How to Build Your Own Gift Baskets for Shipping
Designing gift baskets is becoming increasingly popular, both as a hobby and as a home-based business. A thoughtfully prepared basket, full of various delights that have been selected specifically for that individual, family or group, can brighten a day. Designing a gift basket and preparing it for shipping may seem challenging, but with a few easy steps, your beautiful baskets will be on their way.
Things You'll Need
- Gift basket
- Gift or food items to include in the basket
- Packing peanuts or bubble wrap
- Shrink-wrap
- Styrofoam
- Hair dryer
- Shipping box (large enough to hold the basket)
- Packing tape
Instructions
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Building the Gift Basket
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1
Select a theme for the gift basket. Some options for a theme include food, the recipient's favorite pastime or primary interest, or an occasion, such as a "get well" gift. The theme of the basket will help you select its contents.
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2
Choose a basket that is appropriate both for theme and size. Bear in mind that larger baskets will have room for more items, but the heavier the basket is, the more it will cost to ship.
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3
Select the items that will go in the gift basket. The size of the basket will give you an idea of how many items to purchase. Well-constructed gift baskets usually have a mix of larger items and smaller items, each fitting in with the basket's theme.
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4
Place a filler item in the bottom of the basket to prop up the gift items and to provide some support for them. Packing peanuts can be useful, as can tissue paper or basket-filler, which is usually a variety of shredded paper.
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5
Arrange the items in the basket so the recipient can see and find everything easily. Smaller items can fall or get crushed, so be conscious of how the items are placed.
Preparing the Gift Basket for Shipping
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6
Add pieces of Styrofoam or floral foam (available at most craft supply stores) to brace the looser items in the basket. This is particularly important if the gift basket contains glass items that could potentially knock against one another during shipping.
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7
Cover the foam pieces with colored tissue paper or dried moss to hide them. If necessary, staple the tissue paper or moss to the foam pieces.
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8
Cover the items in the basket with shrink-wrap, and use a blow dryer to heat and "shrink" the plastic wrap. This should help keep the items in the basket from moving.
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9
Place the gift basket in a box that leaves space on all sides to give you room to fill the box with enough packing material so the basket arrives safely. Packing peanuts, bubble wrap and tissue paper are all effective if enough is used to brace and protect the basket from excess movement.
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Tips & Warnings
When choosing a basket that will be shipped, consider one that does not have handles. Handles can create a challenge when placing the basket in a box and can be problematic to shrink-wrap.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
