and other items in the container. You do not want all items to sink low into the box. The items should be easily viewed by the student when they open their package and take out the basket.
14. Wrap the completed gift basket with clear or tinted cellophane. Use enough to allow a bit of flow at the top of gift basket so you can use the ribbon to tie and seal.
15. Prepare box to ship the gift basket in. Make sure you adequately pad around the gift basket to prevent it from being damaged during shipping. Seal up the box, and correctly address it to the student. Then head to the post office and mail it out. Once it has shipped, you may want to drop an email to the student telling them to check their mail.