| Often when I need to purchase a gift I will | | | | animals. |
| give a home made gift basket. They are fun to | | | | |
| shop for, fun to put together and are always | | | | Of course adults love baskets too. For |
| appreciated by the recipient. | | | | weddings and wedding showers an empty dish |
| | | | drainer makes a wonderful "basket" to load |
| When my kids were young and my friends were | | | | the other gifts into. Again, I'd try to get |
| all having their first babies, I created baby | | | | lots of items a first time home owner would |
| gift baskets. I started with an empty infant | | | | need: |
| bath tub. I filled it with all kinds of | | | | |
| things a first time mother might need: | | | | - hand held can opener |
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| - baby shampoo | | | | - vegetable peeler |
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| - baby wash | | | | - spatula |
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| - towels | | | | - poultry scissors |
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| - washcloths | | | | - pot holders |
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| - blankets | | | | - rolling pin |
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| - nail clippers | | | | - meat thermometer |
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| - comb/brush set | | | | - strainer |
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| - bath toys | | | | - egg slicer |
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| - pacifiers | | | | - potato masher |
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| - baby spoon | | | | Of course all of these suggestions are just |
| | | | thought starters. Once in the store, the |
| - books | | | | ideas of what you can add are just endless. |
| | | | |
| - mobiles | | | | Here are a few more ideas of themed baskets |
| | | | you can make: |
| - thermometer | | | | |
| | | | - wine and cheese baskets (use a large ice |
| As my kids got older and we were giving | | | | bucket as a base) |
| birthday gifts to kids I again opted to make | | | | |
| my own gift baskets. For young girls we often | | | | - bathroom product baskets (use a bathroom |
| gave either an arts and craft basket, or a | | | | garbage can as your base) |
| makeup basket. | | | | |
| | | | - going off to college baskets (use a storage |
| We'd often start with a plastic storage tub. | | | | crate as your base) |
| We'd get a large set of pens, or markers or | | | | |
| even chalk. We'd buy a huge tablet of paper, | | | | - chocolate baskets (use a melting pot as |
| either drawing paper or construction paper. | | | | your base) |
| We'd add rubber stamps, hole punches, glue, | | | | |
| lanyard string, and for older kids, we'd add | | | | - coffee and/or tea baskets (use coffee mugs |
| idea books. | | | | as your base) |
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| Our makeup baskets were fun to put together. | | | | - gardening basket (use a pail as your base) |
| We often started with a pedicure tub that all | | | | |
| the items could be stored in. Depending on | | | | - tool basket (fill an empty tool chest with |
| the age of the child, we'd buy lip gloss, eye | | | | lots of tools) |
| shadow, blush, eye lash curlers and sometimes | | | | |
| a hair straightener or hair crimper. | | | | Often times I've asked other guests to |
| | | | contribute to the basket, making a very nice |
| For boys, we loved to buy empty collector | | | | gift for the recipient and giving us the |
| card albums and then buy many sets of | | | | opportunity to include all the items we want |
| beginner cards from various sports. If we | | | | to give. |
| knew the child loved a certain t.v. show, | | | | |
| we'd try to get cards from that t.v. show as | | | | Baskets can be large or small, from one |
| well. | | | | person or from a group of people. You can use |
| | | | either cellophane or wrapping paper to finish |
| A young child's summer birthday almost always | | | | off the basket. Use your imagination and |
| started with a large pail and shovel and then | | | | create baskets you know the recipient will |
| we added in toys, trucks, cars and stuffed | | | | enjoy! |