How to Create a Gift Basket for a Home Owner

The joys of home ownership are quickly forgotten when little ' and not so little - things go wrong. You can help your friend the homeowner by giving a gift basket filled with specially selected tools and gadgets that will help to preserve household sanity.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Choosing the Gifts and Basket

1. Select from the following items: home-themed magazines and books; home-maintenance videos; two electrical extension cords, one regular and one for three-prong, heavy-duty use; a glue gun; boxes of assorted nails; a medium-weight hammer; a smoke detector for the garage; gardening hand tools and gloves.
2. Add a disposable camera to the basket, to record any work in progress. To a homeowner this is a constant.
3. Include the following, even if the items are already in the home: a manual can opener, a corkscrew, flashlights and batteries, and a mini tool set for the catch-all kitchen drawer.
4. Pick a basket style. Choose from baskets with one handle, with two side handles, or without handles. Make certain the basket is large enough to hold the gifts you have selected.
5. Decide on the color of the basket by choosing one that complements the homeowner's decor. If in doubt, select a natural wicker basket for its neutral color.
6. Use shredded paper filling to make the gifts fit snugly in the basket.
7. Buy a humorous greeting card for the harried homeowner.

Packing the Basket

8. Wrap each present with a colorful gift wrap.
9. Put a layer of shredded paper filling in the bottom of the basket.
10. Place the wrapped gifts vertically or horizontally in the basket, as space allows, pushing the filling between gifts to ensure a very snug fit.
11. Place the basket in the center of a large piece of clear or tinted cellophane gift wrap. You may need two pieces of the wrap to completely cover a large basket.
12. Bring all sides of the wrap to a few inches above the top of the basket. Secure the wrap by tying it with a long, colorful ribbon.
13. Tape your greeting card to the wrap.