Personal Touch and Simplicity in Gift Giving For Everyone on Your List (Here's how)

Personal Touch and Simplicity in Gift Giving For Everyone on Your List (Here's how)

If you find yourself in a position where you need to give gifts to a variety of people, but don’t want to spend a lot of time shopping, then I have the perfect lifehack for you:
Gift baskets!
For many years when I thought of giving gift baskets, I could imagine all the work involved, but putting together gift baskets can be one of the easiest gift methods there is. Gift baskets get your thinking creatively and are wonderfully consumable for the receiver. Gift baskets also make the receiver feel special, because you put thought into what you give.
Of course individual gift baskets would be a lot of work, but you can simplify the process by creating all your gift baskets with one theme in mind. If you would like to add a personal touch- leave that to one main item you include; i.e. the movie in the “movie night” basket.

  1. Pick a theme. First you need to sit down and think through what theme would work for all your recipients. When you have one main theme for all the gifts, it means you can simplify your shopping by getting it all done at once, often buying in bulk and splitting it up between the baskets.
    • Movie Night – Movie, popcorn, drinks, candy
    • Evening In – Wine, cheese, crackers, chocolate, etc.
    • Game Night – Card game or board came & snacks
    • Bookworm – Hot chocolate (or coffee), a good book & cookies
    • Coffee/Tea Time – Specialty coffee or Tea, shortbread & mints
    • Breakfast Breads – A variety of homemade quick breads; banana, zucchini, pumpkin, etc.
    • Cookies – Homemade cookies are the best!
    • Home Preserves – If you make your own salsas, or jams & jellies, they make wonderful gifts!
    • Emergency Kit – Flashlight, blanket, first aid kit, duct tape, gloves, etc.
    • Gardening Fun – Specialty seeds, gloves, tools, etc.
    • Spa Day – Bath salts (there are many DIY recipes!), lotion, candle & luffa
    • Dinner’s on us – Pasta, pasta sauce, parmesan cheese, & cookies
  2. Decide what could be used for a basket. Tip: it doesn’t have to be a basket! A bucket, tin, gift box, gift bag, market basket, reusable shopping bag, etc. Think outside the basket. 😉 Many times I’ve been able to find nice holiday themed boxes that are inexpensive and I don’t have to wrap.
  3. Plan what to put into the baskets. Pick things that can be purchased in bulk or all at the same store. Example: For a movie basket- a variety box of candy can be separated between the baskets, a case of soda can be separated between baskets, you can give movies, or give rental gift cards- netflix giftcards can be purchased at many grocery stores or pharmacies and redbox.com offers a virtual gift card.
  4. Schedule a couple hours to make them. You can purchase many of the items online, or shop around town, but it’s much more effective to get it all done at once. Write a main list of what you need- how many baskets, how many of each item, etc. and get everything done in one shopping trip. Once the shopping it down, line up all the gift baskets on the table, arrange the items nicely, label with tags and your done! You can fill a basket with tissue paper and wrap it in cellophane, but my favorite is a gift box, which doesn’t involve wrapping (I’ve found beautiful gift boxes at Costco, Big Lots & Hobby Lobby).

Have you given gift baskets before? How did you streamline the process?

About Rachel Jones

Hi there! I’m Rachel Jones, and I founded Nourishing Minimalism in 2012 at the beginning of my minimalist journey. If you're looking for encouragement in your journey, I created a FREE Facebook Group - feel free to join me there: Nourishing Minimalism Facebook Group and I share videos each week on YouTube

4 Comments

  1. Lauren on 10/20/2015 at 6:34 pm

    I like giving gift baskets, though I often don’t do a theme. Throughout the year, as I see something that someone would like, I purchase it and put it away for later. I keep these small items in an over the door shoe holder in the linen closet, with a pocket or two for each recipient. Then, when a gift-giving occasion arises, I often already have several thoughtful, personalized things to give in a bag or box or basket. It’s the easiest (and cheapest, since I often purchase these items on sale or at garage sales) system for me.

    • Rachel on 10/20/2015 at 8:05 pm

      That’s a great system Lauren- thanks for sharing!

  2. Laura J. Tong on 10/21/2015 at 4:30 pm

    I love this Rachel! Such a wonderful idea for multiple gifts and what a gorgeous gift to receive – a beautifully wrapped bundle of goodies that say you thought about the person from lots of angles. This is definitely going to be big part of Christmas gifting this year. Thank you.

  3. Freda on 11/15/2019 at 3:28 am

    That’s a great idea. I’m planning to gift my 18 yo niece a sewing basket. But I’m using a tin instead of a basket.

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